File:Eskimo named Thomas Sokweena riding reindeer at Reindeer Fair at Mary's Igloo, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, between 1911 and 1921 (AL+CA 751).jpg

On verso of image: Thomas Sokweena. Taken at the Igloo Reindeer Fair about 1916. Sokweena's big deer. Filed in Native Alaska--F

Mary's Igloo is located on the northwest bank of the Kuzitrin River, on the Seward Peninsula, northeast of Nome. It lies 40 miles southeast of Teller. Natives of "Kauwerak," as the village was originally called, were Inupiaq Eskimos known as Kauweramiuts. This village was originally located about 15 miles downriver. By 1900, Kauwerak was abandoned, and most Natives moved to Teller or Nome because of the schools and employment opportunities. Some settled at the present site, which they called "Aukvaunlook," meaning "black whale." During the gold prospecting boom, non-Natives renamed the village "Mary's Igloo," after an Eskimo woman named Mary, who welcomed miners, trappers and other newcomers into her home for coffee. Supplies for the gold fields upriver were transferred onto river boats here. A post office and store were opened in 1901. By 1910, Mary's Igloo became a large mixed community of Eskimos, white traders, miners, innkeepers, missionaries and support crews for barges. The flu epidemic of 1918-19, and a tuberculosis epidemic two years later, devastated the community. A Catholic orphanage, "Our Lady of Lourdes Mission," was opened at nearby Pilgrim Springs in 1918 by Father Bellarmine Lafortune. A Lutheran orphanage was built at nearby New Igloo. The BIA school closed in 1948 and the Alaska Native School was closed in 1952 for lack of students. The post office and store also closed in 1952. Mary's Igloo is a summer fish camp; many traditional villagers live in Teller. [Source: Explore North web site, http://www.explorenorth.com/library/communities/alaska/bl-MarysIgloo.htm] Thomas Sokweena was born in 1873 in Alaska. In the 1920 U.S. census, he was living at Noatak Kobuk, Second Judicial District, Alaska Territory, with his wife, three sons, and two daughters. the first apprentices and reindeer owners were from the wealthy and widely respected families — oomalik — among the Eskimo. The Apak (Constantine), the Antisarlook, Dannak, Electoona, Keok, Ablikak, Tautook, Sokweena, and Kivyeargruk families were of the most articulate and cross-culturally capable among the Eskimo people. Many could speak and a few could write in English. This could mean, and frequently does mean in other parts of the world, that these men were not well integrated among their own people. This was not the case among the Eskimo in the late 1800’s. The oomalik were active in inter-village diplomacy and played a very important role in acquiring and distributing wealth through widespread trading alliances. These men were widely traveled and were frequently employed by the early reindeer superintendents as interpreters and guides on excursions, a role in which only an oomalik could perform well. Indeed, to act as initiator and instrument of inter-village contact was their cultural role in pre-white days. Given these great advantages of position and influence, control of the reindeer by a few families was natural and immediate. Furthermore, by the summer of 1896 such control appears to have had the support of the Native population generally, for no more apprentices were forthcoming, though requests were sent to villages from the Yukon River to Kotzebue Sound. [Source: Alaska Reindeer Herdsmen: A Study of Native Management in Transition by Dean F. Olson. 1969. http://www.alaskool.org/projects/reindeer/history/iser1969/RDEER_2.html] "An interesting development in the reindeer industry of Alaska," continued Mr. Lopp, "is the holding of two annual reindeer fairs. One of these is held at Akiak on the Upper Kuskokwim River, and the other at Mary's Igloo on the Seward Peninsula. These fairs are like the great stock shows of the United States, but their only stock is reindeer. The Eskimos bring their deer in from many miles around. They compete for prizes in lassoing, butchering, driving, feeding, and herding. They have races of many kinds, and there are also prizes for the best kind of harness, sleds, and fur clothing. The prizes are contributed by the merchants of Nome, Seattle, and elsewhere. The fairs, which last for several days, are the great events of the Eskimo year." The last Mary's Igloo fair began January 11th [1928] and lasted several days. Part of the time the thermometer was thirty-five degrees below zero, yet the people slept on the snow in tents, without fire, and all were comfortable in their sleeping bags of reindeer skin. The first event was the butchering of deer by three different methods and a discussion as to the best. In this contest two Eskimos drove their knives to the heart at one blow. Another severed the jugular vein at the first stroke. The lassoing contest ran through three days, and was won by the man who lassoed the most deer in ninety minutes. There were eight hundred deer in the herd used for this purpose, and the winner lassoed eleven in the time allowed. The wild deer driving contest had fourteen entries. Each of the contestants had to enter a herd, and rope, throw, harness, hitch up, and drive a hornless, unbroken bull one half mile to the river and return. He had then to unhitch, unharness, and remove the halter, all unassisted. Altogether these fairs are proving a great success, and they promise to increase in interest and profit as the years go on. [Source: Alaska: our Northern Wonderland by Frank G. Carpenter. 1928. http://www.alaskool.org/projects/reindeer/history/carpenter1928/CarpenterDeerMeat.html

• Subjects (LCTGM): Eskimos--Clothing & dress--Alaska--Mary's Igloo; ; Alaska Natives--Clothing & dress--Alaska--Mary's Igloo;; Fur garments--Alaska--Mary's Igloo; ; Reindeer
• Subjects (LCSH): Sokweena, Thomas; ; Reindeer herders--Alaska--Mary's Igloo;; Reindeer industry--Alaska--Mary's Igloo; ; Parkas--Alaska--Mary's Igloo