The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre takes care of over 75,000 objects from the Northwest Territories. Scroll and click through the selection of cultural and natural objects below to learn about our history!
| Accession No. | Object | Description | Maker | Culture | Region | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 989.092.001 | Acasta gneiss | This specimen is a slice from an outcrop of Acasta River gneiss that dates at 3.962 billion years, the oldest known rock in the world. It is called banded tonalite gneiss. | Science specimen | Tłı̨chǫ | Acasta River | 3.9 billion years old | |
| 989.094.039 | Adze | A woodworking tool made from a modified steel axe head attached to a wood handle. The handle is shaped so that a hand has a good grip. Collected by RCMP Inspector T.B. Caulkin stationed at Herschel Island. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | 1924-1927 |
| 2004.011.001 | Adze | A woodworking tool with modified steel axe head attached to an antler handle. The handle is shaped so that a hand has a good grip. | Mangelana, Clarence | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | 2004 |
| 2014.008.001 | Adze | A wood-working tool with a wooden handle, and steel blade probably modified from a small axe head. Strips of hide fasten the pieces together. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Aklavik, Mackenzie Delta | c. 1960-1961 |
| 984.059.001 | Airplane | A de Havilland Fox Moth airplane. The Fox Moth was known as the light workhorse of the skies. It was employed in northern Canada during the 1940s doing a variety of jobs including hauling freight and mail, general transportation, medical evacuation, surveying, and mapping. This aircraft was reconstructed from parts of three wrecked planes that crashed in the Northwest Territories. The reconstruction was completed in 1984, and modeled after Registration CF-BNI which was owned by Jim McAvoy and crashed at Porridge Lake north of Yellowknife in 1946. | De Havilland | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Northwest Territories | 1946-1948 |
| 986.034.1255 | Amulet | An amulet in the form of a tiny ulu with bone handle and copper blade. Amulets are intended to bring luck and protect the person wearing them. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Kuukpak, Mackenzie Delta | 500 years old |
| 987.045.002 a-d | Anemometer | A portable metal anemometer with a rotating vane. Bush pilot Wilfred 'Wop' May used this hand-held device to measure wind velocity. | Jules Richard, Paris, France | Non-Indigenous | Western Canada | 1930s | |
| 977.076.001 | Awl | A tool for piercing wood and hide, with steel point and wooden handle. Susie Umaok used this awl for many years. | Umaok, Susie | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | c. 1905-1952 |
| 996.008.003 | Awl | An awl with steel point and antler handle. This robust tool would have been useful when boring holes in wood, especially in snowshoe frames for securing the webbing. | Unknown | Dene | Reindeer Lake, Saskatchewan | 1914 | |
| 2000.008.001 | Baby belt | A child carrier made of wool stroud fabric with moose hide tying straps at both ends. The maker said that the beadwork pattern is '‘like they did in the old days’'. She copied the pattern from a baby belt made for her many years ago. | Zoe, Elizabeth | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Behchokǫ̀, Marian Lake | 2000 |
| 2014.002.001 | Baby belt | A baby belt of embroidered off-white stroud with canvas backing, edged with a single line of white beads. Yarn embroidery consists of large red and pink flowers. Minnie Francis made this baby belt for her grandchild in the early 1970s. | Francis, Minnie Jane | Dene | Gwich’in | Fort McPherson, Peel River | 1970s |
| 2001.009.001 | Bag | A small pocket watch bag made with white-tanned caribou hide, and finely embroidered with silk threads and silk fabric trim. Collected by Canon Alfred Vale, principal of St. Peter's Anglican Mission School. | Unknown | Dene / Métis | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | 1907-1927 |
| 2000.025.001 | Bag | A bag made of caribou leg skins and caribou hide. People use these 'grub bags' while travelling on the land and for keeping 'dry meat'. | Chocolate, Elizabeth | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Gamètı̀, Rae Lake | 2000 |
| 962.001.001 | Bag | A bag made of loon skin with cotton fabric lining. The handle is woven porcupine quills backed with caribou hide. The bag was donated by George Pinsky, a store owner and fur trader in Fort Resolution. In 1962, Mr. Pinsky said the bag was ''made many years ago''. | Unknown | Dene | South Slave | Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake | 1928-1962 |
| 2006.003.001 | Bag | A game bag made of netted caribou hide babiche, decorated with ribbon appliqué, wool tassels and ochre. Matt Murphy, a trapper in the area east of Great Slave Lake, obtained this bag on his way home to Peace River in 1926. | Unknown | Dene | North Slave | Łutselk’e, Great Slave Lake | c. 1926 |
| 2012.013.002 | Bag | A bag made from the stomach of a young moose. Traditionally these bags were used for storing fat and bone grease. | Andrew, Richard | Dene | Sahtu | Tulita, Mackenzie River | 2012 |
| 979.063.002 | Bag | A long-handled prayer bag made of moose hide and beaded with floral designs. This bag was used to carry religious articles, such as books and bibles, to church. Collected by Reverend Leonard Holman, principal of All Saints Anglican Residential School. | Unknown | Dene | Gwich’in | Aklavik, Mackenzie Delta | 1950s |
| 987.094.002 | Bag | A packing bag made of netted caribou hide babiche, decorated with ribbon appliqué and wool tassels. Collected by the Buffum family. | Unknown | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Behchokǫ̀, Marian Lake | 1930-1946 |
| 989.094.055 | Bag | A bag made from many caribou leg skin pieces sewn together. Bags like this were often used for storing 'dry meat'. Collected by Dominion Land Surveyor Guy Blanchet. | Unknown | Dene | North Slave | East Arm, Great Slave Lake | 1920s |
| 2003.010.007 | Bag | A small pouch made of white-tanned caribou hide with floral embroidery. It may have been used to hold a pocket watch. Collected by RCMP Sergeant Frank Cook and Helene Cook. | Unknown | Dene | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | c. 1925-1933 |
| 996.008.073 | Bag | A bag made from bird’s feet with silk fabric lining and silk tassels. Collected by Inspector C.W. West of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police during his travels in the Athabasca and Mackenzie River district c. 1901-1907. | Unknown | Dene | Mackenzie Valley | c. 1901-1907 | |
| 974.008.001 | Barber’s chair | A barber’s chair of wood and metal with hydraulic lift and padded leather seat. It was used at Eugene Laflamme’s barber shop at the Con Mine recreation hall from 1948 to 1959, and then at Woody Woodrow’s barber shop in downtown Yellowknife from 1961 to 1972. | Koken Barber Supply Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1909 |
| 996.008.082 | Basket | A shallow basket or tray made of split and coiled spruce root, and goose quills coloured with blue and red dyes. Collected by Inspector C.W. West of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police during his travels in the Athabasca and Mackenzie River district c. 1901-1907. | Unknown | Dene | Mackenzie Valley | c. 1901-1907 | |
| 996.008.083 a-c | Basket | A basket of split and coiled spruce root with fitted lid. Dyed roots make a decorative pattern. The handle is made of moose hide wrapped with spruce root. Collected by Inspector C.W. West of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police during his travels in the Athabasca and Mackenzie River district c. 1901-1907. | Unknown | Dene | Mackenzie Valley | c. 1901-1907 | |
| 977.041. | Bird eggs | These bird eggs are a small sample of 517 eggs collected by Yellowknife geologist and naturalist William McDonald. Most of the eggs were collected between 1940 and 1955 in the Great Slave Lake area, a prime habitat for waterfowl, raptors, and other migrating birds. The pigment on an egg helps to camouflage from predators while in an open nest, and also protects from ultraviolet radiation. The collection is significant because it is well documented with excellent notes on when and where the eggs were found, and the great variety allows for comparison within a range or species. The age of the collection is of interest as well: the eggs were collected before pesticides were widely used, which caused shell thinness and fragility during incubation. | Science specimen | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1940-1955 | |
| 984.080.001 | Bison skull | Part of a bison skull (Bison antiquus) with horn cores, found by trapper Alfred Thomas in 1967. This specimen has been radiocarbon dated to over 10,000 years old. | Science specimen | Dehcho | Liard River | 10,000 years old | |
| 992.006.007 | Blade | A small knife blade made of naturally occurring, or 'native', copper. | Unknown | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Wekweètì, Snare Lake | Early 1800s |
