FROM CARD: "TRIBE YUKON RIVER INDS. HAN KOOTCHIN." ILLUS (tunic and moccasin trousers).: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG. 67, P.65. LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22, 1988. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993."Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact (under # ET1857A) http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=4, retrieved 8-13-2012: Tunic. This tunic has fringes at the hem, chest, and cuffs, and comes to a point in both front and back, which was a traditional Gwich'in man's style.(1) Trimble Gilbert, Eliza Jones, and Judy Woods identified the main part of the tunic as skin from a moose cow (female) or calf, with a strip of caribou sewn along the bottom to make the fringes. The garment is expensively ornamented with glass beads acquired from Russian traders or the Hudson's Bay Company and with tusk-shaped "dentalium" shells which come from a marine mollusk (genus Dentalium) that inhabits the coastal waters of southeast Alaska. Dentalium shells were highly valued for jewelry and for decorating clothing, and were traded from the southern coast into interior Alaska before European contact. Later, they were imported by the Hudson's Bay Company.(2) There are many stories in Athabascan oral tradition about ways that these shells were obtained, such as by lowering a human body, dog, or meat into a mythical well or pond.(3) Red lines seen along the hem, seams, and beaded areas of the tunic were painted with red ocher, a mineral pigment that was also highly valued as an indigenous trade item.(4) Tsaih [red ocher] was said to have supernatural power, and locations where it was found were regarded as sacred.(5) This pigment was traditionally used by the Gwich'in for face painting and to decorate clothing, snowshoes, toboggans, and bows.(6) The tunic was part of a set acquired by Hudson's Bay Company trader Bernard Ross in the 1850s or 1860s (see moccasin trousers and mittens E1857-1 and E1857-2). Tunics without hoods and decorated with long fringes and colorful chest bands made of beads or quills were once standard clothing for many Athabascan peoples, including the Deg Hit'an, Koyukon, Gwich'in, Upper Tanana, Dena'ina, and Ahtna.(7) In general, the bottoms of men's tunics were pointed in both front and back and came down to about the knee; women's tunics were usually straight in front and pointed in back, and extended to the ankles.(8) They were worn in combination with moccasin trousers (pants with built-in feet), a belt, cap, and mittens.(9) Men and women carried essentials such as face paints, fire-making equipment, charms, and small personal belongings in pouches that they hung around their necks or tucked into their belts. Knives were worn in the belt or in a hanging sheath.(10) 1. Osgood 1936:42-43 2. McKennan 1959:129, 1965:25; Osgood 1936:47-48; Simeone and VanStone 1986:5-6 3. Osgood 1970:189-90 4. Osgood 1936:93 5. Slobodin 1981:517 6. Hadleigh West 1963:230; Osgood 1936:93 7. Dall 1870:82-83; Duncan 1989; Jones 1872:320; McKennan 1959:78-80; Michael 1967:244-246; Murray 1910:84-94; Osgood 1936:44-45; Richardson 1851[Vol. 1]:377, 380; Simeone and VanStone 1986:4-5; Whymper 1868:203 8. Vanstone 1981:8-10 9. McKennan 1959:78 10. Thompson 1994:25Illus. Fig. 66A p. 96 in Van Kampen, Ukjese. 2012. The History of Yukon First Nations Art, Phd dissertation, Leiden University. https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/18984 . Van Kampen identifies as Han.

FROM CARD: "TRIBE YUKON RIVER INDS. HAN KOOTCHIN" ILLUS (tunic and moccasin trousers).: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG. 67, P.65. LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22, 1988. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993."Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact (under # ET1857B) http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=5, retrieved 8-13-2012: Moccasin pants or trousers. This pair of man's moccasin trousers are made of soft, tanned caribou skin. There were part of a suit of clothing that was purchased in the late 1850s or early 1860s by Hudson's Bay Company fur trader Bernard Ross. Like the trousers, the tunic and mittens (E1857-0 and E1857-2) are decorated with bands of trade beads and with lines of red mineral (ocher) paint along the edges, seams, and beaded areas. In the past, men and women of all Alaskan Athabascan groups wore similar moccasin trousers and tunics. Along the Yukon River and its tributaries these garments were made by the Gwich'in (1), Koyukon (2), Upper Tanana (3), and Deg Hit'an.(4) In southern Alaska, both the Dena'ina and Ahtna wore this type of clothing.(5) Moccasin trousers often had tanned caribou skin leggings and moose hide soles.(6) Hair was left on the caribou skins when making winter trousers, and turned to the inside. Upper Tanana people wore winter trousers made of mountain sheep skins and put rabbit fur inside to insulate their feet.(7) Moccasin trousers were originally decorated with porcupine quill embroidery and later with glass trade beads.(8) This type of garment went out of style among most Athabascans by the mid to late 19th century, replaced by pants and unattached moccasins.(9) However, some in the Upper Tanana region were still wearing moccasin trousers in 1930, and the Gwich'in were making them for children at that time.(10) 1. Mackenzie 1801:48; McKennan 1965:45; Murray 1910:84; Osgood 1936:39-40; Richardson 1851 Vol. 1:380 2. Dall 1870:82-83; Michael 1976:244-46 3. McKennan 1959:78-80 4. Osgood 1970:262; Michael 1976:244-46 5. Allen 1887:131, Osgood 1937:46 6. McKennan 1959:78, 1965:45; Osgood 1936:39 7. McKennan 1959:78 8. VanStone 1981:11-16 9. Simeone and VanStone 1986:7 10. Duncan and Carney 1997:24: McKennan 1959:45, 79

FROM CARD: "TRIBE YUKON RIVER INDS. HAN KOOTCHIN".Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact (under # ET1857C) http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=6, retrieved 8-13-2012: Mittens (see related objects tunic E1857-0 and moccasin trousers E1857-1) Extracts from discussion with Elders Phillip Arrow, Trimble Gilbert, Eliza Jones and Judy Woods at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 5/17/2004-5/21/2004. Also participating: Aron Crowell (NMNH), Kate Duncan (Arizona State University) and Suzi Jones (AMHA) (see web page cited above for the full entries): Eliza Jones: These are short moosehide mittens. And it looks like it's the kind for dress-up because of the beads all around the edge, its fringe. Judy Woods: And it doesn't have lining. Eliza Jones: It has a caribou-skin string that goes around the neck, about forty-eight inches. Around home when we make mittens, we make it with yarn, and then we put a yarn across here too. You see it on a lot of the old pictures where there's a string across. Judy Woods: So you won't lose your mitts.

Metal ornament depicting a flower with bright blue feather inlay.

Ornament with detailed metal work depicting a bird with bright blue feather inlay. Pin extends off the back of the ornament.

Ornament with detailed metal work of floral motifs with bright blue feather inlay. Two spiral metal decorations extend off the front, ending in a white and an orange bead. Long, thin metal pin extends off the back.