A light brown woven basketry hat. Done in a large weave, with plain cedar bark weaving across the flat top. Below the tapered top section, the hat gradually widens toward the flared rim.

Plaited square basket with rounded corners. Around the top edge of the basket, the cedar bark is folded over so that the ends of the pieces are exposed around the exterior of the basket. The folded pieces are held in place with a thin piece of bark which demonstrates plain twining. The basket is primarily red brown but there are two bands of contrasting dark brown plaited around the middle of the basket. The bottom of the basket is also plaited but with much wider pieces. The artist’s name is written in black pen on the bottom of the basket. There is a small paper tag attached to the basket which has the artist’s name, community and a price written on it in pen.

Catalog number 88960 [part numbers E88960-0 through E88960-3] are four hats of a similar style. One of the four hats is illustrated (small) as Hat 112, p. 221 in Glinsmann, Dawn. 2006. Northern Northwest Coast spruce root hats. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006.This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. Only 1 hat of 4 on loan (E088960-3).Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on artfact (called E88960A) http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=626 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Hat This woven spruce-root hat, made at the village of Masset in the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, is not painted with clan designs and was probably made for everyday wear and rain protection. Roots for weaving are roasted in a fire, stripped of their bark, split into strands, and softened by soaking in water. "The Elders gathered the spruce roots, and when they were ready to quit they sang a song... The first one who started the song would go down and start the fire for the spruce root, the cooking of the spruce root…Then the next group would sing and they would be the ones who would help get the kindling. And it would go clear around, and when it reached the last ones they all went down the beach then and started the cooking…We pulled the roots through a stick that was forked, and that took the outer skin off." - Delores Churchill, 2005

From card: "Red, black, and several shades of blue design with two leather chin straps. The crown is supported by a wooden inner support. 4/18/1967: loaned to Vancouver Art Gall. 12/13/67: returned by Vancouver. 4/17/67: Loan Data: ok but very fragile. Loan: Crossroads Sep 22, 1988. Loan returned: Jan 21, 1993. Illus. Crossroads of Continents catalogue; Fig. 103, p. 92. Ilus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 13, pg. 253." Crossroads catalogue identifies as a spruce-root hat, and says that the formline design is of an orca, or killer whale, a leading crest of the Raven moiety of the Haida. Per Dawn Glinsmann, 7-15-2005, this hat has the Haida jog along with a Haida braid. For small illustration see Hat 106, p. 221 in Glinsmann, Dawn. 2006. Northern Northwest Coast spruce root hats. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006.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://www.alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=627, retrieved 5-6-2012: Crest hat, Haida. This woven spruce-root hat is painted with abstract form-lines representing the Killer Whale, a crest owned by all of the Raven moiety clans. In traditional stories, killer whales are the rulers of the ocean; they are fearsome creatures that break canoes and drown the people inside, who then become whales themselves. Leading men and women wore hats with painted clan designs at ceremonial occasions such as the great house-building feasts. This hat from Masset, British Columbia has leather chin straps and a wooden frame inside to support the crown.

This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.From card: "Illus. in USNM AR, 1888; Pl. 23, fig. 91; p. 278, also in Proceedings, USNM, vol. 60; Pl. 15, no. 4; p. 48."Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on artfact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=618 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Adze House and canoe builders did their heavy woodworking with stone-bladed adzes. The grooved blades were basalt, greenstone or jade, lashed to a handle made from a forked tree branch. On great occasions such as a house-building potlatch, the host might carry an adze to symbolize the wealth he had achieved by building and trading canoes.

From card: "Rank ornament of chief. Each section shows the number of feasts he has given." From old original tag with artifact: "Tadn skillik worn by chiefs to indicate rank. This was on top of an old wooden helmet too much broken to be of use. These Tadn skilliks are highly prized when new. This is the only specimen offered. James G. Swan, Massett, B.C., July 9, 1883." AS OF 2006, CAT. #88738 CONSISTS OF ONE COLUMN OF 3 WOODEN AND 4 WOVEN SPRUCE-ROOT? CYLINDRICAL RINGS, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS "POTLATCH RINGS," USUALLY USED ON TOPS OF HATS. -F. PICKERING 5-10-2006

This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.From card: "Wood. Carved in relief. From: page 44, Boxes and Bowls catalog; Renwick Gallery; Smithsonian Press; 1974. Object illus. same page. Animal-form bowl; Wood; carved in relief; Length: 7 [in.]. [Haida], Massett, British Columbia ... Collected by James G. Swan, July 1883."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=620 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Bowl Beaver is an important Haida crest, claimed by almost all clans of the Eagle moiety (or clan group). The animal is often shown with a stick in its mouth, as on this feast bowl. In an incident from oral tradition, Raven steals the salmon-rich lake owned by a Beaver chief, rolls it up, puts it in his beak, and flies up into a tree. Beavers, bears, and wolves come to the Beaver chief's aid, toppling the trees where Raven is perched in an effort to catch him. Raven flies away, spitting out water that becomes the Skeena, Stikine, and other rivers.