Totem Pole Item Number: E 1907.450 from the MAA: University of Cambridge
The totem pole is described as having four deeply carved emblems, at the base a demi-owl, above it is a raven, next a beaver and lastly a frog (head downwards). Good
The provenance of the pole is missing from the letter to Glaisher in which Stadthagen gives a description of the pole (CUMAA Archive 1, Letters Box 1907). However in a later letter from Glaisher to von Hugel I had been informed of the fraud he (Stadthagen) had perpetrated on me for saying that the pole was made by the Haidah Indians (CUMAA Archive 1, Letters Box 1908, 10th December). However in the Annual Report 1908 the provenance for both E 1907.328 and 450 is Nootka Indians of the Frog tribe. The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.; From the correspondence mentioned above and below it would seem the totem poles wee made for sale to unsuspecting buyers of ethnographic artefacts, and as such are interesting examples of the possibly indigenous manufacture of artefakes (G.Crowther).; Collected by: Stadthagen.H in 1907