book chapter
Our Arctic province: Alaska and the Seal Islands
C. Scribner's sons • New York • Published In 1886 • Pages:
By: Elliott, Henry Wood.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Shortly after the purchase of Alaska by the United States, the Census Bureau sent several men to Alaska to report on the conditions and the potentialities of the territory. Prominent among these men were Ivan Petroff, who was to report on all aspects of Alaska and its peoples, and Henry Elliott, a naturalist, whose point of departure was a study of the seal life of the area. The reports of both men were published in the Tenth Census (See 41: Elliott and 40: Petroff). Petroff also made a preliminary report to congress in which he gave valuable ethnographic material (See ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. Petroff, Ivan. Population and Resources of Alaska. House of Representatives, 46th Cong., 3rd Sess., Ex. Doc. No. 40. Washington, 1881). The Aleut material the present volume is largely a reprint of these earlier reports. Although it is not so stated, the data on the Pribilov Islands is from Elliott's article in the Tenth Census and the information on the other islands is almost a reprint of Petroff's report to Congress with supplementary remarks on Elliott's own observations and experiences. This document was included and the earlier reports used only for supplementary information. This source is particularly valuable for the excellent picture of Aleut life in the period of change from Russian to American influence. Elliott lived on the Pribilov Islands for about two years and travelled throughout the Aleutian chain. The following material was omitted: data on Eskimo and Indian groups in Alaska proper; the extensive descriptions of seal life and of other fauna in the area and a detailed geographic discussion. Except for the illustrations of seal life and detailed maps of Pribilov Islands, most of the illustrations are included -- either from this source or from 41: Elliott.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Flora
- Descriptive somatology
- Marine hunting
- Fishing
- Settlement patterns
- Standard of living
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Aleut
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2007
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Arctic and Subarctic
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Natural Scientist
- Physical Scientist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Leila S. Small ; 1950-1956
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1872-1874
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1872-1874
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Aleutian Islands, Alaska, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Henry W. Elliott
- This document consists of excerpts
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 01015648
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Aleuts