| 984.064.358 | Blade fragment | An adze blade fragment made from a piece of green nephrite, excavated at Cache Point, a large Thule Inuit whaling village. Cache Point is located atop a bluff on Richards Islands in the East Channel of the Mackenzie Delta. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Cache Point / Mackenzie Delta | 600 years ago |
| 2008.034.001 | Blanket | A Hudson’s Bay Company four-point wool blanket owned by the Buffum family in Behchokǫ̀. George Buffum was a trader there during the 1930s and 1940s. 'Points' were a measure of weight and value. | Hudson’s Bay Company | Non-Indigenous | Tłı̨chǫ | Behchokǫ̀, Marian Lake | c. 1934-1940 |
| 2010.012.016 | Boat motor | A ‘Johnson’ eight horsepower ‘OK-20’ gasoline boat motor. This motor was being used by a Dene man on his home-made boat in 1962 when Bern Will Brown arrived in Colville Lake. Small boat motors like this are also called ‘kickers’ and could be strapped on the back of freighter canoes, making travel much easier for people using the waterways. | Johnson | Dene | Sahtu | Colville Lake | 1927 |
| 974.019.001 | Book cover | A moose hide prayer book cover with beaded front and trim. Collected by Henry Cook, Anglican Bishop of the Mackenzie. | Unknown | Dene | Gwich’in | Fort McPherson, Peel River | 1963 |
| 982.050.480 | Boot | A small seal skin boot with the fur on the inside. It is made from two pieces of skin sewn together with seal skin line and sinew. This boot is one of the oldest examples of footwear from the Canadian arctic. It was collected by archaeologists on Banks Island in the 1970s. | Unknown | Inuit | Inuvialuit | 2,500 years old | |
| 996.008.137 a,b | Boots | A pair of mukluks with moose hide soles, wool fabric legs with bias tape and rick rack decoration, and fur trim. Collected by D.M. Pierce, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Nunavut | Coronation Gulf | c. 1929 |
| 2004.005.020 a,b | Boots | A pair of knee-high mukluks with caribou leg skins and moose hide soles. Made by Mary Gruben for her grandson Charlie. | Gruben, Mary | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | 1960-1970 |
| 987.047.001 a,b | Boots | A pair of kamiks made of seal skin, in an Alaskan style. The boots are completely lined with muskrat fur and trimmed with fox fur. The decorative piece on the foot is made of caribou skin and tiny squares of coloured leather. | Gordon, Thea | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Aklavik, Mackenzie Delta | 1976 |
| 2015.006.001 a,b | Boots | A pair of adult-sized boots made of deep blue-dyed seal skin, with commerical hide soles. Sewn by machine and by hand. Crow boot style, with stiff, high ankles open at the front, and trimmed with dark brown beaver fur. | Wolki, Lena | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | 2015 | |
| 996.008.081 a,b | Boots | A pair of child’s scraped seal skin boots, brown and off-white in colour. The high white soles are pleated around heel and toe, and have white skin straps which tie around ankles and across feet. Wide decorative bands of white skin with a double row of stitching, plus a zigzag piece of brown skin, trim the top of the boots. Collected by Inspector C.W. West of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police during his travels in the Athabasca and Mackenzie River district c. 1901-1907. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | c. 1901-1907 |
| 2005.001.001 | Bottle | A ceramic bottle in the shape of a polar bear. This limited edition bottle contains scotch whisky bottled by the Government of the NWT in the 1970s. Memories vary as to the occasion. It was available at liquor stores, and has been associated with royal visits, commissioner’s balls and RCMP functions. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1970s |
| 980.052.001 | Bow | A Copper Inuit-style bow made of wood and braided sinew. This sinew-backed bow was acquired by adventurer John Hornby on one of his trips to the Coppermine River area. Donated by Richard Finnie, a well known photographer, filmmaker and writer. | Unknown | Inuit | Nunavut | Coppermine River, Coronation Gulf | c. 1911-1912 |
| 971.021.001 | Bowl | A birch bark bowl, or ethawe, made by George Boots. He used it for drinking in the winter and for eating in the summer. Birch bark is strong and water resistant and can be easily cut and sewn. It has been a valuable material for Indigenous people for thousands of years. | Boots, George | Dene | Dehcho | Willowlake River, Mackenzie River | 1969 |
| 994.004.001 | Bullet mould | A metal bullet mould used for making flat nosed bullets. It was found at the remains of an old campsite on the shore of Snare Lake, near the community of Wekweètì. | Winchester Repeating Arms Company, New Haven, Connecticut, USA | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Wekweètì, Snare Lake | Early 1900s |
| 973.027.001 a | Canoe | A canoe of Tlicho design made from birch bark, with bow and stern deck plates to keep waves from splashing inside. It was built by Tlicho chief Jimmy Bruneau. Consisting of bark panels stitched together with spruce root, sealed with spruce gum. The gunwales are lashed with spruce root. In 1996, this canoe was used as a model for a project to document and construct a traditional birch bark canoe. | Bruneau, Jimmy | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Behchokǫ̀, Marian Lake | c. 1973 |
| 983.039.001 | Canoe | This spruce bark canoe is made from a single sheet of bark. Bark canoes are made in the spring when the sap is rising and the bark can be easily peeled from the tree. Spruce roots are used to sew the bark at each end of the canoe. Babiche lashings along the gunwales hold the bark in place. Holes in the bark are plugged with spruce gum to keep the water out. Spruce bark canoes were often made for immediate use and then discarded, although a well made canoe could last up to five years. | Klondike, Johnny | Dene | Dehcho | Fort Liard / Liard River | 1983 |
| 979.020.005 | Cap | A man’s hat made of velvet decorated with pearl seed beads and tassels. This flat-topped, straight-sided style was popular in the 1880s and is often called a smoking cap. The maker recalled that her grandfather Charles P. Gaudet wore a hat like this. | Hardy, Alice | Métis | Sahtu | Tulita, Mackenzie River | 1979 |
| 982.092.013 | Cap | A dance cap made from alternating white and brown caribou skin and strips of hairless skin dyed red. The cap is trimmed with wolverine skin around the edge. Susannah Andreason gave it to southern visitor Tahoe Washburn when they became friends in 1941. | Unknown | Inuit | Nunavut | Richardson Island, Coronation Gulf | c. 1930-1940 |
| 983.001.001 | Caribou call | A rattle made with caribou hooves strung on a caribou hide thong. The rattling noise simulates clicking sounds made by caribou hooves when their toes rub together. A rattle was used in winter hunting to attract caribou closer. | Mantla, Philip | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Gamètı̀, Rae Lake | 1983 |
| 979.010.072 | Chair | A handmade chair with wooden frame and seat of webbed babiche made prior to 1904. This chair is from the Roman Catholic Mission at Old Fort Rae. | Unknown | Dene / Métis | Tłı̨chǫ | Old Fort Rae, Great Slave Lake | Early 1900s |
| 985.035.031 | Chair | A handmade wooden rocking chair with netted babiche back and seat. Parts of the frame are branches which have been minimally shaped. It came from Saint Peter’s Anglican Mission, which was built in 1893 in the original Hay River village on the east bank of the main channel of the Hay River. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | 1900s |
| 2017.032.001 a,b | Chart roller | A chart rolling device, containing a scrollable navigation map of the Mackenzie River, used on the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Tembah. The Tembah was in operation from 1972 to 2010. During the summer of 1989, the ship patrolled the Mackenzie River from Mile 778 to the River Delta. | Townend, Derek | Non-Indigenous | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | 1980s |
| 974.014.030 a,b | Chest | A small wood chest with seal skin hinges. This type of chest was used to keep personal items such as writing materials. | Unknown | Gwich’in | Fort McPherson, Peel River | c. 1900-1950 | |
| 2015.012.019 a,b | Clogs | A gift to Canadian serviceman Russ Lovell from the people of Holland in gratitude for his role in liberating their country, April 17, 1945. Lovell trained men in field mechanics with the 82nd Artillery in Holland and Germany. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1945 |
| 2009.006.001 | Coat | A long parka made of commercially tanned seal skin, trimmed with wolverine fur. The Holman Co-op was established in 1961, and started making seal skin mats, wall hangings, and coats for a developing Inuit arts and crafts market. This coat is one of their early models. | Holman Eskimo Co-operative | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Ulukhaktok, Victoria Island | 1960s |
| 985.046.184 | Comb | A comb made of antler. In the western arctic, finely designed combs may have been worn as adornment. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Kuukpak, Mackenzie Delta | 500 years old |
