FROM CARD: "THESE RATTLES ARE OF A SIMILAR CLASS TO 20.786, BUT THE STICK IS CARVED, ONE END TO REPRESENT THE HEAD AND BEAK OF A DUCK, THE NECK IN THE MIDDLE FORMS THE HANDLE AND THE OTHER END THE BACK WITH WINGS. IN THE LOWER EDGE OF THE BACK AND WINGS ARE DRILLED SMALL HOLES TO WHICH ARE ATTACHED BY SINEWS MORMON PUFFING [sic, should be puffin] BILLS. ILLUS. IN U.S.M. REPORT 1888 (NIBLACK) PL. LIV, NO. 289. LOANED TO THE DIVISION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 9/30/77. LOAN RETURNED 11/14/77. LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. [E20828-0] ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG.375, P. 274. ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 15E, PG.222. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993." Crossroads of Continents catalogue caption identifies E20828-0 as: Tlingit baton rattle. "Tufted puffin beaks were used on baton rattles such as ... [this one], carved as an abstract duck. Wings, tail, and head are detailed with formlines; the long neck forms the handle. Such rattles were used in sets by shamans and dancers," FROM OLD 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "RATTLE.---MADE OF WOOD AND CARVED. DESIGN, A DUCK, WITH ORNAMENTS OF THE BEAKS OF THE PUFFIN. KLOWAK INDIANS (KOLUSCHAN STOCK), PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND, ALASKA. 20,828. COLLECTED BY JAMES G. SWAN."Anthropology catalogue ledger book identifies Catalogue #s E20827 and E20911 as Swan original # 61. List in accession file identifies # 61 as "1 box containing complete outfit of an Indian medicine man, Hannegan Indians, Klawark village, P. of Wales Island, Alaska." Catalogue Nos. E20828 - 38 may be related objects?

FROM CARD: "BASKET. 1 GIFT TO ROCHESTER ATHENAEUM & MECHANICS INSTITUTE, FEB. 14, 1903. ONE-EXCHANGE-MR. G. D. E. SCHMELTZ LEIDEN MUSEUM, LEIDEN HOLLAND. MAY 1899."

RATTLE TOP: IN THE SHAPE OF A RAVEN, ON ITS BACK A RECUMBENT HUMAN FIGURE SUCKING A FROG'S TONGUE, FROG HELD IN BEAK OF BIRD'S HEAD. RATTLE BOTTOM: HAWK'S HEAD. LEATHER THONGS HOLDING HOLLOW TOP AND BOTTOM TOGETHER. SEEDS INSIDE? CARVINGS PAINTED IN BLACK, RED, GREEN AND BROWN PIGMENTS. SEE ACCESSION FILE FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF 1952-53 RESTORATION BY DONOR. TRIBAL AND LOCATION DESIGNATIONS BY WILSON DUFF, 1969.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=716, retrieved 3-31-2012: Rattle, Tsimshian. During secret society performances chiefs carried raven-shaped rattles that portrayed the transfer of spiritual power from animal beings to people. On Raven's back a crested bird holds a frog in its extended beak, and through its tongue the halaayt of the frog enters and transforms a person or spirit in human form. Raven rattles, used by the Tsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit, are thought to have been first made by a Tsimshian or Nisga'a artist.

FROM CARD: "HALIOTIS INLAID. ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1888, PL. 7, FIG. 23, P. 260."FROM 19TH CENTURY OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "EAR ORNAMENTS.---RED SKEINS OF WOOL, TO WHICH ARE PENDANT TO-TEMS OF CARVED SHELL, HALIOTIS CALIFORNIANUS, INLAID WITH HALIOTIS KAMSCHATKENSIS. WORN BY NASSES [NASS] INDIAN, NEAR FORT SIMPSON. LENGTH, 9 INS. BREADTH, 1 1/2 INS. BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1875. 20,674. COLLECTED BY J.G. SWAN."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=528, retrieved 4-24-2012: Ear ornaments or earrings. Ear ornaments made of yarn and abalone shell were a symbol of nobility. Fathers or uncles hosted potlatches to pierce the ears of their high-born children, nephews, and nieces, and the full measure of prestige was to reach adulthood with four holes on each side. The wise, elderly figure of Mouse Woman appears in Tsimshian sacred histories to offer advice to people in their dealings with supernatural beings. In payment she always asks for the person's wool earrings, which she burns and eats or takes away for lining her nest. Symbolically, ear perforations were connected with hearing, understanding, and wisdom of the kind that Mouse Woman offered.

From card: "Thick blue blanket stuff with broad border of broadcloth ornamented with applique designs of whales [sic], men, and seals [sic], and lines of pearl buttons. Loan: Crossroads Sep 22 1988. Loan returned Jan 21 1993. Illus.: Crossroads of Continents catalogue; Fig. 221, p. 174."Blue and black-striped diagonal weave napped wool blanket with top and sides edged in appliqued band of red wool. Beige selvages on red wool are typical of a strouding trade blanket. Red wool shapes of standing bear(?) with arms spread, crosses, and 27 salmon(?) appliqued on as decoration. Small white shell buttons form rectangles, one within the other, in the center. Four large white shell buttons decorate centers of four crosses, and two more form eyes of the bear. White beads outline bear's figure. tabs with buttons on top edge may be device for a neck tie or for securingIllus. Fig. 221, p. 174 in Fitzhugh William W., Aron Crowell and National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). 1988. Crossroads of Continents : Cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press. Identified there as Tsimshian: "As described in the Tsimshian myth of "The Prince Who Was Taken Away by the Spring Salmon" (Boas 1916: 192), each species of salmon has its own chief and village beneath the sea. When the cottonwood leaves fall into the Skeena River, it is a signal for the salmon to leave their villages and head upstream, led by their chief, the First Salmon. It is not known what myth is illustrated by this flannel-appliqued button blanket, but its humanoid central figure may represent a salmon chief. Alternatively, it may be the submarine monster Nagunaks ..."

PAIR OF EARRINGS MADE OF 3 PORCUPINE QUILLS, BEADED WITH PINK AND PURPLE BEADS AT EITHER END.