This pair of summer moccasin trousers—pants with moccasin feet attached—is made of moose hide and decorated with bands of yellow, blue, white, and red trade beads. The trousers were purchased along with a matching tunic and mittens by Smithsonian collector Edward W. Nelson, who photographed the outfit as worn by its owner, a Gwich’in man from Fort Yukon.
In the past, men and women of all Alaskan Athabascan groups wore similar moccasin trousers and tunics. Along the Yukon River and its tributaries these garments were made by the Gwich’in , Koyukon , Upper Tanana , and Deg Hit’an. In southern Alaska, both the Dena’ina and Ahtna wore this type of clothing.
Moccasin trousers often had tanned caribou skin leggings and moose hide soles. Hair was left on the caribou skins when making winter trousers, and turned to the inside. Upper Tanana people wore winter trousers made of mountain sheep skins and put rabbit fur inside to insulate their feet.
Moccasin trousers were originally decorated with porcupine quill embroidery and later with glass trade beads. This type of garment went out of style among most Athabascans by the mid to late 19th century, replaced by pants and unattached moccasins. However, some in the Upper Tanana region were still wearing moccasin trousers in 1930, and the Gwich’in were making them for children at that time.
It has been proposed that moccasin trousers were invented for use with snowshoes. One advantage would be that even deep snow could not come inside as it might with shorter boots or moccasins. One Gwich’in Elder suggested that having moccasins and pants together in one piece was an advantage during times of war because people slept in them and could escape quickly if attacked at night.
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