From late 19th or early 20th century exhibit label with card: "Plaiting in Cedar Bark. - Half finished wallet made of the inner bark of the giant cedar (Thuja giagantea) in three colors, the natural hue of the bark, light-brown, and black. The weaving is in plain, square patterns, similar to that done by the Indians farther south. Henneah or Hennegah (Henya) Indians (Koluschan Stock), Tuxshekan (Tuxikan). Southeast Alaska, 1889. Gift of Lieut. George T. Emmons, U.S.N. The Indians of the Northwest Coast formerly removed slabs of cedar bark by hacking around the tree as in gathering tan bark, and then splitting them off in strips or whole, by means of wedges made of the ribs of the deer. These slabs then received a different treatment according to their future use as roof coverings, cinctures, beds, sails, mats, or baskets. For weaving or plaiting the bast or inner bark was peeled off and split with the thumb-nail. The black dyeing was done by burying the strips in a bog, and the brown by means of vegetable substances. No loom was used, but the plaiter sat on the ground and manipulated her material in precisely the same way as the palm-leaf-hat makers."

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.

FROM CARD: "WORN BY A FEMALE OF TAKOO TRIBE."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=34, retrieved 3-31-2012: Tunic or shirt, Tlingit, Taku, Southeast Alaska.

Listed on page 42 in "The Exhibits of the Smithsonian Institution at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915", in section "Arts of the Northwest Coast Tribes".

FROM CARD: "A WHITTLED STICK, ROUND AND TAPERING FROM ITS MIDDLE TO BOTH ENDS. NEAR EACH END ARE HUNG THREE BUNCHES OF PUFFIN BEAKS."Ruth Demmert, Alan Zuboff, and Linda Wynne made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. This rattle is made with puffin beaks, and similar objects may be made with hooves. Ruth commented that, in Kake, the design of this object is more recent. Ruth explained that in Kake, many people hid their items in caves as collectors came through, and also faced US Navy bombardment that damaged many of their materials. Alan added that similar destruction occurred in Angoon.

FROM CARD: "TWO-BLADED DAGGER. MADE OF IRON, ONE BLADE LONG AND TAPERING, THE OTHER SHORT. THE UPPER OR OUTER SIDE OF EACH BLADE IS DIVIDED INTO THREE FLAT SURFACES, AND IN HIGHLY-FINISHED EXAMPLES THE MIDDLE SURFACE IS SLIGHTLY RAISED. GRIP BETWEEN THE BLADES NARROWED AND WRAPPED WITH CLOTH OR LEATHER."

Toward the base of this totem pole model (directly under the Smithsonian catalogue number), is the word/name "Ebits" (the S is backwards). This name is probably a reference to the Tlingit man named Chief Ebbets (a.k.a. Ebbetts, Ebitts ... ) (1780 - 1880) and his wife Aanseet (Chief of All Women) (1800-1870). This model pole resembles the full size Tongass pole, carved circa 1870 to honor Aanseet, and taken from Tongass in 1899 and erected in Pioneer Square in Seattle. (For information on the pole in Seattle see http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/loc/id/1357; http://www.litsite.org/index.cfm?section=Digital-Archives&page=People-of-the-North&cat=Native-Lives-and-Traditions&viewpost=2&ContentId=2659; and Robin K. Wright: Totem Poles: Heraldic Columns of the Northwest Coast, http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/wright.html ).