Carving In Black Slate Totems
Item number E23339-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.
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Notes
FROM CARD: "HAS TRACES OF RED PAINT. LOANED TO THE S.I. CENTENNIAL COMM. 7-9-75. LOAN RETURNED MAR 22 1990." FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "MODEL OF TOTEM POST.--A SLATE COLUMN CARVED IN TOTEM DESIGNS. THE OPENING NEAR THE BOTTOM REPRESENTS THE ENTRANCE TO THE DWELLING IN FRONT OF WHICH THE TOTEM POSTS ARE ERECTED. HEIGHT, 16 1/2 INCHES; DIAMETER, 3 INCHES. HAIDA INDIANS (SKITTAGETAN STOCK), PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND, ALASKA. 23,339. COLLECTED BY JAMES G. SWAN. TOTEM POSTS ARE TALL, CARVED WOODEN COLUMNS ERECTED IN THE FRONT OF HOUSES, AND ARE GENERALLY SU MOUNTED BY THE CLAN-TOTEM OF THE CHIEF OCCUPANT. THOSE FIGURES CARVED BELOW EITHER REPRESENT THE TOTEM OF THE WIFE OR ILLUSTRATE SOME LEGEND CONNECTED WITH THE TOTEM OF THE HUSBAND. NONE BUT THE WEALTHY CAN AFFORD TO ERECT THESE COLUMNS, AND THE OWNER IS THEREBY INVESTED WITH RESPECT AND AUTHORITY." Illus. Pl. 169, p. 208 and described p. 214 and 228 in Thunderbird chapter of Barbeau, Charles Marius. 1953. Haida myths illustrated in argillite carvings. [Ottawa]: Dept. of Resources and Development, National Parks Branch, National Museum of Canada. Identified as house-front type totem pole model. Top is thunderbird with long incurved bill, pegged on, whose wings droop down the sides; on his head sits a small human being (head, presumably ivory, is now missing), with hands on his knees; in front of thunderbird, between wings sits a chief with conical hat and skils [hat rings or potlatch rings], his feet rest upon head of a small grizzly bear; under wings of bird on either side, the frog appears, head down; figure squatting at the bottom, through whose body the small oval doorway is cut into the house is the grizzly bear, his forepaws are turned down on his chest, and lower paws point inwards.
Item History
- Made in Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska, USA
- Collected by James G. Swan in Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska, USA
- Received during 1876
What
- Name
- Carving In Black Slate Totems
- Identification Number
- E23339-0
- Type of Item
- crest column model
Where
- Holding Institution
- National Museum of Natural History
- Made in
- Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska, USA
- Collected in
- Prince Of Wales Island, Alaska, USA
Who
- Culture
- Haida
- Field Collector
- James G. Swan
When
- Acquisition Date
- during 1876
Other
- Accession Number
- 005260
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