From card: "'If for common painting of hats, etc. the paint is prepared by chewing dried salmon eggs and cedar bark and spitting the saliva into the cavity in the stone, and the lignite is then rubbed in till the required color is obtained. When used for tatooing the lignite is rubbed on the stone with water only.' Swan's invoice and descriptive catalogue." Neg. #2005-22350 is photo of this object with Catalogue No. E88903, a paint mortar.

OLD TAG WITH ARTIFACT STATES: "NO. 206 SKAMSKUM, HAIDA MASK MASSET, B.C., JULY 6TH 1883, J.G. SWAN, 75 CENTS."

From card: "#88929 - Illus. in USNM AR, 1888; Pl. 29, fig. 153, p. 286." From 19th or early 20th century exhibit label with card: "Seal Spear Head. - Made of steel. Head detachable from foreshaft and secured by a plaited lanyard of seaweed made fast to a shackle in the butt. The case is made of two pieces of cedar lashed with split spruce root. Masset Indians (Skittagetan stock), Queen Charlotte's Islands, B.C. Collected by James G. Swan."Harpoon head sheath is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. Only sheath on loan. Harpoon head, which was not located during the 1970's inventory, is not included on loan.Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on harpoon head sheath http://www.alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=624, retrieved 5-6-2012: Sheath for harpoon head, Haida. A wooden sheath with a seal-like "tail": encased the barbed tip of a seal harpoon when it was not in use. Legendary seal hunters from Gitadju' became lost in fog and arrived at the undersea house of the Ocean People. There a supernatural being dressed in rings of woven cedar bark taught them spirit dances to perform during potlatch ceremonies. On the way back home the men capsized their canoe but managed to reach shore, and when one blew on his wet harpoon sheath it made a whistling sound like the voice of the dancing spirit. Haida celebrants used wooden whistles to re-create this sound and dressed in bark rings as their ancestors had been shown.

From card: "Bear-killer whale, beaver, frog, and dog fish motifs."

From card: "Small bundle of spruce roots stained blue (mud stain?)"

Mask was originally catalogued as "Koloshian", but identification was later changed to Haida at an unknown time by an unknown person. “Carved wooden masks. These of women represent the face of an Alaska married woman. The lower lip pierced with large piece of ivory. The married women are recognized by this feature (and ring in nose.)” And, mask “is a facsimile of the face of the ordinary Alaska Indian woman (the lower lip pierced) all married woman observe this custom but a shirt silver needle or pin would better represent prevailing custom, excepting in women somewhat advanced in years.” per White's original catalog in the NAA.

FROM CARD: "CARVED ANIMAL DISH, IN FORM OF CHIEF'S RATTLE. L.P.X. [probably L.P.X. stands for Louisiana Purchase Exposition, a.k.a. the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904]. 4/18/67: LOANED TO VANCOUVER ART GALL. 12/13/67:RETURNED BY VANCOUVER. VERY SIMILAR TO CAT. NO. 89,134 OR 5 ANIMAL-FORM BOWL; WOOD; CARVED IN RELIEF; TRACES OF RED PAINT. "CROW". 178961 LOANED RENWICK GAL. 11-7-73. LOAN RETURNED 8-24-76. LOAN GLENBOW NOV 13 1987. LOAN RETURNED NOV 25 1988. ILLUS.: THE SPIRIT SINGS. CATALOGUE, GLENBOW-ALBERTA INST., 1987, #N88, P.151." FROM CARD: "178961 A. FROM: PAGE 50, BOXES AND BOWLS CATALOG; RENWICK GALLERY; SMITHSONIAN PRESS; 1974. OBJECT ILLUS. ON SAME PAGE. 26. ANIMAL-FORM BOWL WOOD; CARVED IN RELIEF; TRACES OF RED PAINT LENGTH: 10. (HAIDA, SKIDEGATE, BRITISH COLUMBIA. "CROW." (BY COMPARISON WITH 89134, NOT IN EXHIBITION) RECEIVED IN 1904. 178,961." No collector or donor is identified for this piece either in the Anthropology catalogue ledger book or the catalogue card. Ledger book indicates it was catalogued April 9, 1904.Jay Stewart and Peter Macnair 7-20-2005 identify this as oil dish; raven.This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.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=658 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Bag This feast bowl imitates the shape of a Haida chief's rattle and the same supernatural beings are shown. Raven's body lends the bowl its overall form, and the cannibal spirit, Ulala, reclines on top. Ulala's arms extend around the bowl toward Hawk, who peers from Raven's tail feathers. Chiefly hosts served rich foods in carved bowls like this to their guests at winter ceremonies.