From bolts to bags: Transforming cloth in 19th-century Tlingit Alaska

Abstract

Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in the late 18th century by European explorers and fur traders in Southeast Alaska. The transformation of cloth, both within ceremonial contexts, and perhaps more significantly beyond them, has been all but overlooked. This article explores the innovative ways Tlingit women used cloth and considers the ways in which it participated in the construction of new social circumstances and also masked longstanding cultural practices as it circulated within and between Tlingit and Euro-American settler communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular, the author looks at how calico cloth was utilized in relation to the burgeoning tourist industry in Southeast Alaska and the annual berry feast.