Totem-Pole Model
Item number E74748-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.
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Notes
From card: "Collector's data, description and legend: "Model of totemic column in front of chief's house LASKEEK, Queen Charlotte Id., B.C. Carved by Johnny Kit Elswa, Haida interpreter for James G. Swan in 1883. The column of which this is a model was 40' high and 6' across at the base. top - raven HOOYEH fish eagle KOOT center - beaver TSCHING The head with diamond markings is the beaver tail. lower center - bear HOORTS and butterfly STLA-KWAN-MA bottom - bear's wife and young bear ITLTASDODA. James G. Swan, Port Townsend, W. T." 6/13/67 loaned to Nat'l Archives. Returned - 8/5/68".Per Robin Wright, Professor and Curator Emerita, University of Washington, 2018, James Swan's notes for this model pole by Johnny Kit Elswa don't specifically say it's Kitkun's house frontal pole, just a "chief's house." Technically there were several "chiefs" in this village, leaders of different clans. Kitkun was the chief of an Eagle clan (E3) "Those Born at Skedans". His clan had these crests: the multi-ringed dance hat (from the flood story), the dogfish, beaver, eagle, hummingbird, black whale, frog, cormorant, halibut, plus a few others. However, looking at the poles located around Kitkun's house in the village, none of them have beavers. The only beaver poles in the village are at the opposite end, in front of three other houses that belonged to the Djigua Town People E4 clan, which could use the same crests as E3. Therefore Wright thinks the pole E74748 might be based on one of these houses. See George MacDonald's Haida Monumental Art, houses 16, 20 and 23. The Department of Anthropology has one of those poles in the collection, E233398, collected by Newcombe in 1904.
Item History
- Made in British Columbia, Canada
- Collected by James G. Swan in British Columbia, Canada
- Received on February 2, 1885
What
- Name
- Totem-Pole Model
- Identification Number
- E74748-0
- Type of Item
- crest column model
Where
- Holding Institution
- National Museum of Natural History
- Made in
- British Columbia, Canada
- Collected in
- British Columbia, Canada
Who
- Culture
- Haida
- Field Collector
- James G. Swan
When
- Acquisition Date
- on February 2, 1885
Other
- Accession Number
- 015690
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