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Maker(s):Unknown
Culture:Native American; American Indian; Inuit
Title:Tobacco pipe
Date Made:19th century
Type:Ceremonial; Personal Gear
Materials:Wood, stone, metal, and string
Place Made:North America; United States or Canada
Measurements:Overall: 2 1/16 in x 10 1/4 in diam 1/2 in; 5.23875 cm x 26.035 cm diam 1.27 cm
Accession Number:  MH 16.F.M
Credit Line:Gift of Anna Baker Clarke (Class of 1879)
Museum Collection:  Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
 

This object is under review for NAGPRA-sensitivity.

Recent updates to NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) require consent from lineal descendants and/or affiliated Native American Tribes or Native Hawaiian Organizations before displaying or researching cultural items. We have removed the public image of this belonging until we can learn more about the wishes of affiliated Tribal officials or the descendants of those who made it.

If you want to connect with us and/or have information about this belonging, please contact artmuseum@mtholyoke.edu.

Description:
Missionary Cabinet. “Esquimaux” or Inuit pipe, potentially from northern Alaska. The shape, materials, and size resemble other similarly dated pipes from Alaska, described in the "Report of the United States Commission to the Columbian Historical Exposition at Madrid, 1892-93." The stem is wooden, with white residue and black marks near the bowl, and lighter colored sections throughout where the sinew fibers attaching the bowl to the stem were wrapped. There is a small section of metal encircling the bowl where it touches the wood, potentially used as another fastener. The bowl is “made from a stone found near Hudson’s Bay,” which was possibly obtained through fur trading networks with Hudson’s Bay Company or other posts. Alternatively, the pipe’s origins could be closer to the Hudson Bay, rather than Alaska. Listed as #5 in the “Catalogue of Cabinet of Articles sent by Missionaries to Mt. Hol. Fem. Sem. all before 1892” under American Indians. Small tag wound around the pipe stem and mouthpiece with twine reads “Esquimaux Pipe A. B. Clarke.”

Tags:
Native American; indigenous people

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=MH+16.F.M

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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