Drum

Item number E127613-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

From card: "Illus. in USNM AR, 1888, Pl. 57, fig. 302, p. 330 (Medicine and dance drum, Tlingit of Sitka). Also in Rept., 1896, pl. 70; p. 564." Identified in plate captions as "Medicine and Dance Drum. Tanned sheepskin stretched over a wooden frame. Totemic figure, the bear. It is beaten with an ordinary stick padded with cloth. Tlingit, Sitka, Alaska. Collected by Paymaster E.B. Webster, U. S. Navy." From late 19th or early 20th century exhibit label filed with card: "Hand drum of the Chilkats, Koluschan family. Shell, a hoop of bent wood; head, soaked, stretched across the hoop and nailed. Thongs are stretched across the back for a handle. Inside the head is painted with totemic emblems in red and black. Diameter 30 3/4 inches. Alaska. Collected, 1883, by E. B. Webster."Ruth Demmert, Alan Zuboff, and Linda Wynne made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24. This drum features a raven crest design, which may be traced back to the Raven Bone House because of the backbone and ribs on the design. This object is made of cedar wood, and was used for dancing. It is unclear if this drum was bought in Sitka from Chilkat people, or if it's a design/object of the Chilkat themselves.