OBJECTS OF BRIGHT PRIDE: NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN ART FROM THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.FIRST EDITION. WARDWELL, ALLEN EXHIBITION CATALOG, 1978, Publisher: THE CENTER FOR INTER-AMERICAN RELATIONS AND THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF THE ARTS

NOTES CONCERNING NEW COLLECTIONS. LOWIE, ROBERT H. (ED) ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS, 4, 1910

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

Woven belt with bone attachments. Wide belt is made in a tight basket weave from thin strips of light and dark brown leather. Buckle is made of two pieces of bone, smoothly carved into rectangles, with a prong nailed to one that fits into a tube joint in the other. Several figures are etched into the bone, including a hunter and a woman in lightweight clothing, and tools such as an oil lamp, ulu, and chopper, among others. Back of belt has similar pieces attached, with images including a walrus and person paddling a boat. Two small undecorated buttons and a long undecorated loop are also attached to the back. Many of the images are accompanied by small Inuktitut syllabics.

Sealskin pouch. Small bag is rounded on bottom with a flap covering the opening at top. No handles are present. Bag is made from light brown leather with dark brown piping at the edges, and circular and square patches of the same set at regular intervals on front and edge for decoration. A curved piece of bone, flattened on front surface, serves as a handle for the flap and is etched and painted with the silhouette of a seal. A tie is attached to two of the decorative circles on the front, which loops over the bone to hold the pouch closed.

Small container carved from tusk. Container is an elongated hexagon, tall, with a crenellated rim. Interior narrows toward bottom, following the line of the tusk’s pulp cavity. The front is engraved with an igloo below Inuktitut syllabics, while on the back is a stone lamp(?), also with syllabics. Both images are emphasized with black, while syllabics are in-painted with red. A channel is carved around the exterior at the bottom, to create the illusion of a base.

Walrus-shaped, almost flat but slightly concave piece of hollowed tusk. Overall the piece takes the outline of a walrus head with wide open mouth and protruding tusk, narrowing toward the rounded opposite end. Interior is concave and undecorated. Exterior is etched with a scene in which a sled pulled by 5 trotting dogs carries two people along with their packages. An igloo stands in the background to the right. The walrus’s whisker follicles and eye are also etched in. The etchings are filled with a dark paint or ink substance to make them more visible.

Carving of a man and dog, on a stand (part a). Male figure (part b) is carved of tusk and stands with arms stretched in front of him. He wears a parka and leggings decorated with black paint around hem, hood, and wrists. Boots and mittens are also black. Facing him is a large dog (part c), white but for its black nose, eyes, mouth and claws. Dog has a thick tail that curves to rest on his back. Both figures have two wooden pegs in their feet that connect them to holes in the stand, which is a long rectangle of smoothed brown stone.