Box Item Number: E5818-0 from the National Museum of Natural History

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/172 , retrieved 1-24-2020: Box with a covering made from hide. The sides, end and bottom are rectangular pieces of wood that are joined by small wooden pegs inserted through drilled holes. There is no top with this box, although grooves cut into the upper edges of the side pieces for holding a top indicate that it once had one. The hide cover has been defleshed and has had the hair removed, and has been sewn with sinew. Although this item is not identified in the Smithsonian Institution's catalogue as a packing box, it is similar to other boxes that have been identified as such. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/12: The MacFarlane collection contains a variety of wooden boxes. Boxes carved from single pieces of wood, and boxes with sides made from bent pieces of wood with bottoms pegged to them, are traditional Inuvialuit forms that were used for storing tools and other objects. Boxes with separate pieces for each side, bottom and top identified in the Smithsonian Institution's artifact catalogue as 'Packing Box Made by Esquimaux' may have been commissioned by MacFarlane for packing artifacts that were sent to the Smithsonian.