From card: "Not included in Swan inventory"

LEDGER AND CATALOG CARD SAY SENT TO E.B. WEBSTER, 1886.

FROM CARD: "ORIGINALLY DESIGNATED WILKES COLLECTION, THIS HAS NO COLLECTOR OR TRIBAL I.D. IN THE CATALOGUE BOOKS."

REPLACEMENT CARD: INFORMATION COPIED FROM LEDGER,AUGUST,1983. "SEE ALSO CAT. NOS. 316,629-316,985." OBJECT NAME DERIVED FROM OBJECT.

E-231014: Painted Wooden Spoon “Haida, British Columbia. Plain form after the home spoon; painted with mythological design in black and red.” (Catalog card)Comment from Graduate Student Research Paper, "A Report on Accession #42610 of the National Museum of Natural History", written by Athena Hsieh in April 2012, for the class "Anthropology in the Museum" taught by NMNH Curator, Dr. J. Daniel Rogers for the George Washington University. Approved for inclusion into notes by Dr. Igor Krupnik. Dr. Krupnik and NMNH has not verified the contents of the comment below, and suggests future researchers verify the remarks before citing Ms. Hsieh. The complete paper is attached to the accession record of this object in EMu. "This spoon is carved from a light-colored wood, possibly cedar, and is painted with a killer whale design on the front. The back of the spoon is undecorated. In describing traditional Haida spoons, Dr. Swanton wrote, “Sometimes they illustrate a story, sometimes they are the crests of the owner, and sometimes they are purely ornamental” (137). The stories most commonly told by the ornamentation on carved spoons were Raven stories, where Raven would occasionally be represented as human figures, both male and female. According to Dr. Swanton in, “only (hunting) members of the Raven clan, on the West Coast, used spoons when they ate black cod. The Eagles used their hands” (Swanton 1905, 57). Spoons were also used in potlatches for feasting and given away as gifts (164). However, most of the spoons Dr. Swanton based this research on were carved from goat's horn. His only mention of wooden spoons in “Ethnology” referred to illustrations of designs from wooden spoons “used in eating soap-berries” (147). This spoon, which has a flat, straight handle, does not appear to have been used as a utensil, suggesting that Dr. Swanton may have collected this from a craftsman selling trade goods. The lack of any complex designs or additional crest images supports this. Citations: Swanton, John R. 1905. “Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida” in Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 8-1. New York: G. E. Stechert. Swanton, John R. 1905. Haida Texts and Myths: Skidegate Dialect. Washington: Government Printing Office."

FROM CARD: "EXCHANGED WITH MRS. J. CROSBY BROWN, JAN. 3, 1896." ACCESSION RECORDS AND LEDGER DRAWINGS INDICATE THAT THERE WERE 6 INVERTED DOUBLE REED WHISTLES, ORIGINAL #80, AND 2 OOLALLA WHISTLES, ORIGINAL #S 81 AND 82. UNFORTUNATELY, DUE TO A MISTAKE DURING CATALOGUING, ONLY 7 CATALOGUE NUMBERS WERE ASSIGNED TO THESE 8 OBJECTS. ONE OF THE REED WHISTLES AND OOLALLA WHISTLE #81 WOUND UP AT ONE POINT BOTH BEING CALLED CATALOGUE #89062. AS NOTED ABOVE, THE REED WHISTLE ORIGINALLY GIVEN CATALOGUE #89061 HAS BEEN EXCHANGED. THEREFORE THE "EXTRA" REED WHISTLE ONCE NUMBERED 89062 HAS BEEN GIVEN #89061, TO DISTINGUISH IT FROM THE OOLALLA WHISTLE WHICH HAS BEEN KEPT AS 89062. - F. PICKERING 6-9-1997

From card: "Ilus. in USNM Rept 1895; fig. 202, p. 652. 11/1963 All that is left is a well carved human head showing where hair tufts had once been inserted all over the top, and hollow back where the rattle element had been held in by a piece of leather fastened over the hole (just edges of leather left. Stem at the neck point appears to indicated that something else was once fastened on. Loan: R. H. Lowie Museum 12/31/64, loan returned feb 15, 1966." Identified in USNM Annual Report for 1895 figure caption as "Part of a headdress representing the Olala." On p. 653 of this publication it is noted about 89038, 89039, 89072 and 89073: "In his dances the olala of all the northern tribes use headdresses which represent a corpse...." From second (newer) card: "Made of carved wood in two longitudinal sections. Design: Head of "Oala" [sic, should be Olala, Oolala, Ulala] (The mountain demon). Tufts of hair are secured in small holes in top and back of head. A square hole is inserted in back of head and the neck is fitted to attach it to a staff. Illust. in USNM Rept., 1895, fig. 202, p. 652. Loaned to the Whitney Museum of American Art 9-10-71. Returned ... 2-9-72."Provenience note: Swan list for this object in accession file, under #91 on list of objects collected at Skidegate, Skedans, Laskeek, and Fort Simpson, B.C. in the summer of 1883, identifies it as collected at Skedans, and calls it "old head of Oolalla."