| 2010.012.123 | Copper | A large irregular chunk of naturally occuring ‘native’ copper. Source Bern Will Brown found this sample at an old cabin site on the Dease Arm, Great Bear Lake. Copper prospectors were active in the Great Bear Lake area during the 1920s-1930s which could explain why this mineral sample was found there. | Science specimen | Sahtu | Great Bear Lake | ||
| 973.010.191 | Copper slab | A heavy sheet of naturally-occuring copper that varies in thickness between 1 and 2 cm. It was found by prospector Sam Otto near the Coppermine River in 1967. | Science specimen | Nunavut | Coppermine River, Coronation Gulf | Unknown | |
| 998.015.001 | Crosscut saw | A two-person saw with a large toothed metal blade and adjustable handles on both ends. This 'Maple Leaf 170' crosscut saw was taken on Mackenzie family hunting trips. It was carefully placed in the bottom of a toboggan to avoid damaging the blade. Used for bucking or cutting logs into sections for building structures such as tent platforms. | Simonds Saw & Steel Company, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA | Dene | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1890-1940 |
| 2014.010.001 - .009 | Dishware set | A dishware set, white armorlite with Akaitcho Hall emblem. Akaitcho Hall operated from 1958 to 1994 as a hostel for out-of-town students attending Sir John Franklin High School. This dishware was commissioned in 1973 for the 15th anniversary of the hostel and was used for special occasions. | Russell Food Equipment Ltd., Heath, England | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1973 |
| 974.021.320 | Document cylinder | A heavy brass pipe with screw-on cap fittings on either end, used as a document cylinder for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police boat St. Roch. Important messages were left in weather proof cylinders by arctic expeditions. Stamped on the cylinder is the following inscription: “Larsen, H.S. SI SCT. CPT/C.C./G.B. Dickens./1944/R.C.M.P. St. Roch. Aug 29th 1944”. In 1940–1942 the St. Roch (italisize) became the first vessel to complete a voyage through the Northwest Passage in a west to east direction, and in 1944 became the first to make a return trip in a single season. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | 1944 |
| 2017.010.001 | Dog bowl | A large tin can, roughly cut down to an appropriate height to serve as a dog bowl. It was used at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment at Fort Reliance on Great Slave Lake which was in operation from 1927 to 1965. The bowl belonged to Jumbo who worked with members at the Fort Reliance detachment. | Unknown | Dene / Métis | North Slave | Fort Reliance / Great Slave Lake | c. 1954 |
| 2011.006.001 | Dog harness | Ricky Andrew was the last trapper in Tulita to use dog teams on the trapline. This dog collar with a standing iron and harness was made for his lead dog. The wolverine fur tuft on the standing iron is meant to provide inspiration for the other dogs of the team. According to Andrew, the waving fur makes “dogs strong like a wolverine”. | Andrew, Ricky | Dene | Sahtu | Tulita, Mackenzie River | c. 2005 |
| 2011.005.013 | Dog pack | A dog pack of heavy white canvas with a band of smoke tanned moose hide. It was used by Gabe Etchinelle when traveling in the Mackenzie Mountains. | Unknown | Dene | Sahtu | Tulita, Mackenzie River | c. 1970-1980 |
| 2016.003.001 | Dog whip | A dog whip with braided caribou skin lash, secured to wood handle with moose hide tab. It was used by musher George Robert in the 1970 NWT Centennial Dog Team Patrol from Fort McPherson to Dawson City, Yukon. | Unknown | Dene | Gwich’in | Fort McPherson, Peel River | c. 1970 |
| 2004.006.006 | Dog whip | A dog whip used by RCMP Inspector Cyril Kirk who was posted in Aklavik. The whip was made by Martha Stewart, whose husband Andy Stewart was a Special Constable in Aklavik at that time. The lash is dyed with burnt alder or willow ash. The handle rattles when shaken. There may be lead pellets inside, for weight. | Stewart, Martha | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Aklavik, Mackenzie Delta | 1945-1948 |
| 2014.006.002 | Doll | A woman doll wearing Mackenzie Delta-style clothing. The doll is both hand sewn and machine sewn. | Amos, Jessie | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Inuvik, Mackenzie Delta | 1969 |
| 2002.018.001 a,b | Doll | A soft-bodied doll resembling a ‘Viking warrior’, commercially produced for a fundraising and awareness campaign by the “Women Warriors of the Sahtu” who wanted a road built to the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories. Newspaper columnist and personality Cece Hodgson-McCauley was the instigator of the campaign, and the doll was made to look like her. | Unknown | Dene | Sahtu | Norman Wells, Mackenzie River | 2002 |
| 2015.012.013 | Doll | A flat cut-out fabric doll in the image of a Canadian Women’s Army Corp member, with uniform and shoulder bag. It was probably a do-it-yourself craft product. Crafters embroidered along designated lines already marked into the fabric and then had artistic liberty to colour in hair, buttons, clothing seams, and facial features however they wanted to. Owned and possibly embroidered by Catherine ‘Goldie’ Lovell while a member of the C.W.A.C. during World War II. | Mod Art C.W. Co. Limited | Non-Indigenous | c. 1943-1946 | ||
| 2013.017.001 | Dress | A Girl Guide uniform consisting of blue shirtwaist dress and white rope lanyard, worn by Yellowknife troop member Paula Stanton in 1953 and 1954. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1953-1954 |
| 2003.009.001 | Drum | A drum made of scraped caribou skin stretched over a circular wooden frame with babiche lashing around inside and outside circumference. Collected by RCMP Sergeant Frank Cook and Helene Cook. | Unknown | Dene | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | c. 1925-1933 |
| 2003.003.001 a,b | Drum and stick | A drum of scraped caribou skin over a wooden frame. Maker Norman Felix (known as ‘Shepard’) was the drum maker for the Delta Dancers and Drummers until his death in 2005. | Felix, Norman | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | 2003 |
| 978.040.003 | Feed grinder | A feed grinder used by John Goodall on his farm at Fort Simpson. Goodall was born in England and came to Canada in 1911, homesteading in the Athabasca district before World War I. He came north to Fort Simpson in 1927 with a small family, farming with livestock and agriculture, and stayed 44 years until his death in 1971 at the age of 80. At Fort Simpson, the soil was rich and plentiful and under Goodall’s watchful eye potatoes and many other vegetables flourished. He supplied fresh produce to the missions and settlements along the Mackenzie River. From 1954 to 1967, Goodall was a member of the NWT Council. | Stover Manufacturing and Engine Company | Non-Indigenous | Dehcho | Fort Simpson, Mackenzie River | c. 1927 |
| X973.002.001 a,b | Fiddle and bow | A handcrafted wooden fiddle and bow. | Sikyea, Michel | Dene | North Slave | Ndilo, Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1930-1970 |
| 973.022.001 a,b | Fiddle and bow | This fiddle was handcrafted from spruce wood. It has caribou antler pegs and four wire strings. The neck is coloured with natural dyes. The wood bow is strung with horsehair. | Neyelle, John | Dene | Sahtu | Délı̨nę, Great Bear Lake | c. 1971 |
| 2005.011.001 | Fire balloon fragment | A piece of laminated mulberry paper from a World War II Japanese air balloon recovered near Hay River in June 1945. The Japanese launched approximately 9,300 of these hydrogen-filled balloons in 1944 and 1945. They were carried by air currents to North America. Most balloons carried small bombs, intended to cause panic and start forest fires. | Japanese manufacturer | Non-Indigenous | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | 1945 |
| 989.094.027 | Fish hook | Fish hook made of ivory with a metal barb. The hook is shaped like a fish and decorated with a 'circle and dot' pattern. A large blue glass bead is set in one eye. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | 1900-1920 |
| 2018.012.001 | Fish spear | An antler fish spear found on the beach at Lutselk’e in the 1960s. It would have originally been attached to a wood shaft. | Unknown | Dene | North Slave | Łutselk’e, Great Slave Lake | Unknown |
| 984.064.1070 | Fishing net | A knotted baleen fishing net, excavated at Cache Point, a large Thule Inuit whaling village. Cache Point is located atop a bluff on Richards Islands in the East Channel of the Mackenzie Delta. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Cache Point / Mackenzie Delta | 600 years ago |
| 982.001.001 | Frame saw | A wood saw used in Yellowknife by Henry Cadieux. This saw is also called a ‘bucksaw’ and is often used for cutting logs for firewood. | Unknown | Dene | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | Unknown |
