From card: "Woven cedar bark."A label glued on to this object says "David Dan [presumably maker or original owner?], Jackson, Alaska." Jackson is an alternate name for Howkan, Alaska, which is a Haida town. Based on this locality, the object could be Haida rather than Tlingit?Listed on page 51 in "The Exhibits of the Smithsonian Institution at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915", in section "Arts of the Northwest Coast Tribes (Tools)".

From card: "Bear-killer whale, frog, and raven motifs."

From card: "Fish killing club of wood, a chief's implement from Queen Charlotte Islands, the Haida people. It is carved to represent a bear with a snake in the mouth, and frog in the arms, in the middle is a beaver and near the handle is a wolf. Loan: Museo Nacional de Antropologia 5/18/[19]64." Loan returned 2012.

FROM CARD: "BLACK SLATE." ARGILLITE. INVENTORIED 1980." Tableau with humans and bears.

From card: "Loan: Museo Nacional de Antropologia, 5/18/64." Loan returned 2012.

From card: "Wood; carved in relief; painted black, red, and blue; corners dovetailed (perhaps by a Chinese carpenter). Bought by James G. Swan from Captain Skedance [a.k.a. Skedans], Chief of Cumshewa, October 9, 1883. Illus.: P. 43, Pl. 240b, Celebrations catalogue, Smithsonian Press, 1982." Note: object has multiple catalogue cards with slight variations of above; see scanned cards. Box does not currently have a lid; it is unclear if there was one when it was accessioned.Provenience note: Swan's original list identifies this chest as bought from Skedans, chief of Cumshewa. Skedans was often used as the name for both the hereditary chief and the town of Skedans (Haida names for this town include Qoona, K'uuna, Koona, Q'una, Koona LLnaagay, K'uuna Llnagaay, Q!o'na Inaga'-I, and Q:o'na). Skedans the town is located on the Cumshewa inlet, so perhaps that is what Swan is indicating when he lists the locality as Cumshewa, rather than the town of Cumshewa?Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=630 , retrieved 4-28-2011: Chest This chest for storing ceremonial regalia belonged to Gida'nsta [Gidansta], chief of Skedans. The front panel shows Raven grasping two human figures dressed in rod armor. The image on the side panels is probably Xyuu, Southeast Wind, whose ten brothers were clouds. One of them, Cirrus Clouds, may be represented here by eyes and feathers on either side of Raven. Cirrus clouds were the potlatch attire of Tangghwan Llaana (Sea Dweller), the supreme ocean spirit, who belonged to the Raven moiety, and were also thought to represent bird-skin clothing that Shining Heavens, a sky deity, put on to bring fair weather.This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.

FROM CARD: "DEPOSITED."Incised relief decoration inside and out, including compass-drawn motifs.It may be presumed that this object was probably collected by George Gibbs during his time on the Northwest Boundary Survey, 1857-1860?For more information, see pdf of additional documentation on the Gibbs collections provided by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa which is filed with the Emu accession/transaction record.