Every Dog Has its Sleigh

This weekend the XXII Olympic Winter Games will come to a close after much sliding, skating, skiing and snowboarding over snow and ice. Though there have been a few event staples since the 1924 Winter Games, including skating and ice hockey, there have been many sports that have been considered “demonstration sports” that were never permanently incorporated as Olympic events. These include skijoring and sled dog racing which both rely on the power and speed of sled dogs. Dog sled races were held as demonstration event for the first time in the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics and had entrants from both Canada and the United States.

Around the same time as the Lake Placid Winter Olympics, Dentist Leuman Waugh was travelling much further north through Labrador and Alaska under the auspices of Columbia University and the U.S. Public Health Service studying and treating the teeth of the Inuit, Innu, and other indigenous people of the Arctic. Between 1914 and 1937 Dr. Waugh made over a dozen trips to Northeastern Canada as well as five documented trips to Alaska during which he took meticulous notes and photographs (previous posts highlight many of Waugh's hand tinted lantern slides here and here). Waugh captured many aspects of arctic life including the use of dog sleds which has been a part of Innu, Inuit and arctic culture since long before the Winter Olympic Games made their debut.

Yup'ik man with a gaff sitting on an ice pile. Dog pack and sled in foreground, 1935. Leuman Waugh Collection.
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution [L02236]

Sled dogs taking a break on a snowy expanse, Eastern Arctic, Kaipokok Bay, circa 1920. Leuman Waugh Collection. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. [L01854]

 In addition to capturing images of dog sleds, there is also this wonderful lantern slide of a caribou-sled!

Inipiaq (Alaskan Inupiat Eskimo) man on sled being led by caribou on ice, Wainwright, Alaska circa 1930. Leuman Waugh Collection. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. [L02177]

Just as an added bonus:

Inupiaq (Alaskan Inupiat Eskimo) community, Kivalina; NANA Native Corporation, Alaska, circa 1930. Leuman Waugh Collection. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. [P30340]

Yup’ik [Norton Sound] community, Saint Michael Island, Alaska, circa 1930. Leuman Waugh Collection.
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. [P30082]

Rachel Menyuk, Archives Technician
National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center