Polar Bear Skin Mittens Item Number: E1084-0 from the National Museum of Natural History

Notes

Records in the SI Archives of the Office of Distribution say this was transferred [to whom?] in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1867 but apparently either this is incorrect or it was later returned to the Museum.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/257 , retrieved 12-10-2019: A pair of mittens made of polar bear hide. Around the wrist of each is a cuff made of a folded over strip of caribou skin. One of the mittens has been repaired with a small sewn patch. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/41: Mittens with separate thumbs were used for keeping the hands warm in winter. They usually have the hair on the outside at the back of the mitten, which can be held against one's face to keep it warm. The mittens usually are quite short, as the fur trim on the sleeves of parkas protected the exposed wrist.