Gwich'in Name

  • Teetł’it Gwich’in Name:

    Adhòh tr’ih choo
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  • Gwichya Gwich’in Name:

    Adhòh tr’ih choo
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  • Vuntut Gwitchin Name:

    Dinjik dhòh tr’ihchoo
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“These boats were about sixty feet long, maybe more. They held about eight or ten families with all their belongings, and also their dogs.” — Christie Thompson, Teetł’it Gwich’in Elder, 1974

Catalogue Data

Materials: wood, moose hide
Dimensions: L. 40.64 cm; W. (middle) 12.7 cm
Date: 1963–1964
Made by: Brian Francis, Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories
Collected by: Richard Slobodin, Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, 1963–1964
Catalogue Number: CMCC VI-I-5

Manufacture and Use

  • About the Artifact

    “Boats constructed of [a] wooden (or bone) frame with [a] skin covering have, in various shapes, a circumboreal...

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  • About the Collector

    Richard Slobodin (1915–2005) first visited the Gwich’in community of Fort McPherson in the winter of...

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  • Oral History

    “[In late winter] people started to move homeward, going to where they would settle down for the spring. It was...

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  • About the Maker

    “The model moose-skin boat, fish trap (basket) and snowshoes were made by Brian Francis of Ft. McPherson,...

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Gwadàl’ Zheii: Belongings from the Land has been developed in collaboration with the Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute (www.gwichin.ca), Northwest Territories, and the Heritage Branch of the Vuntut Gwitchin Government (www.vgfn.ca), Yukon. Explore the rich cultural heritage of the Gwich’in through artifacts, historic and contemporary photographs, and oral histories and stories told by Elders.

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