FROM CARD: "THIS SPECIMEN BELIEVED TO BE THE #13146 ILLUS. IN BARBEAU'S "HAIDA MYTHS ILLUS. IN ARGILLITE CARVINGS," NMC #127, P.283 [PL. 250]. UNFORTUNATELY THE INFORMATION ON THE BASE OF THE TOTEM POLE MODEL IS NOT IN AGREEMENT. AN AUTHORITY ON THE ART HISTORY OF 'EDENSAW'S WORK MIGHT BE ABLE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF CONFLICTING DATES. THE CONFLICTING DATA [WHICH IS WRITTEN ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BASE OF THE TOTEM POLE MODEL] IS AS FOLLOWS: "SLATE TOTEM POLE (MINIATURE) CARVED BY CHARLEY EDENSAU [A.K.A. CHARLES EDENSHAW] SON OF CHIEF OF VILLAGE ON NORTON ISLAND, QUEEN CHARLOTTE GROUP. BOUGHT OF EDENSAU AT MOUTH OF SKEENA RIVER. GEORGE A. DORSEY, 1897 FOR W.A. HOLMES. BEST STYLE OF SLATE WORK." USNM CAT.# 13145 IS RE-ASSIGNED THIS SPECIMEN IN LIEU OF FURTHER DATA. 1/19/67. GP. INVENTORIED 1980." Illus. Pl. 250, p. 283 and described p. 265 and 303 (under incorrect catalogue # 13146) in Barbeau, Charles Marius. 1953. Haida myths illustrated in argillite carvings. [Ottawa]: Dept. of Resources and Development, National Parks Branch, National Museum of Canada. Identified as eagle at top, which shields with wings and bill the departed woman (wife of Nanasimgat) who wears a skil [hat ring or potlatch ring] hat and labret and holds onto the dorsal fin of the killer-whale, which makes up the lower half of the composition.The Swan accession record lists "3 pieces stone carving by Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte Island B.C." as part of this accession. This object may be one of those pieces.March 3, 2011, Robin K. Wright of the Burke Museum does not believe the attribution of this piece to Charles Edenshaw is correct.

FROM CARD: "(GHOST DANCE). ILLUS. IN USNM REPT, 1895; FIG. 147; P. 497."Per Dr. Aaron Glass, 2020: The ghosts were/are one of the spirit beings that initiate Kwakwaka'wakw T'seka (Winter Ceremonial or Red Cedar Bark Ceremonies) dancers. The Ghost Dance is not so much a dance enacting ghosts, but by people enacting ancestral encounters with ghosts that bestowed hereditary rights to the dances/songs. Some Ghost Dance rings have carved skulls, indicating the encounter with ghosts (dead humans), and in this sense can be hard to distinguish from Hamat'sa (Cannibal Dance) regalia that also sometimes feature carved skulls. Ghost dancers often cover their faces with shrouds of some kind (the Berlin head ring has a curtain of shredded cedar bark that covers the face), and they also cover their face with their hands as the characteristic choreographic gesture. Though the dancers wear rings and not masks, I have seen contemporary Ghost Dance masks that appear like skulls and have hair covering the faces. The dance is still passed down to some families, though it is not terribly common. Some information on the Ghost Dance can be found in Boas's 1897 "Social Organization and Secret Societies" book (pg. 408: an origin story; pg. 482: description of the dance itself and its regalia and song; pg. 497: figures of the 2 rings in question; pg. 499 has a list of Ft. Rupert dances in ranking order, and it is #44 of 53). There is no specific cultural sensitivity around the dance or regalia due to the association with ghosts, at least that I have ever heard of.

FROM CARD: "CARVED. WORN BY MEDICINE-MAN. 6 PENDANTS ILLUS. IN USNM REPT, 1895; PL. 9; P. 768."List in accession file identifies #s 34 (E168370), 35 (E168371), and 36 (E168372) as "Bone necklaces worn by medicine men when practicing about the sick." The heading above the listing for #33 (E168369) says: "These three pieces [which is presumed to apply to #33, 34, and 35] were brought by the Chilkaht Indian traders + packers from the Gunannao? [word hard to read] people who live about the headwaters of the Yukon River." The museum cataloguer has interpreted Gunannao to be Gonaho, i.e. Gunahoo/Gunaaxoo or the Dry Bay Tlingit, and has listed that designation for E168369 - E168373. It may be instead that this is a version of the word Gunana, i.e. Athabaskan (including Tutchone, Tagish ...), as the Chilkat traded with them. The Yukon River location seems to support this, as that would apply to the Athabaskans, not the Gunaaxoo Tlingit. (See p. 57 in Emmons, George Thornton, and Frederica De Laguna. 1991. The Tlingit Indians. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, v. 70. Seattle: University of Washington Press.)

FROM CARD FOR 2697-2698: "WOODEN IMAGES CARVED BY THE NATIVES OF OREGON". COLLECTED BY S. B. ELLIOT OF THE EXPEDITION. NO. 249 WAS LOST BY HARNONCOURT IN 1938."Illus. p. 310 and discussed p. 310 and p. 389 of Gilman, Carolyn. 2003. Lewis and Clark across the divide. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. Identified there as a carving of a sailor, Chinookan, collected by S. B. Elliot when the U.S. Exploring Expedition visited the Oregon coast in 1841.Peale catalogue identifies # 249 (E2698) and # 250 (this object) as "Wooden images carved by the natives of Oregon."Human figure with hands in front pockets. He is wearing a round, patterned hat and has prominent ears. Figure is carved from a single piece of wood, with shallow manufacture marks noted overall, particularly on the legs. Red stain has been applied overall but is mainly noted present under hat rim, under hat brim, in nostrils, and in the mouth. Has original Peale # label.

From card: "Painted - 'split body' totemic motif. Repaired. Illus. Fig. 116, p. 110 in A Guide to Weft Twining by David W. Fraser. Philadelphia: University of Penn. Press, 1989." For small illustration see Hat 108, p. 221 in Glinsmann, Dawn. 2006. Northern Northwest Coast spruce root hats. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. Also illustrated, with details of brim turn, ending, and headband, in Fig. 200, p. 165 of Glinsmann. Glinsmann identifies as Haida style of manufacture.Speculatively, one possible number for this hat might be E360687 in the Victor J. Evans collection?

CARD ORIGINALLY IDENTIFIED THIS AS "POLISHED MINERAL ORNAMENTS (2 PIECES)". ADDED TO CARD REMARKS LATER (?): "REDDISH-YELLOW COLORED CYLINDRICAL STONE BEAD."Attributed to U.S. Exploring Expedition/Wilkes collection on the catalogue card, however Jane Walsh doubts that attribution. Card calls it "N.W. Coast of America", however it resembles magnesite stone beads in use in California.

Listed on page 47 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 (Tools)".