Totem-Pole Full Size

Item number E233398-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

Public

Item Records

This page shows all the information we have about this item. Both the institution that physically holds this item, and RRN members have contributed the knowledge on this page. You’re looking at the item record provided by the holding institution. If you scroll further down the page, you’ll see the information from RRN members, and can share your own knowledge too.

The RRN processes the information it receives from each institution to make it more readable and easier to search. If you’re doing in-depth research on this item, be sure to take a look at the Data Source tab to see the information exactly as it was provided by the institution.

These records are easy to share because each has a unique web address. You can copy and paste the location from your browser’s address bar into an email, word document, or chat message to share this item with others.

Data
Data Source

This information was automatically generated from data provided by National Museum of Natural History. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Notes

From card: "This is one of the two larger poles, acquired for the La. Purch. Expos. exhibit [a.k.a. St. Louis World's Fair of 1904] of the Smithsonian. It was purchased from Joe Hans who had it erected about 1885 as a memorial to his deceased uncle, whose name and totemic emblems he was assuming. It was put up on a site called: "nadogids" (the house to which people are always glad to go). The explanation of the carved figures is as follows, from bottom to top: 1. Beaver, was the original crest of Hans (tseng), 2. Whale (kun), 3. Sea Grizzly Bear (Chagan huaji), 3 Cormorant (kialo) with a face carved on its tail which is merely ornamental, 5. Two "totem-pole" men, with a ceremonial hat between them, on which stands: 6. Eagle (got) (at the top). The Eagle, Cormorant, and the whale are the crests which he took over from his uncle. Carved by natives from the giant cedar Thuja plicata."See "Monumental Art of Tanu", The Bill Reid Centre, Simon Fraser University https://www.sfu.ca/brc/virtual_village/haida/tanu/monumental-art-of-k-uuna.html . See entry on House 7b: Favourite House of Assembly, where it is noted that the second house on this site, Favourite House of Assembly, was erected sometime before 1885. Pole E233398 is described there as Frontal pole 7B, and the crests on the pole are identified in this way: 1. (top) separate carving of an eagle 2. two watchmen on either side of a small frog with large potlatch cylinders 3. cormorant 4. sea grizzly 5. killer whale 6. beaver with four potlatch cylinders