| 971.009.001 a-p | Fur press | A fur press was a standard item at trading posts for compressing furs into bundles prior to shipment. This press was used by the Hudson’s Bay Company at its Yellowknife post in Old Town. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1940-1960 |
| X965.051.001 | Galena | A fist-sized sample of massive galena with excellent cubic cleavage. Galena is the ore from which lead is extracted. The Pine Point mine was in operation from 1965 to 1987. | Science specimen | South Slave | Pine Point | ||
| 980.026.001 | Gasoline pump | A hand operated gasoline pump used at Weaver & Devore Trading Ltd., a general store and trading post in the Old Town. | Service Station Equipment Co. Ltd., Toronto | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1954-1978 |
| 2011.007.003 | Gloves | A pair of machine sewn adult-sized gloves with high, wide gauntlet-style wrist cuffs. Made from smoke tanned moose hide with a decorative patch of white stroud, floral embroidery, and beaver trim. The gloves were made by Jane Horassi for her husband Gabe Horassi. Her generation believes that their men should be dressed well. | Horassi, Jane | Dene | Sahtu | Tulita, Mackenzie River | c. 2001 |
| 2012.005.001 a-c | Goggles | A pair of protective glasses and their storage tin. These goggles were found by a prospecting party in 1957 while working near the east end of Great Slave Lake. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | East Arm, Great Slave Lake | Late 1800s |
| 973.010.439 | Gold ore | Grey white quartz with flakes of visible gold and small flecks of dark green chlorite. It is representative of ore mined by the Ragged Ass Syndicate in 1940. | Science specimen | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 2.7 billion years old | |
| 996.008.078 a,b | Goose call | A curved, cone-shaped horn goose call with a brass reed inserted in the narrow end. Collected by Inspector C.W. West of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police during his travels in the Athabasca and Mackenzie River district c. 1901-1907. | Unknown | Dene | Mackenzie Valley | c. 1901-1907 | |
| 981.057.001 a,b | Handcuffs | A pair of metal handcuffs owned by John Firth, a Hudson’s Bay Company manager at the Peel River post. In the late 1800s, John Firth was appointed as the first law enforcement officer in that region. He acted as a Justice of the Peace until the coming of the Royal North West Mounted Police to Fort McPherson in 1903. | Marlin Firearms Company, New Haven, Connecticut, USA | Non-Indigenous | Gwich’in | Fort McPherson, Peel River | Early 1900s |
| 979.046.001 | Hard hat, lamp and battery pack | A fibreglass hard hat with a lamp and battery pack attached. It was worn by mining engineer John H. Parker when he worked at the Rayrock uranium mine which operated from 1957 to 1959. | Thomas A. Edison Inc., West Orange, New York, USA | Non-Indigenous | Tłı̨chǫ | Rayrock Mine, Sherman Lake | 1950s |
| 979.060.001 b | Hat | A dance hat made with loon skins, caribou skin, and seal skin. There is a loon bill on top of the hat to which ermine pelts are attached. Collected by Hudson's Bay Company manager Jim Cumming. | Kalvak, Helen | Inuit | Inuvialuit | Ulukhaktok, Victoria Island | c. 1958 |
| 979.087.001 | Hat | A trapper-style hat made of beaver fur with ear flaps and a quilted fabric lining. Worn by bush pilot Wilfrid ‘Wop’ May. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Northwest Territories | 1930-1950 | |
| 989.094.005 | Hat | An old fashioned pilot-style hat made of white-tanned caribou hide with beaded decoration and white flannel lining. This hat was made in Aklavik in 1937. The style was inspired by the aviators, the Lindbergs, and was called the ‘Lindy hat’. In July 1931, Charles and Anne Lindberg left New York to follow an Arctic route to the far east. They stopped in Aklavik for four days before continuing westward to Alaska and eventually the Kamchatka Peninsula. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Aklavik, Mackenzie Delta | 1937 |
| 2017.007.005 | Headset | A headset worn by pilot Len Robinson. While living in Yellowknife from 1980 until his death in 1998, Robinson flew Twin Otter planes for air charter companies, including Air Tindi, Latham Island Airways, and Ptarmigan Airways. | David Clark Company Inc., Worcester, Mass., USA | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1990s |
| 2013.007.001 | Helmet | A leather flying helmet worn by Yellowknife bush pilot, prospector, and veteran Jake Woolgar who served in World War II with the Royal Canadian Air Force. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1940 |
| 979.010.035 | Hide scraper | Hide scraper made from a moose tibia with serrated tip. The scraper was made by participants of ‘Operation Heritage’, a project to make traditional items and to pass knowledge on to younger members of the community. | Unknown | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Behchokǫ̀, Marian Lake | 1978 |
| 977.076.002 | Hide scraper | A hide scraper with metal blade and wooden handle that fits comfortably in the palm of a hand. Susie Umaok used this scraper for many years. | Umaok, Thomas | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | c. 1905-1952 |
| 2004.010.002 | Hide scraper | A hide scraper with wooden handle and metal blade. The wood was selected from driftwood on the beach, chosen with grain that follows the curvature of the hand. The blade is fashioned out of a piece of an old shotgun barrel. | Mangelana, Clarence; Felix, Norman | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | 2003 |
| 2007.001.001 | Hide scraper | A stone scraper wrapped with patterned paper around the top and tied with string. It was used for many years by Margaret Lafferty, daughter of maker Madelaine Dryneck, to stretch and soften hides. | Dryneck, Madelaine | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Behchokǫ̀, Marian Lake | c. 1936 |
| 2011.005.006 | Hook | A hook used by hunter and trapper Gabe Etchinelle. The hook was bound to a wooden pole and used for retrieving a beaver from an underwater trap. | Unknown | Dene | Sahtu | Tulita, Mackenzie River | Mid 1900s |
| 2010.009.001 | Horse jaw bone | An ancient horse jaw from a mud flow of a collapsed slope near Midway Lake, on the Peel Plateau, in the Fort McPherson area. It was recovered by Bernard Lauriol of the University of Ottawa in 2010. North American horses died out 12,000 years ago but not before they migrated to Eurasia. | Science specimen | Gwich’in | Fort McPherson, Peel River | 22,000 years ago | |
| 979.034.004 a,b | Ice saw | An ice saw with a long steel blade and a wood and metal handle. This saw was used by the RCMP in Fort Providence to cut ice blocks for food preservation, and to access their winter water supply. | Henry Disston and Sons, Toronto, Ontario | Non-Indigenous | Dehcho | Fort Providence, Mackenzie River | c. 1910-1940 |
| 981.033.001 | Ice tongs | A pair of metal tongs used to haul large blocks of ice from the Mackenzie River to the Fort Good Hope nursing station where the ice was stored in a cork-insulated icehouse. The nursing station was built in 1955 by the federal government. | Gifford and Wood Company, Hudson, New York, USA | Non-Indigenous | Sahtu | Fort Good Hope, Mackenzie River | 1950s |
| 985.030.001 | Ichthyosaur jaw | Upper and lower jaw of an ichthyosaur (Maiaspondylus lindoei) with teeth intact. The fossil is from the Loon River Formation on the Hay River and dates to the Lower Cretaceous, about 110 million years ago. Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles that looked a bit like the modern dolphin. | Science specimen | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | 110 million years old | |
| 2017.001.001 | Iron | A clothes iron used by Emily Lepine while living in Hay River with her husband, Frank Lepine, in the 1950s to 1970s. The heavy 'No. 7' iron could have been heated on a wood stove. The metal handle had to be grasped with a thick potholder or glove. | J. Middleton | Métis | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | |
| 979.025.002 a | Jacket | A jacket made of caribou hide and beaded black velvet with hare fur trim. This jacket is patterned after historic 'chief's coats' that combined a European open front with traditional decorative patterns and materials. It was worn by Tlicho chief Alexis Arrowmaker at the 1975 Treaty Days celebrations. | Richardson, Frances | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Behchokǫ̀, Marian Lake | 1975 |
| 983.012.001 | Jacket | A man's jacket made of moose hide, beaded and trimmed with wolverine fur. | MacKenzie, Helen | Dene | North Slave | Ndilo, Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1983 |
| 996.021.001 | Jacket | A jacket made with Russian squirrel fur. The fur was reworked from the lining of a velvet coat. The jacket would fit a two to three year old child and was worn by several generations of the donor family. | McNeill, Eleonor | Métis | South Slave | Fort Smith, Slave River | c. 1924 |
| 962.002.003 | Kettle | A cast iron tea kettle used at St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Mission in Tulita. The mission building was built in 1896 and dismantled in 1962. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Sahtu | Tulita, Mackenzie River | Early 1900s |
