Needle case

Name (French):	étui à aiguille
Name (Innu):	ushkatshiku-miut / shaputinikan-miush
Date Collected:	unknown
Institutions:	The Rooms, Provincial Museum Division
Catalog Number:	II-B-104
Place Made:	unknown
Maker:	displayed as example of Naskapi domestic equipment
Collector:	unknown

Description:

Tubular bone case with cork-like round wooden cap painted red. Red paint stain on top rim of case.

References:

James W. VanStone. 1982. The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture From the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.5. MacKenzie Shoebox dictionary 2003. Lynn Drapeau. 1999. Dictionnaire Montagnais-français. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l’Université du Québec.

Innu Narrative:

“Etutuskatshikuan (needle case).” Munik (Gregoire) Rich.

Other Info:

Re. Frank Speck collection at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, “A needle case made from the leg bone of a lynx has a wooden bottom inserted flush with the edge of the bone, and a stopper of the same material.” VanStone (1982:10)

MacKenzie records ushkatshik and shaputinikan as “needle; bone needle for blood letting.” Drapeau lists shaputinikan as “aiguille à coudre (sewing needle),” and shaputinikan-miush as “étui à aiguille (needle case).”