IDNO

P.88496.PAT

Description

Inuit man wearing traditional clothing standing next to sealskin tent with two children sitting in the tent opening. A blanket is hooked over tent supports, possibly to act as opening flap, and rocks are used to weigh down edges of tent. Two husky puppies move around the tent.
[See Notes field for full description on man’s parka and trousers, JD 15/11/2006]

Place

N America; Arctic; Canada; Nunavut; Baffin Island; Clyde River (Kanngiqtugaapik); Clyde Post [North West Territories]

Cultural Affliation

Baffinland Inuit

Named Person

Photographer

Ritchie, Montague H.W.

Collector / Expedition

Paterson, Thomas Thomson [from James Wordie’s Expedition to Melville Bay and North-East Baffin Land, 1934]

Date

23 - 31 August 1934

Collection Name

Paterson Collection

Source

Paterson, Erik T.

Format

Album Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Bibliographical Reference: Percy Cox; C. T. Dalgety; H. R. Mill ‘An Expedition to Melville Bay and North-East Baffin Land: Discussion’ in The Geographical Journal Vol. 86, No. 4 (Oct., 1935), pp. 313-316. [JD 20/10/2006]. Text on p. 312 includes:
“We had hoped to see more of the Eskimo and to judge how the Canadian methods compare with the Danish. When we first arrived however there was only one tent at the Post, ... All the others of the tribe were away inland caribou hunting, the skins being now at their best for clothing, but before we left another family arrived at the Post. It was dark at the time and their arrival (by whale boat) was immediately made known by the concerted howling of the dogs already at the Post. The woman landed first in order to choose a suitable tent site; the sealskin tent and poles were then put ashore, and there was soon a procession up from the beach, even the smallest of the children helping to carry bundles of skins or perhaps a kettle, and to move the stones necessary for weighting down the tent flaps. The sleeping platform was then constructed, and finally the blubber lamp was lit inside the tent”. [JD 23/10/2006]

Photographer: Note in above article, page 313, accredits all photographs to M.H.W. Ritchie unless otherwise stated. [JD 18/10/2006]

Clothing: The man’s parka is of Nunatsiarmiut design, although, unusually, it appears to have a button down front. The parka is probably made from caribou skin with the dark and light fur exterior and sewn of that the dark fur is central on the stomach (and probably back). The cream fur trim is made from the light fur from the caribou’s abdominal area. The rounded hood with front pieces extend into the front opening, and the parka ends at the hip with a base that appears even.
The trousers are possibly made from either caribou or seal with pale and dark bands embellishing the areas above and below the knees. (See Issenman 1997, pp. 142 - 151) [JD 15/11/2006]

Bibliographical Reference: Issenman, Betty, 1997. Sinews of Survival (UBC Press, Vancouver)
Bibliographical Reference: Hall, Judy, 1994. Sanatujut: Pride in Women’s Work (Canadian Museum of Civilisation)

P.88490.PAT to P.88574.PAT were found in the album now numbered A.149.PAT.

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Jocelyne Dudding 20/10/2006]