| 2008.007.001 | Kimberlite | A flat slab showing xenocrysts of large green olivine crystals, set in a fine-grained matrix of other minerals. This is an example of the rock where diamonds are found. Specimen is from the Snap Lake diamond mine operated by De Beers Canada Inc. from 2008 to 2015. | Science specimen | North Slave | Snap Lake Mine | 50 millions years old | |
| 2005.013.001 | Knife | A knife made from an old saw blade attached by brass rivets to a hickory wood handle. This type of knife is used for skinning and butchering beluga whales. | Mangelana, Clarence | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | 2005 |
| 2005.013.002 | Knife | A knife with a wooden handle, metal blade and brass rivets. The maker notes that he used this knife for many years for butchering whales and for preparing muktuk, chunks of whale skin and blubber. | Mangelana, Clarence | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | 1980s |
| 997.010.002 a,b | Knife | A knife made of wood, metal and cloth tape. Called a 'crooked' knife, this style is used for many things, especially shaping and paring wood. The blade was probably cut from an old saw blade. Originally belonged to Pierre Liske Sr., once chief of Enodah, or Trout Rock, on Great Slave Lake. | Unknown | Dene | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1940-1960 |
| 2003.008.007 | Knife | A dagger-like knife with an iron blade and bone shaft. The blade is attached with a copper rivet. The nearby 1854 wreck of Robert McClure’s ship ‘Investigator’ would have been a good source of sheet copper and other metal for people frequenting Banks Island. The item was collected by geologist Don Yont in 1961 on Mercy Bay, Banks Island. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Banks Island, Western arctic | 1800s |
| 982.052.001 | Knife | A very large flensing knife blade, oblong shaped with a large flat point. Abundant lichen on one surface means it was lying on the ground for a long time. Collected on the Natkusiak Peninsula, Victoria Island, possibly Thule Inuit culture. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Ulukhaktok, Victoria Island | |
| 986.034.335 | Labret | A labret made of wood. In the western arctic, labrets were worn as adornment in cheek and lower lip incisions. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Kuukpak, Mackenzie Delta | 500 years old |
| X964.025.001 and .002 | Labrets | A pair of ivory cheek plugs called labrets. Early archival photos show men wearing labrets. By the 1920s they were not as popular. | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | c. 1880-1930 | |
| 2001.001.001 | Lamp | A seal oil lamp, or qulliq, made of green-grey stone. The lamp belonged to hunter and trapper Natkusiak, also known as Billy Banksland. After accompanying adventurer Vilhjalmur Stefansson on the Canadian Arctic Expedition from 1914 to 1917, Natkusiak received the schooner North Star in lieu of wages owing. He and his family used the schooner as a base for trapping on Banks Island. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Banks Island, Western arctic | Early 1900s |
| 2012.021.003 | Licence plate | An American government licence plate for a U.S. Army vehicle on the Canol Road during World War II. The Canol Project was an engineering effort to build a road and oil pipeline over the Mackenzie Mountains from Norman Wells to Whitehorse, Yukon. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Sahtu | Canol Road, Mackenzie Mountains | c. 1942 |
| 2017.006.040 | Licence plate | Novelty licence plates were produced by the Gwich’in First Nation as promotional items. Aklavik resident and elder Mary Kendi, a prolific sewer, community activist, and cultural instructor, fastened this plate to the front of her walker. | Unknown | Dene | Gwich’in | Aklavik, Mackenzie Delta | Early 2000s |
| 979.014.001 | Mace | The first NWT Legislative Assembly mace was constructed by northern artists from northern materials in 1956. Within three years, it had started to deteriorate so a replica was made in more durable materials for use in the Legislative Assembly, and the original one was transferred to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in 1979 for preservation. | Various artists | Non-Indigenous | Northwest Territories | 1955 | |
| 970.005.001 | Mail bag | A canvas bag used on the Western Arctic Centennial Dogsled Mail Run March 15 to April 12, 1970. The event was made in relays from Fort Smith to Inuvik. It was part of the 1970 NWT centennial celebrations in the territory. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Mackenzie Valley | c. 1970 | |
| 974.026.001 | Mailbox | A metal mailbox used at Weaver & Devore Trading Ltd., a general store and trading post in Yellowknife. They operated a post office for Old Town beginning in 1961. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1960s |
| 998.014.001 | Map | A pilot’s escape map of northern Canada printed on rayon fabric. Maps like this were carried by Allied forces airmen in World War II and into the Cold War period. The maps could be worn around the neck like a scarf, or folded into a pocket-sized package. This map shows the western arctic on one side and the eastern arctic on the other. | Aeronautical Chart and Information Service | Non-Indigenous | Northwest Territories | 1951 | |
| X974.013.001 | Marking hammer | A double headed metal hammer or stamp attached to a wooden handle. This stamp, with the initials ‘HBC,’ was used by the Hudson’s Bay Company to mark furs as their own. | Ketchum Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Ottawa | Non-Indigenous | Northwest Territories | 1950-1975 | |
| 990.004.001 a,b | Medal | A medal presented to Father Emile Petitot by the Paris Geographical Society in 1875. Petitot was a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was well known for his extensive publications on the people, geography and the natural history of the north. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Paris, France | 1875 | |
| 2005.009.001 | Metasequoia | A large piece of metasequoia tree trunk, also known as dawn redwood, found in a diamond-bearing kimberlite pipe at Lac de Gras. The metasequoia, a deciduous conifer, was a common swamp plant around 52 million years ago. At that time the region, today a tundra landscape, was humid, temperate, and forested. When the kimberlite volcano erupted, the remains of the tree collapsed into the top and was encased in the kimberlite rock. It is real wood, not mineralized or petrified, and is sometimes referred to as ’fossil wood’. | Science specimen | North Slave | Ekati Diamond Mine, Lac de Gras | 52 million years old | |
| 2008.009.001 a-d | Mittens | A pair of mittens that belonged to George Magrum, who trapped around the East Arm of Great Slave Lake from 1929 to 1963. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | East Arm, Great Slave Lake | 1950s |
| X973.025.001 | Moccasins | Embroidered moccasins made from caribou and moose hide in an ankle-wrap style. The moccasins are hand stitched with sinew. | Unknown | Dene | Northwest Territories | 1950-1970 | |
| 979.020.001 a,b | Moccasins | A pair of hide moccasins with rows of horsehair piping around the edge of the vamp. The foot is made with moose hide and the ankle wrap portion with caribou hide. | Hardy, Alice | Métis | Sahtu | Tulita, Mackenzie River | 1979 |
| 971.002.002 a,b | Moccasins | A pair of ankle-wrap moccasins made of moose hide and caribou hide. They were worn by the Tsiigehtchic participant in the last leg of the Western Arctic Centennial Dogsled Mail Run, 1970. As part of the Northwest Territories centennial celebrations, the mail run was made in relays from Fort Smith to Inuvik between March 15 and April 12, 1970. | Andre, Eliza | Dene | Gwich’in | Tsiigehtchic, Mackenzie Delta | c. 1970 |
| 983.010.001 a,b | Moccasins | Moccasins with moose hide soles and caribou hide ankle wraps. White stroud vamps, or 'uppers', and ankle cuffs are embroidered and beaded. Sewn with sinew. | Drygeese, Mary Louise | Dene | North Slave | Detah, Great Slave Lake | 1983 |
| 979.063.081 a,b | Model igloo | An igloo made from seal skin, hand stitched with white nylon thread by Bessie Andreason. The interior of the igloo includes a sleeping bench, tools, a woman holding a baby, and a man reclining on a bench smoking a pipe. Collected by Reverend Leonard Holman who lived in Aklavik and Inuvik from 1955 to 1975. | Andreason, Bessie | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | c. 1963-1967 |
| 2012.008.003 | Moose call | A moose call made from a juvenile bull moose scapula (shoulder bone). A hunter uses it by scraping it up along a tree during the rut season to create an attractive sound. The object has been carved to easily fit a hunter’s hand. | Beaulieu, Gordon | Dene | South Slave | Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake | 2008 |
