Cedar Bark Headdress Item Number: E20849-0 from the National Museum of Natural History

Notes

FROM CARD: "DANCING ORNAMENT DYED RED. #20849 HEAD DRESS - ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1888, PL. 18, FIG. 67, P. 270." FROM OLD 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HEADDRESSES.---MADE OF CEDAR BARK ROPE, STAINED RED WITH THE JUICE OF THE ALDER. WORN IN THE WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES OF THE KWAKIUTL AND OTHER SOUTHERN COAST INDIANS. HOODSINOO INDIANS (KOLUSCHAN FAMILY), ADMIRALTY ISLAND, ALASKA. 20,849, 20,910. COLLECTED BY JAMES G. SWAN. THIS STYLE IS BORROWED BY THE NORTHERN INDIANS AND WORN BY THEM IN THEIR CEREMONIALS, BUT NOT WITH THE SAME SIGNIFICANCE AS IN THE SOUTH."Anthropology catalogue ledger book identifies E20849, 20850 and 20910 as original number 70, and lists as Koutznow [i.e. Hutsnuwu Tlingit], Admiralty Island, Alaska. List in accession file identifies no people or locality for original # 70. The old exhibit labels for E20910 have conflicting locality information, with one saying Admiralty Island, and the other Fort Wrangell.