Notes

FROM CARD: "5813-5. 5813-ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1890; PL. 57-1; P. 416."Ulu.Source of the information below: Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/191 , retrieved 1-23-2020: Ulu with an iron blade and ivory handle. The handle has a slot cut into the bottom edge into which the blade has been inserted. A series of intersecting holes have been drilled into the handle, and baleen has been laced through these holes to provide a grip. The blade has a curved edge that has been sharpened by filing along both sides. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/58: An ulu is a knife with a crescent-shaped blade attached to a handle made of wood, bone or antler. The design of an ulu ensures that the cutting force is centred more over the middle of the blade than with an ordinary knife. Ulus are used for skinning animals, scraping skins, cutting hides when sewing as well as for other household tasks. They are sometimes called 'women's knives' since they usually are associated with women's tasks.