FROM CARD: "8/17/66: INVENTORIED."Bow and 6 arrows.

From card: "Illus. in USNM AR, 1888; Pl. 40, fig. 204; p. 316. Illus. in The Far North catalog, Nat. Gall. of Art, 1973, p. 175. From: page 49, Boxes and Bowls catalog; Renwick Gallery; Smithsonian Press; 1974, (object illus. on same page): "Animal-form bowl; wood; carved in relief, Length: 10; Haida, Skidegate, British Columbia; 'Food dish; mountain demon and crow'; Collected by James G. Swan; October 1883." Illus.: p. 195, Pl. 240c, Celebrations catalogue, Smithsonian Press, 1982; from Celebrations caption: "Crow Feast Dish, ca. 1850-83, 4 1/8 x 10 x 6 (10.5 x 25.4 x 15.3); Wooden bowls were used to serve seal oil and candlefish oil, two highly prestigious foods. This bowl shows two aspects of the human-spirit transformation: Crow with his human soul emerging from his mouth and the shared human-bird soul with its characteristic recurved beak in Crow's tail." Loaned R. H. Lowie Museum, 12-31-1964; returned 2-15-1966. Loaned: Vancouver Art Gall. 4-18-1967; returned 12-13-1967. Loaned to the National Gallery of Art, October 20, 1972; returned 5-29-1973. Loaned Renwick Gal. 11-7-1976; loan returned 8-24-1976. Loaned to Renwick 2-4-1982; returned 6-1983. Loaned to SITES- Treasures 5-10-1984; returned 11-21-1984." Jay Stewart and Peter Macnair 7-20-2005 identify this as oil dish; raven with human.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=633 , retrieved 2-4-2022: Bowl. On this feast dish for serving seal or eulachon (candlefish) oil, a carved Raven holds a small human figure in its beak, recorded by collector James G. Swan as the representation of a "mountain spirit." A hawk with a short, curved beak is depicted on Raven's tail. The bowl came from the Haida Gwaii village of Skidegate in 1884 [sic, should be 1883], and is still saturated with the oils it once contained.

Accession file identifies original #88, Catalogue Nos. E20870 - 73, as 4 baskets from Koutznow [i.e. Hutsnuwu people], Alaska. Anthropology Catalogue ledger book lists locality as Chatham Strait.

Comment from Graduate Student Research Paper, "A Report on Accession #42610 of the National Museum of Natural History", written by Athena Hsieh in April 2012, for the class "Anthropology in the Museum" taught by NMNH Curator, Dr. J. Daniel Rogers for the George Washington University. Approved for inclusion into notes by Dr. Igor Krupnik. Dr. Krupnik and NMNH has not verified the contents of the comment below, and suggests future researchers verify the remarks before citing Ms. Hsieh. The complete paper is attached to the accession record of this object in EMu. "This spoon is the second object in this collection described as Nootka in its documentation and is carved from a dark-colored wood. Though the individual who typed the catalog card wrote in a confident tone and stated his/her reasons for documenting the spoon as s/he did, no records on “B Isucker” were found in searches through the National Anthropological Archives or online search engines. However, subsequent internet searches revealed almost no images for “Nootka spoons,” but showed two examples of “Kwakiutl spoons,” both with curved handles and a bird's head carved into their ends, listed for auction(7). On the other hand, information written directly on the back of the spoon reads “Nootka, 231013, J.W. Swanton, L.P.X.” Since Swanton's middle initial is incorrect, it is difficult to completely trust the Nootka attribution assigned to this object. The straight beak on the bird suggests that the carving is of a raven, not an eagle, which in turn suggests that this spoon was made for and used by someone in the Raven lineage. The spoon was painted on both sides. A human figure, which may represent the Raven in human form, a motif commonly found in Northwest coast cultural objects, is painted on the back. The image painted in the bowl of the spoon remains unidentified. Citations: (7)- Christie's: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=2077540 Seahawk Auctions: http://www.seahawkauctions.com/auctions/25/page85.html"E-231013: Painted Wooden Spoon “Nootka, West Coast Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Carved from wood and painted in red and black. The end of the handle is carved in the form of a birds head. Spoon is undoubtedly of Southern Kwakiutl manufacture, on basis of painting, and because Nootka did not make wooden spoon or ladles but bought them from Kwaks. B Isucker.” (Catalog card)