FROM CARDS: "COPY SENT REV. F.W. GALPIN, HARLOW, ENG. NOV. 1902. COPY SENT MRS. J. CROSBY BROWN, 11-25-1902. SEE USNM AR 1888, PL. 62, FIG. 334, P. 330 NIBLACK. ILLUS. IN USNM AR 1895, FIG. 205, P. 654, AND IN USNM BULL 136, PL. 14-H, P. 127. SEE OLD PRINT #9995 FOR FORMER APPEARANCE ILLUS. METHOD OF BINDING (SPRUCE ROOT BARK?). MADE IN TWO LONGITUDINAL SECTIONS TIED TOGETHER AT THE EDGES. DESIGN: A HUMAN HEAD NOT SO THICK FROM FRONT TO BACK AS WIDE. THE NECK REDUCED TO A MOUTH PIECE. THE OPEN MOUTH OF THE DESIGN FORMS THE SOUND OF THE WHISTLE. IT HAS ONE FINGER HOLE IN THE FOREHEAD. 'A LARGE WHISTLE USED TO ANNOUNCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF A FESTIVAL. VERY HIGHLY PRIZED. THE NAME IS OOLALLA SPAPOKWILLA, OR OOLALLA WHISTLE.'- SWAN'S DESC. CAT.. LOAN: R.H. LOWIE MUSEUM 12/31/1964, LOAN RETURNED FEB. 15, 1966. LOANED TO THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART ON SEPTEMBER 10, 1971, RETURNED 2-9-1972." OVER THE YEARS WHISTLE 89062 HAS BEEN CONFUSED WITH WHISTLE 89063. THE WHISTLE NOW CALLED 89062 MATCHES THE LEDGER BOOK DRAWING FOR 89062 AND ALSO THE ILLUSTRATION IN NIBLACK. - F. PICKERING 6-9-1997

From card: "See also Cat. #89218 (Duplication). Carved by Skaowskeay, an Indian carver of Skidegate, B.C.. Legend - She being out gathering berries, the bears killed all but one whom the King of Bears took for his wife. She had a child by him, half bear and half human. At length the Indian hunters discovered the woman up a tree and thinking her a bear were about to kill her, but she made them understand she was human and they took her home, and this is the origin of all who belong to the Hoourts or Bear Totem. This remarkable carving takes its conception in the legend of the union between a bear and a woman. The carving shows the woman's agony on being suckled by her half human progeny. Illustrated in USNM AR, 1888, Pl. 47, fig. 263a; Pl. 49, fig. 263b; Pl. 50, fig. 263c, p. 322. Casts have been made of this specimen. Cast sent to Royal Zoological & Anthropological Museum, Dresden, Germany; March 22, 1905. 3/1951 apparently only one cast was left. Published originally as Pls. 49 & 50 in Niblack: "The Coastal Indians of Southern Alaska and N. British Columbia." See Swan's letter of Dec. 4, 1883 in Accession record in which he states that this object "was not finished when I got it but just roughed out and my [Haida] Indian assistant Johnny Kit Elswa finished it on the voyage from Skidegate ...". Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 2, pg. 595."Illus. Pl. 86, p. 113 and described p. 150 in Bear Mother 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. Motifs identified there as "Bear Mother under human form, a labret in her lower lip, and one of the Cubs also as a human, suckling ... at her breast, while she is in agony." Barbeau notes Swan's identification/transliteration of carver's name as "Skaowskeay" and says "Actually (according to Henry Young, a Skidegate craftsman, 75 years old in 1949) it is the work of David Shakespeare whose Haida name was Tsagay." An alternate transliteration Barbeau used for his name was Skaoskay.Listed on page 46 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: "$12.00. TWO SEPARABLE PIECES, FORMING A WHOLE. UPPER PART - 29" H. 4-3/4" W. 4-1/4" DIA. BASE-17-1/4"1. 5-1/4" W. 4-3/4" H. REPAIRED AND RESTORED AT CONSERVATION 3/23/1973." FROM SWAN'S HANDWRITTEN LIST IN ACCESSION RECORD: "FROM THE PRINCE OF WALES ARCHIPELAGO SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA. KYGANI BRANCH OF THE HAIDA FAMILY OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS."From tag in James Swan's hand with artifact: "Fur seal hunter with a seal in his hands nearly split in two. The hunters feet rest on the bears head, and the whole stand on the back of the sea lion. This interesting group is from the Prince of Wales archipelago and an allegorical and descriptive. No 19 $12.00."

From card for E23523-46: "Dec 20, 1972, Bill Holm says that these are definitely Haida."Cultural ID for paddles E23523 - 23546 is somewhat in question. They were catalogued as Clallam, Bill Holm has identified them as Haida, but James Swan in correspondence in the accession file references 24 Bella Bella paddles.