Catalog number 88960 [part numbers E88960-0 through E88960-3] are four hats of a similar style. One of the four hats is illustrated (small) as Hat 112, p. 221 in Glinsmann, Dawn. 2006. Northern Northwest Coast spruce root hats. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006.This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. Only 1 hat of 4 on loan (E088960-3).Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on artfact (called E88960A) http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=626 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Hat This woven spruce-root hat, made at the village of Masset in the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, is not painted with clan designs and was probably made for everyday wear and rain protection. Roots for weaving are roasted in a fire, stripped of their bark, split into strands, and softened by soaking in water. "The Elders gathered the spruce roots, and when they were ready to quit they sang a song... The first one who started the song would go down and start the fire for the spruce root, the cooking of the spruce root…Then the next group would sing and they would be the ones who would help get the kindling. And it would go clear around, and when it reached the last ones they all went down the beach then and started the cooking…We pulled the roots through a stick that was forked, and that took the outer skin off." - Delores Churchill, 2005

From card: "Chest; carved in relief; four added pieces; cover. "in high relief: bear's head holding a man on front and on the back the hind part of the bear; ends, Kye, or the sealion, holding a salmon in its mouth; top, Hoorts, the bear." Swan. USNM A.R. 1888, fig. 243, pl. 44, pg. 319. (Incorrectly numbered as 89000.) M. Barbeau, "Haida Carvers in Argillite," Nat. Mus. of Canada Bull. 139 (Anthro. Series 38) [Pl. 73, p. 65, and discussed p. 64-65], From: Boxes and Bowls catalog, Renwick Gallery; Smithsonian Press; 1974. Object illustrated on same page.: Chest, Argillite; carved in relief; four added pieces. Length: 20 1/4. [Haida], Skidegate, British Columbia. "Bear on front and back, seahorse on ends, bear on top." [Tentatively attributed to the artist Charles Edenshaw, by Bill Holm]. Collected by James G. Swan, October 9, 1883." Attributed to Charles Edenshaw by Barbeau. Attribution tentatively supported by Bill Holm, 1973.March 3, 2011, Robin K. Wright, Burke Museum, attributes to John Robson.

ILLUS. FIG. 64, P. 87, IN DOWN FROM THE SHIMMERING SKY BY PETER MACNAIR, VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, 1998. IDENTIFIED THERE BY PETER MACNAIR AS MASK REPRESENTING MALE ANCESTOR.Illus. Fig. 18, p. 29 in King, J. C. H. 1979. Portrait masks from the Northwest Coast of America. [New York]: Thames and Hudson. Identified there (p. 28) as "Haida mask of a man. ... this was originally decorated with fur to represent a moustache and beard; the unusual feature is the combination of traditional formline designs with entirely abstract markings around the left eye. Unlike most early nineteenth-century Haida human face masks, this was evidently made for use; at some stage - perhaps before it was collected - it split open and was pinned together again. c. 1800-50."

FROM CARD: "FOR DEEP SEA AND WAR."Listed on page 44 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".

From card: "Cedar bark."Original label attached to artifact says "Jessie Matthews [presumably the maker or original owner?], Jackson, Alaska." Jackson is an alternate name for Howkan, Alaska, which is a Haida town.Listed on page 41 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".