Smithsonian and CMMM collaborate on book
NOME— Carved drill bows made from walrus tusks illustrating pictorial scenes of human figures hunting, dancing and travelling provide unique visual records of 19th century life in western Alaska.
Combining history and art, these beautiful objects have been hidden in Smithsonian storerooms for more than a century. Our Stories Etched in Ivory brings these remarkable ‘storybooks’ to life in a richly illustrated
and elegantly designed book. The publication combines drill bow stories from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian with oral histories gathered from 40 contemporary Alaska Native contributors from Point Hope, Kotzebue, Shishmaref, Nome, St. Michael and Anchorage.
Stories of hunting and community life are accompanied by illustrations of cultural heritage objects from the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum in Nome. A foreword by Bernadette Yaayuk Alvanna-Stimpfle offers insight into the self-recorded world of walrus ivory carvers while the introductory essay by Amy Phillips-Chan draws upon collections studies, oral histories, and written texts to explore drill bow technology and the history of pictorial art in Arctic.
The appendices offer detailed information on Smithsonian collectors, a glossary of carving materials and a visual catalog of heritage objects engraved with pictorial scenes.
The final section features a dictionary of almost 100 engraved characters found on drill bows, from animals and objects to legends and activities. Our Stories Etched in Ivory prioritizes Indigenous knowledge and language by making space for community members to share their own stories and provides Inupiaq language names for places, animals and objects.
The publication marks a collaboration between the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum and Bering Strait communities, to return Indigenous knowledge embedded within historical museum objects back to the Arctic.