Tools & Artifacts

Learn about tools and artifacts of the Tłı̨chǫ:

• Buffum Family Collection - The Buffum Family Collection is made up of eight pieces of clothing and bags that were carefully kept after the family moved south. In 1987, Marylyn (Buffum) Orchuk donated the collection to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Read more.
• Moose skin bag sewn with sinew - made by Prisque Winlatto for her son, Vital Thomas. Read more.
• Sinew - Kw'e - strong, hard thread made of caribou. Read more.
• Tłı̨chǫ Ekwǫ̀ Nı̨hmbaÌ€a Project - this exhibit documents a joint project to replicate a caribou skin lodge using traditional means. Read more.
• Tłı̨chǫ EwoÌ€ Kǫ̀nı̨hmbaÌ€a - The Dogrib Caribou Skin Lodge - this exhibit documents the return of the caribou skin lodge from Iowa. Read more.
• Tłı̨chǫ K'ielaÌ€ project- begun in the spring of 1996, was a collaborative effort to build a birchbark canoe in the style of the traditional Tłı̨chǫ canoes. Read more.
• Winter moccasins with caribou skin liners - made in 1978 by a group of women sewing for Operation Heritage in BehchokÇ«Ì€. Read more.
• Milwaukee Public Museum houses one of the largest Dogrib collections in the United States. The first item came to the Museum in 1941 through Keith Gebhardt, an employee of the museum. Dr. Nancy Oestreich Lurie donated much of the current collection in 1967 and 2000. June Helm's husband, Pierce King, donated several items to the museum collection in 2005, after Helm's passing in 2004. Lyle Shannon also donated an item that had been collected by June Helm. Much of the 70-piece collection includes utilitarian items, such as household tools and clothing items, but there are also several hand drums and games.
• National Museums Scotland collection - more information coming soon.
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre collection - The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife looks after the museum collection of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Collections Section acquires objects, natural specimens and works of art that represent all cultures and regions of the Northwest Territories.
  Historical objects from the Tłı̨chǫ region have been donated or purchased. They come from residents, visitors, and organizations. These objects provide glimpses of daily life on the land and in communities, and are as diverse as a caribou skin lodge from 1893, and a record player from the 1920s.
  Most Tłı̨chǫ objects in our collection date from the mid-1900s to the present. In the 1970s the Northern Heritage Centre purchased almost 100 articles made during a community project in Behchokǫ̀ called the Rae Heritage Project or “Operation Heritage.’ Participants tanned hides, prepared cordage, and made traditional hide clothing, bags, drums, toys, tools and equipment.
  Archaeological artifacts are collected differently. The Northern Heritage Centre is the repository for objects collected by archaeologists in the Northwest Territories. This means that archaeologists are required to submit artifacts and documentation to the museum. Artifacts include fragments of stone tools, worked bone, antler and bark, and imported glass, ceramic and metal trade goods. Examples of collections from Tłı̨chǫ territory are the Įdaà Trail Heritage Resource Inventory Project (1991-93), archaeological salvage prior to airport development at Snare Lake (1992-93,) Old Fort Rae investigations (2000 and 2008), and ongoing archaeological assessments in areas of mine development.
• 100 Year Museum Exhibit - English