Snow Goggles

Item number E7733-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

FROM CARD: "GOGGLE AND EYE SHADE OF SKIN OF RINGED SEAL'S HEAD [sic, actually wolverine, not ringed seal] ILLUS. IN USNM AR? 1894; FIG. 29; P. 298. ILLUS.: HNDB. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 5, PG. 357, FIG. 11. EYESHADE. STRIP OF SEALSKIN [sic, actually wolverine, not sealskin] WITH SLITS CUT FOR THE EYES, & BLUE & RED BEADS STRUNG THRU THE NOSE HOLE, SECURED AROUND THE HEAD WITH TIES AT THE BACK. INVENTORIED 1977."This object had been catalogued as made from the skin of a ringed seal's head, however, per Darrin P. Lunde, Collection Manager, NMNH Division of Mammals, this is actually wolverine, not ringed seal.This object is listed, but not described or analyzed, in 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/259 , retrieved 2-10-2020. General information on snow goggles is here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/52: Snow goggles protect the eyes from bright sunlight reflected from snow and ice which can burn the retinas and result in snow blindness. Similar to squinting, the narrow horizontal slits in the snow goggles allow only a small amount of sunlight to reach the eyes but still allow the person wearing them to see.