FROM CARD FOR 20689-92 : "2 CHAMBERS. #20689 - CEREMONIAL TRUMPET, TSIMSHIAN, FT. SIMPSON, B.C.-ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1888; PL. 61, FIG. 324; P. 330. ILLUS. IN USNM REPT., 1896; PL. 72, FIG. 3; P. 564....NO. 20689 SENT AS EXCHANGE TO F. W. GALPIN HATFIELD VICARAGE, HARLOW ESSEX, NOV. 25, 1907."FROM SECOND CARD: "DOUBLE DOUBLE-REED INSTRUMENT. AN OVAL BLOCK OF WOOD, SOMETHING OF THE FORM OF A PADDLE, SPLIT LONGITUDINALLY THROUGH ITS MAJOR AXIS. THE HALVES ARE EXCAVATED TO FORM TWO AIR PASSAGES STARTING FROM LOWER END AND ENDING IN ONE BEFORE IT REACHES THE TOP. IN EACH OF THE TWO AIR PASSAGES IS PACKED A DOUBLE REED MADE OF WOOD. THE HALVES ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER AND LASHED WITH FOUR BANDS OF SPRUCE ROOT. SEE WILSON'S PREHISTORIC ART, PP. 565 AND PL. 72, FIG. 3. ALSO U.S.M. REPORT, 1888, PL. LXI, FIG. 324."Ian Reid (Heiltsuk) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. It looks to be a root strapping. There are a great variety of whistles because there's a different sound for every spirit or being that was imitated. When we impersonated the supernatural they all didn't sound the same. It is held together by tree sap, it's like fiberglass when you use it; it's really hard.

FROM CARD: "20620-1. SHORT HANDLES PLAIN."

Anthropology catalogue ledger book and catalogue card identify this spoon as Bella Bella. As of 2010, culture in database identifies the spoon as Tlingit, however the source of the Tlingit identification is unknown. The spoon is therefore being listed as both Tlingit and Bella Bella for now.Ian Reid (Heiltsuk) and Evelyn Windsor (Heiltsuk elder) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. In order to make the spoons, they look for parts in the alder tree that have a natural curve. Everyone sat around the big cooking pot and used them for spooning their soup out. Alder wood spoons are for everyday use and horn spoons are used for feasts. Usually when you take on your chiefdomship, or you have a feast, this is one of the items that would sit on top of the bentwood box or it would be publicly handed over.

FROM CARD: "20568A & B ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 4 (A ON LEFT, B ON RIGHT), PG. 316. LOANED RENWICK GAL. 11-7-73. LOAN RETURNED 8-24-76." Identified in Handbook caption as water bucket, "... a bent-corner box (the 4 sides made of a single board, kerfed, steamed, and folded into a box shape, the ends joined and a bottom attached with wooden pegs) with a wooden handle acrosss the top." Painted designs in red and black, and borders and handle red. Forms a set with dipper E20568B.FROM CARD: 20568A (BOX), 20568B (DIPPER). FROM PAGE 77, BOXES AND BOWLS CATALOG; RENWICK GALLERY, SMITHSONIAN PRESS; 1974. OBJECTS ILLUS. ON SAME PAGE. 68. BOX AND DIPPER WOOD; PAINTED BLACK AND RED. HEIGHT (BOX): 10 1/4. LENGTH (DIPPER): 11. BELLA BELLA, BRITISH COLUMBIA. "WATER BUCKET AND LADLE." COLLECTED BY JAMES G. SWAN. CATALOGED JANUARY 15, 1876. 20,568-A (BOX); 20,568-B (DIPPER)."Catalog card gives 5260 as accession number, but 4686 (also from Swan, in 1876) is more likely, as that accession contains objects from British Columbia.Karen Anderson (Nuxalk elder) and Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. This is a water cooking box. Food was prepared in these using hot rocks. Everyone had these boxes; families often have regular boxes for eating and cooking at home and boxes for feasts and potlatches.

FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HEAD-DRESS. - CARVED FROM A SOLID BLOCK OF WOOD. BEHIND IS A HEMISPHERICAL CAP FOR THE HEAD OF WEARER, AND PROJECTING IN FRONT OF THIS IS A LARGE AND ELABORATELY CARVED AND PAINTED BIRD'S HEAD, HOLDING IN ITS BEAK THE SMALL FIGURE OF A MAN, TOES DOWNWARD, WITH HEAD PROJECTING BEYOND BEAK AND LOOKING AHEAD. ON TOP OF BIRD'S HEAD ARE OTHER SMALL HUMAN FACES. THE COLORS ARE BROWN, BLACK, RED, AND WHITE. THE PUPILS OF EYES OF BIRD ARE OF POLISHED IRON. WORN IN DANCES BY INDIANS OF BELLA BELLA. LENGTH, 20 INS. HEIGHT, 9 INS. WIDTH, 9 INS. DIAM. OF CAP, 7 INS. " From card: "Loan: Museo Nacional de Antropologia, May 18, 1964." Loan returned 2012.Catalog card gives 5260 as accession number, but 4686 (also from Swan, in 1876) is more likely, as that accession contains objects from British Columbia.Ian Reid (Heiltsuk), Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) and Evelyn Windsor (Heiltsuk elder) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th -24th, 2013. Consensus is that it looks like a raven. The holes were probably used in order to attach hair, likely human. A mask was used by a dancer at a potlatch then immediately put away, out of sight. This mask is one piece of wood, which looks to be alder. It contains classic Nuxalk or Kimsquit characteristics in the stylized carving of the face and ear. This mask was likely used at initiation ceremonies in which the person would receive their ancestor name.

FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HELMET IN FOUR PARTS. THE LONGEST PIECE HAS IN REAR A CARVED HEMISPHERICAL CAP FOR HEAD OF WEARER, AND IN FRONT A CARVED REPRESENTATION OF EYES, UPPER JAW, AND MUZZLE OF A LARGE FROG. ON TOP ON EACH SIDE OF THIS HEAD ARE TWO PIECES, LIKE WINGS, CARVED, PAINTED, AND ORNAMENTED WITH TUFTS OF WHITE COARSE HAIR. THE LOWER JAW OF THE FROG IS ATTACHED TO UPPER WITH A HINGE-JOINT, AND IS CARVED AND PAINTED ON UNDER SURFACE TO REPRESENT A MAN'S FACE. WORN BY NATIVE INDIANS OF BELLA BELLA. LENGTH, 19 INS. WIDTH, 12 INS. HEIGHT, 14 INS. BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1876. 20,575. COLLECTED BY J. G. SWAN."Ian Reid (Heiltsuk), Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) and Jennifer Kramer (anthropologist) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th -24th, 2013. The sculpting and technique is classic Nuxalk style. The eyebrows are thick and it has a moon-shaped eye orbit. It looks to be some sort of sea creature and is made out of alder. The group believes the attribution as a frog mask in the exhibit label text (Note 1) is wrong, and also believes the mask is from Bella Coola, not Bella Bella.

FROM CARD: "TWO SPOON-SHAPED PIECES OF CARVED WOOD, ONE WITH A HUMAN FIGURE CARVED ON CONVEX SIDE, THE OTHER WITH A HUMAN MASK. EACH ONE IS MADE THIN WHERE IT BEGINS TO FORM THE HANDLE. THE FLAT OR CONCAVE SIDES OF THE BODY FACE EACH OTHER AND THE ENDS THAT FORM THE HANDLE ARE BOUND TOGETHER WITH A WRAPPING OF CORD. USED AT THE DOG FEASTS. 20,590. LOANED TO S.I. CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT (A&I) 10-29-75."Ian Reed (Heiltsuk) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th -24th, 2013. There is is a sea creature on the clapper, with eyes, fin, tail, nose, and big lips. There is also a human on the back, with a dorsal fin. The clapper appears to be made out of yew.

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: "CARVED WOOD RATTLE IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN HEAD COVERED WITH MYTHOLOGICA DESIGNS IN BOTH RELIEF AND INTAGLIO AND PAINTED RED, GREEN, AND BLACK. ACCORDING TO BOAS THE DESIGN IS THE KILLER WHOLE [sic, should be whale] AND IT IS USED IN THE SECRET SOCIETIES. ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1895; FIG. 210, P. 657. LOANED TO THE S.I. CENTENNIAL COMM. 7-9-75. LOAN RETURNED MAR 22 1990. ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 6, PG. 319." Identified in Handbook caption as carved wooden rattle. "A human figure at the top lies with his back to the killerwhale that encircles the rattle. The whale's dorsal fin rises from the back of the figure's head. Carved features are painted in red, green, and black. This specimen, said to have been the property of a "medicine man," was used in the secrect societies according to Boas (1897:654)."Ian Reid (Heiltsuk) and Jennifer Kramer (anthropologist) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. The name sounds and reads Haida. It appears to be yew. It does not seem to be extremely old because it contains canvas and string, as opposed to hide.