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Description

Painted miniature totem pole with three figures on a beveled base. Top figure is a bird with a grey-blue stomach that is wearing a top hat and sitting on a box with animal figures on its sides and a face on the front; middle figure is the same kind of bird, but with a white stomach; bottom figure is sitting and has grey-blue around eyes, pink mouth, grey-blue stomach, and is holding a grey, pointed object. Bottom of base has red inscription.

Narrative

This is a model of the “Raven Pole” that currently stands in Totem Park in Wrangell, Alaska. An older, smaller version of the same pole also stands in front of the US Post Office in Wrangell. The figure on the top is Raven, Yéil. He is holding a bentwood box or láḵt. This refers to the story of how Raven obtained the sun, moon, and stars from the Old Man (or Raven) at the Head of the Nass (Naas Shakée Yéil). The three sources of light were kept in láḵt and stored up in the rafters of the house at the headwaters of the Nass River where Naas Shakée Yéíl lived. Swanton (1909) records a version of this story from Ḵaadashaan in Wrangell. This model pole was probably purchased from the Bear Totem Store which stood on Front Street in Wrangell until the fire of 1950 that destroyed much of downtown. The store was a curiosity shop that sold a wide variety of Tlingit arts and crafts to tourists who came on steamships during the era. The carver of this model is probably the same as that of Nb22.89.