Notes

Source of the information below: Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/160 , retrieved 1-3-2020: Needle case, strap and belt hook. The needle case is a hollow ivory tube that originally had eight split beads (several of which are now missing) embedded in shallow drilled holes and cemented in place. One end of a hide strap that passes through the needle case has a large blue bead attached that prevents the strap from pulling through the case. The other end of the strap is attached to an an ivory implement of a type that has variously been identified as a belt hook or a holder for skin thimbles. This is a flattened piece of ivory with a slit along the centreline extending half its length at the end opposite from where it is attached to the strap, flanked by two other, shorter, slits that terminate at holes drilled through the piece, probably to prevent them from splitting. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/42: Sewing needles were kept in a tube-like case with a skin strap running through the centre. The needles were stuck into the strap, and then pulled into the case. Hooks for fastening the case to a belt, or holders for thimbles made from skin, were often attached to one end of the leather straps.