| 981.024.001 | Mooseskin Boat | A large boat made of eight moose skins stretched over a spruce wood frame and sewn with sinew and babiche. It was built by Shuta Got’ine elders and youth at the headwaters of the Keele River in 1981 to bring back a fading tradition. The project was the subject of a National Film Board film, ‘The Last Mooseskin Boat’. After the boat was built, it travelled down the Mackenzie River to Tulita and has been on exhibit at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre ever since. Shuta Got’ine inhabiting the mountains west of the Mackenzie River traveled in moose skin boats from the late 19th century to the 1950s. They were made at mountain camps in early summer to transport people, dogs, dried meat, hides and other goods down the fast-flowing rivers to Mackenzie River trading posts. Built as temporary craft, the boats were dismantled after the journey, and materials reused. | Etchinelle, Gabe; Pellissey, George; Pellissey, Vivian; MacCauley, Jonas; Neyelle, Leon; Karkagie, Madelaine; Tetso, Cecilia | Dene | Sahtu | Délı̨nę, Great Bear Lake / Tulita, Mackenzie River | 1981 |
| 971.014.001 | Musket | A muzzle-loading flintlock musket with a long barrel. This gun was found submerged in water off the shore of Meridian Lake by prospectors in 1971, found loaded with powder and ball along with a hatchet and chisel blade. The story of how this musket ended up on the lake bottom is unknown, nor is it’s age clear, however barrels of trade guns were shortened after the 1820s. The sea serpent sideplate like the one on this gun became a popular feature as the trade developed. | Unknown | South Slave | Meridian Lake | Late 1700s to early 1800s | |
| 2020.006.001 | Muskrat coat | A woman's coat made from muskrat fur with coyote collar, manufactured at one of the sewing shops in the Mackenzie Delta. It was worn by Peggy Butters when she lived in Inuvik in the 1960s-1970s. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Inuvik, Mackenzie Delta | c. 1960-1970s |
| 973.010.070 | Niccolite | A sample of copper-coloured massive nickel ore, collected by Sam Otto at Eldorado Mine on Great Bear Lake in 1959. Sam Otto was a Yellowknife-based prospector and trapper. | Science specimen | Sahtu | Great Bear Lake | ||
| 2018.006.001 | Paddle | A wooden paddle used by Bill Farley during the 1970 NWT Centennial commemorative ‘Alexander Mackenzie Canoe Race’. The race was down the Mackenzie River from Fort Providence to Inuvik, a distance of 1760 kilometers. Teams from ten NWT communities participated. Farley was a member of the Yellowknife team. After the race’s finish in Inuvik he got a list of all race participants and wrote their names on the blade. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1970 |
| 987.008.008 | Parka | A parka made from caribou hide with wolverine fur around the hood. The parka was worn by the daughters of Reverend Tom Murray and Ellen Murray of All Saints Anglican Mission. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Aklavik, Mackenzie Delta | 1930s |
| 998.036.001 | Parka | A man's hooded caribou skin parka with cotton fabric lining and front zipper. Sewn with sinew and thread. | Quitte, Marie | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Gamètı̀, Rae Lake | 1966 |
| 982.092.014 | Parka | A parka made from arctic ground squirrel or 'siksik' with seal skin trim on upper arm and around bottom edge. The parka was made for Lincoln Washburn, a geologist working in the region. | Kaglik, Annie | Inuit | Nunavut | Kugluktuk, Coronation Gulf | 1939 |
| 982.092.015 | Parka | A parka made from arctic ground squirrel or 'siksik' with wolf and wolverine fur in the ruff around the hood. The parka was made for traveler and writer Tahoe Washburn, worn by her while in the arctic from 1939 to 1941. | Kaglik, Annie | Inuit | Nunavut | Kugluktuk, Coronation Gulf | 1939 |
| 982.092.017 | Parka | Child's parka made of reindeer calf skin sewn with sinew and trimmed with wolverine fur. Collected by arctic travelers Lincoln and Tahoe Washburn. | Unknown | Inuit | Inuvialuit | Ulukhaktok, Victoria Island | 1939 |
| 978.007.001 | Parka | A man’s outer parka made of caribou skin with wolf and wolverine fur trim. The decorative bands are caribou skin piecework and commercial braid. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Mackenzie Delta | c. 1950-1978 |
| 994.001.001 | Parka | A parka made from arctic ground squirrel or 'sik-sik' fur, with a large wolverine and coyote fur sunburst hood ruff. The decorative geometric trim is caribou skin piecework. This fancy parka was designed and worn by Agnes Nanogak Goose. | Nanogak Goose, Agnes | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Ulukhaktok, Victoria Island | 1992 |
| 975.007.001 | Parka | A parka made of arctic ground squirrel fur with a checker board fur pattern around bottom hem and cuffs. It was made for Silas Kangegana by his mother in 1962. Silas was a reindeer herder in the Mackenzie Delta. | Mrs. Kangegana | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | 1962 |
| 2013.008.014 | Patch | A machine-embroidered jacket patch made for members of the Giant Mine Curling Club. The club was incorporated in 1947 and active until the early 1980s. Curling was an important recreation for mine families in the north. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1950-1957 |
| 2013.020.001 | Patch | A machine-embroidered sweater patch made for members of the Negus Hogans hockey club in Yellowknife. The Hogans were sponsored by Negus gold mine, and were the top team in the league from 1948 to 1951. | Crest Craft, Saskatoon | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1949-1952 |
| 2016.009.018 | Patch | A jacket patch promoting the Fort Smith Dog Mushers’ Club. Donor Pi Kennedy is a well-known retired trapper and dog musher in his community. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | South Slave | Fort Smith, Slave River | |
| 2017.005.001 | Patch | A curling club jacket patch from the Rayrock uranium mine that operated from 1957 to 1959. It was donated by the family of Don Salo. He was a master mechanic at the mine, living there with his wife Clementine and two children. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Tłı̨chǫ | Rayrock Mine, Sherman Lake | 1957-1959 |
| 2017.006.037 | Patch | A jacket patch from Grollier Hall hostel in Inuvik, a residence for students attending Sir Alexander Mackenzie High School in the 1960s and 1970s. | Unknown | Dene | Gwich’in | Inuvik, Mackenzie Delta | 1960s-1970s |
| 2015.012.015 | Paybook | A paybook used by Catherine ‘Goldie’ Lovell while a member of the Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Corp 1943 to 1946. During World War II, she was a sergeant and served as paymaster at a Red Deer training camp, followed by a stint in Ottawa before going overseas to London. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1943-1946 |
| X963.025.001 a,b | Phonograph | An 'Edison Amberola 30' phonograph that played wax cylinders. The internal horn on this machine has been removed and the box is missing its wooden front grille. The 'Blue Amberol' cylinder on the playing cylinder is The Rocky Road to Dublin. This phonograph was used in Detah homes into the 1940s. | Thomas A. Edison Inc., Orange, New Jersey, USA | Dene | North Slave | Detah, Great Slave Lake | 1915-1920s |
| 977.046.001 a | Piano | This upright piano was shipped to the RCMP detachment on Herschel Island by Inspector Vernon Kemp when his family moved there in 1927. In the 1930s, the piano was moved to the Anglican Mission at Shingle Point and then to All Saints Anglican Residential School in Aklavik. From 1959 to 1975, it was used at Stringer Hall, a student hostel in Inuvik. | John Raper Piano Company, Ottawa, Ontario | Non-Indigenous | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | c. 1910-1927 |
| 982.010.001 | Pipe bowl | A carved stone pipe bowl with a crosshatch design. This style of pipe came from the eastern part of Canada and moved westwards with the fur trade. Pipes like these were often carried by voyageurs. Northerners who frequented southern posts would have traded for these pipes. This pipe bowl was found at one of John Franklin’s campsites from his 1819-1822 expedition. | Unknown | Dene / Métis | Tłı̨chǫ | Winter Lake | c. 1819 |
| 2010.010.001 | Pounding stone | A pounding stone is used to prepare soft meat that can be consumed by elders. It is soft, so they can eat it. To make pounded meat for an elder is a respectful and caring thing to do. Pounded meat is also used by hunters as a light food to carry with them. It can also be used to break up bones to make bone grease. This tool was used by Madelaine Pea’a (aka Madelaine Judas, senior) in Wekweeti in the 1960s. | Judas, Madelaine | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Wekweètì, Snare Lake | Unknown |
| 2000.011.007 a,b | Powder horn | A powder horn for carrying gunpowder that belonged to Johnny Crapeau. Powder horns were made by southern suppliers and came north with the fur trade. This one is made from a cow horn. | Unknown | Dene | North Slave | Detah, Great Slave Lake | Early 1900s |
| 983.055.001 | Powder horn | A powder horn made from a cow horn with leather strap. It was originally owned and used by Francois Drygeese at Enodah, or Trout Rock, a Yellowknives Dene village site on the North Arm of Great Slave Lake. | Unknown | Dene | North Slave | Enodah (Trout Rock), Great Slave Lake | Early 1900s |
