FROM CARD: "SUSPENDED WARP WEAVING FOR COMMERCIAL USE; FRINGED AT BOTTOM. BORDER BANDS IN WHITE, BLACK, AND YELLOW; LARGE CENTRAL PANEL IN BLACK WITH DECORATIVE DETAILS IN YELLOW, LIGHT BLUE, BLACK AND WHITE EACH OUTLINED WITH DOUBLE CORDONNET IN WHITE. WARP OF CEDAR BARK IN TWO-PLY TWIST INTERTWINED WITH WOOL OF MOUNTAIN SHEEP; WEFT TWINING OF WOOL OF MOUNTAIN GOAT (?). BADLY DAMAGED BY INSECTS."This robe is in poor condition, but appears to have a yellow and blue checkerboard "signature" at the bottom left and right corners. Per Clarissa (Hudson) Rizal, Tlingit artist/weaver, 2006, this resembles the signature used by her teacher Chilkat weaver Jennie Thlunaut (1892-1986).Shgen George, weaver, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. This blanket has a killer whale design, based on the fins, and there are flickerbird feather designs on the garment as well. Shgen says that it is common to see blue and green at the corners and they are not necessarily a weaver's 'signature.' The heading cord at the top is thin, which is unusual, and this one is broken. The fringe has remnants of blue in it, and is hand spun, but with commercial dye.

Provenience note: Anthropology catalogue ledger book lists a locality of Alaska for E67931 - 68019. Catalogue cards list a locality of Sitka. Alaska. It is unclear which is correct, though it is probable that the collection was purchased in Sitka.

LEDGER SAYS SENT TO GEORGE HEYE, NEW YORK, 1908.Anthropology catalogue ledger book identifies this object as Chilcat. It appears that Chilcat may be meant as a place name in this collection, perhaps not specifically or exclusively as a culture name, similar to the way other objects in the collection are identified as Sitka, Kootzahoo, and Hoonyah. Chilcat/Chilkat is a name sometimes used for Klukwan.

FROM CARD: "ANTIQUE. 4/18/1967: LOANED TO VANCOUVER A. G.; 12/13/1967 RETURNED BY VANCOUVER."Shgen George, weaver, Shirley Kendall, elder, and Florence Sheakley, elder, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. This blanket does not feature a diving whale design, which is different from other similar blankets in the collection. This design features a creature with an ear and claws. The splitting in this blanket as it degrades is where the drawstrings were that the weaver used to draw together the stitches. This blanket had side braids that are no longer present.

FROM CARD: "WOVEN FROM GOAT FLEECE WITH PAINTED (DYED) DESIGNS IN BLACK, YELLOW AND GREEN. TWO ROWS OF PUFFIN BEAK BEADS AT ENDS OF BUCKSKIN FRINGE BORDER. RARE AND VALUABLE SPECIMEN. 4/18/1967: LOANED TO VANCOUVER ART GALL., 12/13/1967 RETURNED BY VANCOUVER. LOAN CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988, LOAN RETURNED JAN 21, 1993. ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG. 290, P. 219." FROM CROSSROADS CATALOGUE: "A WRAPAROUND APRON AND DECORATED LEGGINGS WERE OFTEN WORN BY THE NOBILITY ALONG WITH A CHILKAT BLANKET ON CEREMONIAL OCCASIONS. THE WOVEN PIECES OF THIS SET (OF DANCE APRON AND LEGGINGS) WERE ORIGINALLY PART OF A SINGLE BLANKET DEPICTING A DIVING KILLER WHALE, WHICH WAS PROBABLY CUT UP AND DISTRIBUTED TO GUESTS DURING A GREAT MEMORIAL POTLATCH. THE WOVEN PIECES HAVE BEEN EXTENDED WITH TRADE BLANKET MATERIAL AND BORDERED WITH SKIN FRINGES. PUFFIN BEAKS ATTACHED TO THE FRINGES RATTLED TOGETHER WITH THE MOVEMENTS OF THE DANCER."" Leggings illus. Fig. G, after p. 48 in The Chilkat Dancing Blanket, by Cheryl Samuel, University of Oklahoma Press, 1982.Description: Wraparound leggings decorated with a stylized formline design woven in white, black, blue, and yellow dyed wool. The woven piece has been widened by the addition of wool trade blanket material and bordered with skin fringes. Puffin beaks are attached to the fringes. Materials and Construction: Wool, cotton, cedar bark, hide, and Puffin beaks were used to fabricate the leggings. Fitzhugh and Crowell suggest that the leggings were once part of a larger Chilkat blanket, which was probably cut up and distributed to guests during a great memorial potlatch. The cut edges of the woven fabric are trimmed with black silk piping. Rectangular black wool panels have been sewn to the sides of the leggings. A strip of hide is sewn along the sides of each legging and cut into a fringe. Puffin beaks have been stitched to the inside edge of the hide, adjacent to the weaving and make a rattling sound when the leggings move. One of the leggings has a narrow strip of hide sewn to the top of the legging which has also been cut into fringe. A single Puffin beak is sewn into one end of the hide fringe in this area. The bottom edge of the leggings taper to a fish tail like extension that would partially cover the top of the foot. Hide and canvas strips, sewn at the top, middle and bottom of each side were used to tie the leggings to the wearer.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=349 , retrieved 11-29-2011: Leggings These dance leggings, like the accompanying apron, feature pieces that were cut from a Chilkat-style mountain goat wool blanket. Sections from the original weaving were sewn onto commercial wool cloth and decorated with puffin beaks and leather fringes. The tail-shaped flaps at the bottom of the leggings rested on top of the dancer's moccasins.This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. E341202-0 Apron and E341202-1 Leggings are both on loan.

Provenience note: Anthropology catalogue ledger book lists a locality of Alaska for E67931 - 68019. Catalogue cards list a locality of Sitka. Alaska. It is unclear which is correct, though it is probable that the collection was purchased in Sitka.