The Teachings of Mutton: A Coast Salish Woolly Dog (Harbour Publishing, 2025) by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa with Coast Salish Contributors (Alison Ariss, Kerrie Charnley, Snumithia’ Violet Elliott, Tuwuxwul’t-hw Tyrone Elliott, Andrea Fritz, Chepximiya Siyam Chief Janice George, Danielle Morsette, Michael (CHiX-ap-kaid) Pavel, sa’ hLa mitSa Susan Pavel, Xweliqwiya Rena Point Bolton, Quwasen Debra Sparrow, Jared Qwustenuxun Williams, Eliot White-Hill, Senaqwila Wyss, and Skwetsimeltxw Willard (Buddy) Joseph), is the Winner of the R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award for books published in 2025. The award committee was unanimous in their praise for the book’s exceptional scholarship and groundbreaking research. The Shep award is given annually to the publication judged to be the best book of the year in the field of global cultural heritage textile studies.
The Textile Society of America invites you to join us for a one-hour virtual conversation with Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa, winner of the 2026 R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award, celebrating her award-winning book. During this session, she will share Mutton’s story while sharing the vital insights it provides into Coast Salish Woolly Dogs and their enduring cultural importance.
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Monday, February 8, 2027
2:00 – 3:00 PM EST
Free and open to all
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About the Book
Coast Salish communities represent a rich Indigenous textile legacy along the Pacific Northwest coast of present-day Canada and the United States. Oral histories and early non-Indigenous historical records recount how a distinct breed of dog with dense white fleece was raised specifically to provide fiber for weaving. Although Woolly Dogs eventually vanished, their historical importance endured in the memory of weavers and knowledge-keepers, even as 20th-century academia grew skeptical that dog fleece had ever been spun or woven.
Hammond-Kaarremaa and the book’s contributors re-evaluate how dog hair was historically utilized. Their investigation opens with Mutton, a young dog whose pelt was given to a member of the Northwest Boundary Survey between 1857 and 1862 before eventually being donated to the Smithsonian, where it sat overlooked for over a century. Mutton’s historical records, physical fleece traits, and genetic profile form one element of the study. Analyzing museum blankets adds a second perspective, while Coast Salish insights on heritage, spiritual traditions, textile arts, the role of woolly dogs, and the systemic impacts of colonization form additional threads. Together, these perspectives build a compelling case for the central role these animals held in Coast Salish culture.
About the Award
The R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award is given annually to the publication judged to be the best book of the year in the field of global cultural heritage textile studies. The award consists of a monetary award funded by an endowment established by R. L. Shep in 2000. The purpose of this award is to encourage the study and understanding of textile traditions by recognizing and rewarding exceptional scholarship that focuses on textiles through the lens of cultural practices and ancestral heritage. The endowment is administered by the Textile Society of America Board, which appoints the R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award Committee to evaluate nominated books.
By recognizing and rewarding exceptional scholarship that focuses on textiles through the lens of cultural practices and ancestral heritage, the Shep award aims to encourage the study and understanding of global textile traditions. The R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award Committee evaluated the nominated books based on the most successful balance of the two main criteria: bringing the highest standard of research and scholarship to a topic of significance to the field of global cultural heritage textile studies; and presenting its material in a manner that is accessible and engaging for the public as well as for textile scholars. The 2026 Book Award Committee members are Dr. Kaja McGowan, Dr. Alexandra Dalferro, and Dr. Julia Hendon (Chairperson).
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