| 977.004.001 a-o | Printing press | A foot-powered, hand-feed platen letter press. It was brought to Yellowknife by The News of the North publishers for printing posters and small stationary jobs. Acquired in 1967 by Robert Jenkins, industrial arts teacher at the Yellowknife Public School, to help students learn the basics of graphic arts. Jenkins formed Canarctic Publishing Ltd. in 1972. | Chandler & Price Company, Cleveland, Ohio, USA | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1886-1912 |
| 2017.008.002 | Propeller | A bronze boat propeller, from the small diesel motor vessel B.E.A.R.. The boat operated on Great Bear Lake in the 1930s by Bear Exploration and Radium Limited to supply its silver mine with freight and move its mine product to market. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Sahtu | Port Radium, Great Bear Lake | c. 1932 |
| 981.059.003 a | Prospector’s kit | A prospector's kit holding bottles and vials of chemicals and assorted paraphernalia to assist in identifying mineral samples. The kit was used by Ken J. 'Curly' McDonald, a Yellowknife prospector. | McDonald, K.J. 'Curly' | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1930-1981 |
| 973.010.171 | Quartz crystal | A hexagonal quartz crystal. The red color derives from inclusions or encrustations of iron or hematite. Collected by prospector Sam Otto at the Rayrock uranium mine. | Science specimen | Tłı̨chǫ | Rayrock Mine, Sherman Lake | ||
| 2016.009.001 | Radio transceiver | Donor Pi Kennedy was an avid radio user while living at his trapping cabin at Oulton Lake, northeast of Fort Smith. This SBX-11A radio transceiver was just one of many collected by Kennedy while retired in Fort Smith. | Spilsbury & Tindall Ltd., Vancouver, BC | Non-Indigenous | South Slave | Fort Smith, Slave River | c. 1977-1979 |
| 2005.017.003 a-d | Record player | A ‘Victor Orthophonic Victrola’ record player in a floor cabinet console. The player handle was cranked by hand to play a record. Owner Henry Lafferty was a long-time employee and interpreter for the Hudson’s Bay Company and Northern Traders in Behchoko (Fort Rae). He worked for the HBC for 45 years and had access to items sold at stores or available through catalogues. It came with vinyl records that include tuns by Benson All Star Orchestra, Hal Kemp and his Orchestra, and Joe Green’s Novelty Marimba Band. | Victor Talking Machine Company of Canada | Métis | Tłı̨chǫ | Behchokǫ̀, Marian Lake | c. 1924-1929 |
| 977.047.001 | Reel kit | A wood fishing jigger with cotton string line, muskox horn plug and iron hook. It was used for many years by Reverend Thomas Umaok, an Anglican minister. | Umaok, Thomas | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | c. 1930-1963 |
| 982.069.001 | Satellite fragment | A scorched steel piece from the Russian nuclear-powered satellite Cosmos 954 that re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on January 24, 1978. Debris was scattered from southern Great Slave Lake, northeast towards Baker Lake. | Government of Soviet Union | Non-Indigenous | South Slave | Great Slave Lake | 1977 |
| 2001.009.005 | Sewing kit | A sewing kit made of caribou and moose hide with metal beads and a bone button. Sometimes called a 'chatelaine', this kit has a needle holder, a pin cushion, a thimble holder and a sheath for scissors. Collected by Canon Alfred Vale, principal of St. Peter’s Anglican Mission School. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | 1907-1927 |
| 2009.026.001 a-d | Sewing machine | A hand-cranked sewing machine purchased by Rose Drygeese and Sophie Lacorne at Weaver & Devore Trading Ltd. in Yellowknife in the 1940s. They shared the machine while living in Detah and at bush camps, and loaned it out frequently to friends. | Singer Manufacturing Company, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec | Dene | North Slave | Detah, Great Slave Lake | 1936 |
| 2003.009.007 | Shelf valance | A decorative hanging for a shelf, made of black velvet with floral beadwork. Collected by RCMP Sergeant Frank Cook and Helene Cook. | Unknown | Dene / Métis | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | c. 1925-1933 |
| 981.048.001 a-c | Ship’s compass | Compass used on the Hudson's Bay Company schooner M.S. Aklavik during a 1937 trip navigating the western half of the Northwest Passage from the Coronation Gulf to Bellot Strait. | E.M. Sherman, Seattle, Washington, USA | Non-Indigenous | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | c. 1937 |
| 980.056.001 a,b | Ship’s telegraph | A brass telegraph from the M.V. Radium Gilbert. A ship's telegraph is used for communication between the bridge of the ship and the engine room. Operated by the Northern Transportation Company Ltd. from 1946 to 1980, the Radium Gilbert transported supplies and cargo to communities on Great Bear Lake, and uranium from Eldorado Mine. | Jos. Harper & Son Inc., New York, New York, USA | Non-Indigenous | Sahtu | Great Bear Lake | 1946-1980 |
| 978.074.001 a-c | Ship’s compass | A compass used on the Aklavik II, an RCMP supply and patrol vessel that operated in the Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Sea area in the 1950s and 1960s. | E.S. Ritchie & Sons Inc., Massachusetts, USA | Non-Indigenous | Inuvialuit | Mackenzie Delta | c. 1925 |
| 2010.012.019 | Shirt | A shirt sewn by Cece Hodgson-McCauley while living in Deline. The shirt is made from a nylon parachute acquired by McCauley from a person who salvaged it from ‘Operation Muskox’, a Canadian military exercise that passed through the Great Bear Lake area in the winter of 1946. During Operation Muskox, supplies were dropped by parachute along the route of the expedition, and local people collected the parachutes for re-use. | McCauley-Hodgson, Cece | Dene | Sahtu | Délı̨nę, Great Bear Lake | 1950-1951 |
| 973.010.195 | Silver | A sample of tarnished silver, collected by Sam Otto at Echo Bay, Great Bear Lake in the 1930s during the height of the radium and silver rush. Later in life, Sam Otto was a Yellowknife-based prospector and trapper. | Science specimen | Sahtu | Great Bear Lake | ||
| 2001.019.001 | Skateboard | A 'Super Surfer' skateboard made of wood with clay wheels, and used by the Hamer family of Yellowknife in the 1960s and 1970s. | Hobie Skateboards, California, USA | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1960s |
| 994.019.001 a-c | Skidoo | A 1961 Bombardier snowmobile owned and used in Deline by Father Rene Fumoleau, an Oblate priest who came to the Northwest Territories in 1953. This was the first snowmobile in the Great Bear Lake area. Father Fumoleau made several modifications to the snow machine in order to keep comfortable and warm on his trips to bush camps in the winter months. He says the snowmobile did not go very fast (10-15 miles per hour) but it was reliable, and never let him down. | L’Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitee | Non-Indigenous | Sahtu | Délı̨nę, Great Bear Lake | 1961 |
| 2003.007.004 | Skin scraper | A scraper with wood handle and metal blade for scraping small pelts such as beaver and mink. | Liske, Pierre | Dene | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1930-1960 |
| X963.007.001 | Sled | A handmade wooden sled found at John Hornby’s cabin in the Thelon Game Sanctuary. In 1927, Hornby and his two companions, Edgar Christian and Harold Adlard, died of starvation in the small cabin on the Thelon River. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Thelon River | 1926-1927 |
| 2003.010.022 a,b | Slippers | A pair of slippers made of white-tanned caribou hide with silk thread embroidery and ermine trim. Collected by RCMP Sergeant Frank Cook and Helene Cook. | Unknown | Dene / Métis | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | c. 1925-1933 |
| 977.014.004 a,b | Slippers | A pair of moose hide slippers lined with cotton fabric and decorated with dyed moose hair tufting. They were collected by Helena Sowden, a matron at Saint Peter’s Anglican Mission School in Hay River. | Unknown | Dene | Dehcho | Fort Providence, Mackenzie River | c. 1926-1936 |
| 982.040.467 | Snow goggles | A pair of wooden snow goggles with the remains of baleen ties. They were collected by archaeologists at a Thule Inuit site on Banks Island. | Unknown | Inuit | Inuvialuit | 800 years old | |
| 989.094.040 | Snow knife | A snow knife shaped from a single piece of antler, a handy tool for cutting snow blocks. It was collected by RCMP Inspector T.B. Caulkin stationed at Herschel Island in 1924 to 1927. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Western arctic | 1924-1927 |
| 2014.014.001 a,b | Snowmobile | A Bosak snow machine, ‘Super M’ model. It was used by employees at Con Mine’s Bluefish Lake Hydro for freighting supplies around camp during the 1950s and 1960s. | Bosak | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1950s-1960s |
| 996.008.059 a,b | Snowshoes | A finely webbed pair of Gwich'in snowshoes. The wood frames and crosspieces are stained a reddish colour, probably with ochre. A line of sinew with red and blue glass beads is strung down the centre of the webbing. | Unknown | Dene | Gwich’in | Mackenzie Valley | c. 1912 |
