Totem Pole Model
Item number ET24468-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.
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Notes
TOTEM POLE - 74" LONG, 6" WIDE. BIRD AT TOP. PAINTED. MARKED HAIDA. WRONG # 56445. THIS MODEL TOTEM POLE IS HAIDA, ACCORDING TO ROBIN WRIGHT, BURKE MUSEUM. - F. PICKERING 6-29-1999ROBIN WRIGHT, BURKE MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, FEELS THIS HOUSE FRONTAL POLE MODEL MAY RELATE TO/BE PART OF HOUSE MODEL ET14554.A photo of what appears to be this totem pole model with house model ET14554 on display at the Smithsonian circa 1879 (photo may actually date more specifically to 1882 - early 1885) is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives: Photo ID 2962 or MNH-2962, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 41, Folder: 4, https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_8263 . House model with pole is on back right of photo in front of house front.Per Robin Wright, Professor and Curator Emerita, University of Washington, 2018, ET14554 and ET24468 may be James Swan collection pieces, based on the similarity of the ET24468 model pole to another model pole, No. E74748, that is linked to Swan and carved by Johnny Kit Elswa, a copy of a chief's frontal pole in Tanu. Robin Wright is now convinced that this model pole is based on Kitkun's house frontal pole in the Haida village of Tanu. It depicts the story of the flood with a stack of hat rings. Raven rescued the village during a flood by pulling up on the chief's hat rings making it grow tall enough for the people to climb up out of the flood waters. There were three poles with this motif in Haida Gwaii. The original one was in Skedans - the right to portray this story was given by the chief Gidansta to Kitkun and also to Chief Wiah in Massett where Wiah put it on his "Monster House." The Tanu flood pole was just being finished in preparation for the pole raising potlatch when George Dawson was there in 1878. James Swan and Johnny Kit Elswa were welcomed into this house when they visited the young nephew Kitkun who had taken his uncle's place in 1878. This model has the same colored paint that the other Johnny Kit Elswa pole E74748 has, and Robin Wright now thinks Kit Elswa probably carved it. This model pole has fewer hat rings than the full sized pole, but it does have the dogfish below and human figures climbing to the top.In James G. Swan correspondence in accession record No. 5260, Swan talks about sending two Haida house models. However, only one was catalogued, # E23547. It is possible house model ET14554/ET24468 or house model ET24565 may be from this accession?
Item History
- Made in Canada ?
- Collected by James G. Swan in Canada ?
- Received during 1991
What
- Name
- Totem Pole Model
- Identification Number
- ET24468-0
- Type of Item
- crest column model
Where
- Holding Institution
- National Museum of Natural History
- Made in
- Canada ?
- Collected in
- Canada ?
Who
- Culture
- Haida
- Field Collector
- James G. Swan
- Received from
- “No Information” ?
When
- Acquisition Date
- during 1991
Other
- Accession Number
- 999999
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