FROM CARD: "SHIP'S BOTTOM COPPER SHEETING WITH NATIVE RIVETING. CONSISTS OF SHEET COPPER. 1-2 CM. IN THICKNESS JOINED BY COPPER RIVETS INTO FORM TYPICAL OF N.W. COAST INDIAN 'PROPERTY' SHIELDS. OUTLINE FORM ROUGHLY OBLONG WITH FLARING EDGES EXTENDING FROM CENTRAL TRANSVERSE MIDRIB TO TOP MARGIN. BOTH TOP & BOTTOM ARE CONVEXED DIAMOND-SHAPE. A SECOND REINFORCING MIDRIB EXTENDS LONGITUDINALLY FROM CENTER TO BASE. RIBS ARE 1-2 CM. DEEP V GROOVES OPENING ON REVERSE OF SHIELD. NO SUSPENSION LOOP OR ARM HOLD DESIGNS. DESIGN ETCHING ON OBVERSE. (TAKEN FROM AN EARLY LABEL:) NATIVE COPPER SHIELDS. THESE SHIELDS WERE THE MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION OF THE ALASKA NATIVE AND THEIR PRICE RECKONED IN SLAVES. ONE LIKE THIS WAS WORTH ABOUT FIVE SLAVES. WE HAVE QUESTIONED SEVERAL AUTHORITIES ABOUT THIS SHIELD AND THEY ALL SAY THAT IT IS UNDOUBTABLY MADE OF COPPER NUGGETS HAMMERED OUT FLAT AND RIVETED TOGETHER. ITS ORIGIN THE COPPER RIVER COUNTRY. THE OWNER WAS A PRINCE OF WALES NATIVE. THE DAY AFTER HE SOLD IT TO US HE TRIED TO PERSUADE US TO TRADE BACK."See BAE 46th Annual Report, p. 35, where acquisition of this artifact is discussed. Ales Hrdlicka purchased this object (as well as E332801, discussed on p. 34) from Robert Simpson of The Nugget Shop, a curio shop in Juneau, Alaska. Purchased by Hrdlicka in 1926, presumably in June of that year as was E332801. The publication indicates that, according to Simpson, he purchased the copper in "Klawak, Prince of Wales Island."

FROM CARD: "CARVED FROM ONE PIECE OF WOOD, WITH THREE THWARTS, PAINTED RED INSIDE, AND BLACK AROUND THE CENTER 3/4 OF THE OUTSIDE. HAS THE TYPICAL CONCAVE PROW LINE OF THE BOATS OF THESE INDIANS. THIS IS A SEA-OTTER HUNTING CANOE. INFORMATION FROM: DR. F. DE LAGUNA. 11/1963."

FROM CARD: "OF HALF HAMADGA & HALF HAYALIKALAT. ILLUS. IN USNM REPT, 1895; FIG. 134; P. 488."

FROM CARD: "16290-91. #16290 - #16291 - COMMON FORM."

FROM CARD: "TO PUT ON HEAD OF A BAGAS TO MAKE HIM DISAPPEAR. ILLUS. IN USNM REPT, 1895; FIG. 186; P. 527."

FROM CARD: "GOAT'S HORN.--SUCH AS ARE USED FOR MAKING SPOONS. THE BOWL OF THE SPOON IS MADE FROM THE LARGE PART OF THE HORN, WHICH, AFTER BEING SLIT A FEW INCHES ON ONE SIDE, IS SHAPED BY STEAMING IT IN A WOODEN MOLD SCOOPED OUT IN THE REQUIRED SHAPE. THE HANDLE RUNS TO THE TIP OF THE HORN AND IS GENERALLY ORNAMENTED WITH CARVED TOTEMIC DESIGNS. THE HANDLE AND THE BOWL ARE OFTEN MADE OF DIFFERENT PIECES. LENGTH, 7 1/4 INCHES; WIDTH, 1 3/4 INCHES. ALASKA. 16,809. COLLECTED BY DR. W. H. DALL."

FROM CARD: "OF DANCE OF GHOST. ILLUS. IN USNM REPT, 1895; FIG. 146; P. 497."Listed on page 41 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".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 FROM BLOCK OF CLAY SLATE." (DUPLICATE. COPIED FROM CATALOG).Argillite clay-type pipe with long stem; two figures with bone heads sit on either side of bowl, with their outstretched arms and legs around the bowl.It may be presumed that this object was probably collected by Dr. John Evans during his surveying in Oregon and Washington Territories and Vancouver Island, 1851-1852 or 1853-1856?