| 2000.011.014 a,b | Snowshoes | A pair of snowshoes made by Bruno Moosenose and Catherine Moosenose. Bruno constructed the frames, and Catherine did the babiche webbing and moose hide ties. The snowshoes were collected by anthropologist June Helm in 1959. | Moosenose, Bruno; Moosenose Catherine | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Whatì | 1959 |
| 2002.008.020 a-d | Speed skates | A pair of leather ‘Viking’ speed skates with metal blades. These were worn by Yellowknife speed skater Glen Skibstad when he won gold and bronze medals at the 1984 and 1986 Arctic Winter Games. | J. Havekotte, Amsterdam | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1980s |
| 999.007.002 | Standing iron | This standing iron is a dog harness decoration composed of a padded wire shaft with a wool pompom on top. It would have been attached upright to the harness right behind the dog’s head. Dog mushers often dressed up their teams for special occasions especially over the Christmas and Easter holidays. | Daniels, Bea | Métis | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1960s |
| 2008.036.001 | Steppe bison skull | A large skull with upper teeth, and wide upturned horns; the mandible is not present. The skull was discovered by Shane Van Loon on the east bank of the Arctic Red River, in an actively slumping area. | Science specimen | Gwich’in | Tsiigehtchic, Mackenzie Delta | 11,800 years old | |
| 2016.008.001 | Stromatolite | A stromatolite fossil specimen with a concentric circle pattern, collected in 2001 by Dave Smith at Utsingi Point on the East Arm, Great Slave Lake. Stromatolites are the oldest record of life on Earth, dating to billions of years ago. They are formed by colonies of blue-green algae or cyanobacteria excreting lime and trapping it in microbial mats. Commonly in the shape of mounds, they may also form in columns or sheets. | Science specimen | North Slave | East Arm, Great Slave Lake | 1.3 to 2.2 billions year ago | |
| 963.003.001 | Sundial | Sundial made of lead from the lining of tea chests. The sundial was set up outside the Hudson's Bay Company buildings in Fort Simpson. The inscription reads: ''Fort Simpson Mackenzie River; 'S.S. Wrigley'. Placed Oct. 25, 1888; By Capt. J. Bell; J.S. Camsell, C.F. H.B. Company; Rev. David N. Kirkby, Mission; A. Laviolette, H.B.C.'' | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Dehcho | Fort Simpson, Mackenzie River | 1888 |
| 989.003.001 a,b | Sunglasses | A pair of sunglasses with metal frame and tinted glass lenses, and leather case. These glasses were used by Captain John Hadley and Storker Storkersen, members of the the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913-1918. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | Inuvialuit | Beaufort Sea, Western arctic | c. 1913 |
| 2014.001.001 | Sweater | A school sweater worn by a student at the Yellowknife Public School. | Cloverdale Knitting Mills, Edmonton | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1950s |
| 2015.017.001 | Sweater | A Wolf Cub uniform worn by Ben Matijon of Yellowknife from 1957 to 1959. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1957-1959 |
| 2017.022.001 | Sweater | A hockey jersey worn by team captain Frank Horvat of the Giant Grizzlies in Yellowknife during the 1966-67 season. Frank worked at Giant Mine from 1952 to 1967 in the assay lab and was a top-scoring star of the local hockey league. | Unknown | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1966 |
| 2003.010.002 | Tobacco bag | A drawstring bag of black velvet with floral beading and yarn pompoms. Collected by RCMP Sergeant Frank Cook and Helene Cook. | Unknown | Dene / Métis | South Slave | Hay River, Great Slave Lake | c. 1925-1933 |
| 973.010.189 a,b | Toy boat | A handmade toy wooden boat carved from a piece of lumber, with small kicker engine fashioned from a metal container. Sam Otto bought four toy boats like this from children in 1955 while prospecting near Lac La Martre. | Unknown | Dene | Tłı̨chǫ | Lac La Martre | 1955 |
| 982.040.586 | Toy sled | A toy komatik of wood. Cross pieces are tied to runners with fine baleen. This exquisite artifact was excavated in the 1970s at a Thule Inuit site on the Nelson River, Banks Island. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Banks Island, Western arctic | 800 years ago |
| 999.099.006 | Toy snowmobile | A toy snowmobile, made from carved spruce wood and tin metal, used at Johnny Klondike’s tent camp during the early 1980s. The camp was occupied during fall and early winter for hunting and trapping, and one of several camps used by the family. | Dene | Dehcho | Fort Liard / Liard River | 1980s | |
| 998.026.001 a-j | Transit and case | Small surveying transits like this were carried into the field to make precision observations and sightings. This E.R. Watts & Sons unit was used by John Anderson-Thomson, an engineer and land surveyor in the NWT for 38 years from 1944 to 1982. | E.R. Watts & Son, London, England | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | c. 1915 |
| 2015.013.001 a | Transmitter | The Gibson Girl emergency radio was used by many northern bush pilots in the post-World War II period. It featured a hand-crank and an ergonomic shape so that it could be placed between a pilot’s thighs while cranking to generate a signal. This transmitter was owned by Hank Koenen who operated a charter airline from 1949 to 1975. | Bendix Aviation Limited | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1941 |
| 963.005.001 | Truck | A Model T truck, one of the first vehicles to enter the Northwest Territories in the 1920s. It was owned initially by Dr. Clermont Bourget, the Indian Agent and medical doctor stationed at Fort Resolution from 1923 to 1933. The truck was then used by trader George Pinsky who operated a general store in Fort Resolution for many years. When Pinsky donated the truck to the museum in 1963 it was still in working condition. | Ford Motor Company | Non-Indigenous | South Slave | Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake | c. 1924 |
| 999.009.001 | Trunk | A metal-covered, wooden ‘steamer’ trunk used by Pierre and Elise Liske for storing prepared hides. | Unknown | Dene | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1900-1950 |
| 977.070.012 | Typewriter | This Remington Standard 12 typewriter was probably used by William (Billy) Joss at the Hudson’s Bay Company post at Bernard Harbour in the 1920s. He may have used it at other posts, including Ulukhaktok where he was also stationed. | Remington | Inuvialuit / Non-Indigenous | Inuvialuit / Nunavut | Bernard Harbour, Coronation Gulf | 1923 |
| 2005.013.003 | Ulu | A knife with a curved steel blade, brass tang and wooden handle. It was used for over 40 years by Sarah Mangelana to cut up whales, fish, caribou, geese and seals, and for fleshing hides. | Mangelana, Raymond | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Tuktoyaktuk, Western arctic coast | 1960s |
| 986.034.1192 | Ulu | A complete ulu with slate blade and wooden handle, excavated at Kuukpak, a large Inuvialuit Siglit whaling village in the Mackenzie Delta. | Unknown | Inuvialuit | Inuvialuit | Kuukpak, Mackenzie Delta | 500 years old |
| 989.096.001 | Vehicle | A 1957 Land Rover vehicle, owned by land surveyor and mining engineer John Anderson-Thomson. Among his many accomplishments, Anderson-Thomson was responsible for surveying an all-weather road linking Hay River with Yellowknife. This Land Rover was the first private vehicle to drive up this road when it was still under construction in the spring of 1959. The stretch of road was a mere right-of-way clearing through the winter bush. John Anderson-Thomson and his wife Janet completed the trip from Fort Providence to Yellowknife in five days under strenous conditions and with considerable damage to the vehicle. | The Rover Company Limited | Non-Indigenous | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1957 | |
| X973.028.001 | Wall pocket | A pocketed wall hanging made of black velvet with beaded inscription ‘1959 Yellowknife’. | Unknown | Dene / Métis | North Slave | Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake | 1959 |
| 988.021.001 a | Washing machine | A hand-powered washing machine with gear mechanism, handle and a barrel-shaped body. The machine was owned by Marie-Celine Bouvier, who did laundry for the the Royal Canadian Signal Corps, the US Signal Corps and the RCMP. | Washington Washer Co. Ltd | Métis | Dehcho | Fort Providence, Mackenzie River | 1940s |
| 2010.012.036 a-i | Weighing scale | A weighing scale used at Colville Lake’s trading post operated by W.J. McNeely and Charlie Masazumi between 1961 and 1968. | Burrow, Stewart & Milne Company Limited | Non-Indigenous | Sahtu | Colville Lake | c. 1961-1968 |
| 970.006.001 | Wood stove | This steel and cast iron 'BC Camp Stove' is from a small cabin where John Hornby and his two companions, Edgar Christian and Harold Adlard, starved to death in 1927. Christian’s diary was found inside the stove by the RCMP in 1929. | McClary Manufacturing Company, London, Canada | Non-Indigenous | North Slave | Thelon River | c. 1925 |
