THOMPSON, Judy, 2013 Women’s Work, Women’s Art: Nineteenth Century Northern Athapaskan Clothing, Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Gatineau, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 307 pages

With a comprehensive knowledge of the northern Athapaskan collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC, now the Canadian Museum of History), the author builds upon 40 years of research and publications. As a member of the curatorial committee that the Glenbow Museum (1984-1988) formed to prepare the exhibition The Spirit Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada’s First Peoples for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Thompson carried out an extensive study of Athapaskan historical collections in museums throughout Great Britain, Europe, and the (former) Soviet Union, many unknown and unpublished at the time (Thompson 1987). Shortly thereafter, this study was followed by Thompson’s (1990) monograph, Pride of the Indian Wardrobe: Northern Athapaskan Footwear and landmark exhibition and catalogue, From the Land: Two Hundred Years of Dene Clothing (1994), incorporating fieldwork with Dene seamstresses and elders in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Beginning with the identification of 23 Athapaskan groups resident in northern Canada and Alaska, Women’s Work, Women’s Art provides a detailed description of the ecology, social history, and clothing design of Dene communities in three geo-cultural regions. Chapter titles convey the scope of the publication: “In the Old Days;” “Doing the Job Right: Preparation of Materials and the Art of Sewing;” “From Head to Toe: Major Styles and Cuts of Garments;” and “Regional Styles.” In addition to the choice selection of historical garments, the publication features 200 illustrations, including diagrams illustrating clothing patterns, stitching, and decorative elements, such as quillwork and fringe-wrapping. These diagrams, the result of a close collaboration between the late textile curator, Dorothy Burnham, and CMC curators, Judy Thompson, Judy Hall, and Louise Tepper, represent an exceptional contribution to the study of indigenous clothing design in northern Canada (see Thompson et al. 2001). Historical illustrations highlight the significant time and attention devoted to dress and personal representation in Athapaskan society. The 1854 watercolour, entitled “Tukkuth or Rat Indian [Gwich’in] of the Upper Porcupine River” (Figure I.1), by British surgeon Edward Adams, captures the image of a finely garbed, well-adorned figure of a Dene hunter in which every aspect of his clothing and hunting equipment is rendered with exceptional care. An 1890 sketch by Father Morice (Figure 1.14a, b) portrays a high-ranking Dakelh man wearing a ceremonial wig of dentalia, human hair, and sea lion whiskers in a striking cascade down his back. In demonstrating the importance attributed to cultural ideals of self-presentation in 19th century Athapaskan society, such images raise disturbing questions about the diminished status of Indigenous clothing traditions over time and its effect on issues of social prestige and personal self-image within Athapaskan society. Chapter 2 extensively describes the regional ecology with a comprehensive description of the natural resources available to Dene seamstresses in the form of animal hides, sinew, bone, antler, claws, hoofs, teeth, plant material, minerals, and shells. In noting that young girls are taught not to sew “lazily” and that faulty stitching must be removed to be redone properly, the author provides an important insight into cultural attitudes governing the nature of artisanship. The primary focus of the study is presented in chapters 3 and 4, which cover the core tenets of clothing production as well as variations in garment cuts and regional styles. Hide garments from over 30 museum collections provide a solid foundation for describing the pointed tunics and moccasin-trousers historically worn by Dene men, women, and children, as well as the open-front smoked hide coats worn in the interior subarctic and changes in clothing styles and materials during the historical period. Regional variations in northern Athapaskan clothing styles embrace an expansive geographical area stretching across the subarctic from …