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.

From card: "made by Geneskelos. 20251C-- Width - 3.4 cm. Thunderbird [or eagle]."From card: "20,251. Bracelets (2).---silver band, bent in circlets; open spring clasp; exterior chased and engraved. Diam., 2 1/4 ins. Breadth of band, 1 to 1 1/4 ins. Queen Charlotte's Island, British Columbia, 1876. Collected by J. G. Swan for Centennial Exposition, 1876. Made by "Geneskelos," a Haidah Indian of Lashkeeh. Device represents hoort's, the bear, and skamskwin, eagle (or thunder bird)."The original Anthropology catalogue ledger book identifies E20251 as one pair of silver bracelets made by Geneskelos. However, at least since1888 there appear to have been 3 bracelets with catalogue number E20251: E20251-0 (20251A) a bear design bracelet; E20251-1 (20251B) a bear design bracelet decorated in a different style than E20251-0; E20251-2 (20251C) an eagle or thunderbird design bracelet decorated in the same style as E20251-0. Per Robin K. Wright and Kathryn B. Bunn-Marcuse, E20251-0 and E20251-2 appear to have been made by Geneskelos. Wright and Bunn-Marcuse doubt that Geneskelos made E20251-1. E20251-0 is Fig. 39, E20251-1 is Fig. 41 and E20251-2 is Fig. 40, all on p. 68 of Bunn-Marcuse, Kathryn B. 2007. Precious Metals: silver and gold bracelets from the Northwest Coast. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007.

LARGE CARVED AND PAINTED BOX AND LID, SWAN, HAIDA, SKIDEGATE?Box is currently in several pieces, revealing the nails etc. used in construction. Only the front panel has carved and painted decoration, including bear motif? Lid and bottom piece have red paint. Object is marked in pencil, it appears incorrectly, as Swan box # 58. However, Swan box # 58 is Catalogue No. E89034, which is accounted for in Anthropology's collections. Object is also marked with the number 39 in black paint or ink. Speculatively, one possible catalogue number for this might be E88945? E88945 is described as a large Haida carved box from Massett, B.C., that was broken up in transportation.

From card: "This is one of the two larger poles, acquired for the La. Purch. Expos. exhibit [a.k.a. St. Louis World's Fair of 1904] of the Smithsonian. It was purchased from Joe Hans who had it erected about 1885 as a memorial to his deceased uncle, whose name and totemic emblems he was assuming. It was put up on a site called: "nadogids" (the house to which people are always glad to go). The explanation of the carved figures is as follows, from bottom to top: 1. Beaver, was the original crest of Hans (tseng), 2. Whale (kun), 3. Sea Grizzly Bear (Chagan huaji), 3 Cormorant (kialo) with a face carved on its tail which is merely ornamental, 5. Two "totem-pole" men, with a ceremonial hat between them, on which stands: 6. Eagle (got) (at the top). The Eagle, Cormorant, and the whale are the crests which he took over from his uncle. Carved by natives from the giant cedar Thuja plicata."See "Monumental Art of Tanu", The Bill Reid Centre, Simon Fraser University https://www.sfu.ca/brc/virtual_village/haida/tanu/monumental-art-of-k-uuna.html . See entry on House 7b: Favourite House of Assembly, where it is noted that the second house on this site, Favourite House of Assembly, was erected sometime before 1885. Pole E233398 is described there as Frontal pole 7B, and the crests on the pole are identified in this way: 1. (top) separate carving of an eagle 2. two watchmen on either side of a small frog with large potlatch cylinders 3. cormorant 4. sea grizzly 5. killer whale 6. beaver with four potlatch cylinders

From card: "Blue blanket trimmed along edges with red flannel? and decorated with red, green, gold, and blue beads in motifs resembling raven and sea mammals. Jane Walsh thinks this might be Cat. 23342?" E23342 is catalogued as Haida, Alaska.This blanket is seen in SI photo Negative #77-10036, Photo Lot 24 SPC Nwc Kwakiutl NM No.# Boas 09070500, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, which shows a museum exhibit of a figure group (mannequin life group) of Kwakiutl Hamatsa initiates emerging from a room behind a painted scene. This blanket is on the mannequin third from the left. The exhibit was created for the museum by Franz Boas in 1895, using items from the collection. This photo, and a description of how Boas researched and created the exhibit, are in Jonaitis, Aldona. 1988. "From the Land of the Totem Poles: the Northwest Coast Indian Art Collection at the American Museum of Natural History", p. 150. The photo can also be seen online by going to collections.si.edu/search and searching on "NAA INV 09070500".Aaron Glass (during visit in March, 2017) agrees that this MIGHT be E23342: "Given that we know Boas dressed his Hamat'sa life group in some earlier collections, including at least one other Swan item, it is possible that this is the same piece. Perhaps its use on the mannequin resulted in its being separated from its [catalog] number (see ET668, as well)."This blanket/robe is visible in a stereograph photo where it is shown draped over a mannequin that was displayed at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia. See: Centennial Photographic Co.. Indian Chief "Shimini"--Government Building. Stereoviews. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/2008. This image is available from Library of Congress as well: "Indian chief, Shinomen." https://www.loc.gov/item/2022653171/ . Note: other than this blanket, the majority of the material on the mannequin appears to be from the John Wesley Powell collections from the Great Basin peoples. This provides some further evidence that it might be catalogue number E23342.