From card: "See also Cat. #89218 (Duplication). Carved by Skaowskeay, an Indian carver of Skidegate, B.C.. Legend - She being out gathering berries, the bears killed all but one whom the King of Bears took for his wife. She had a child by him, half bear and half human. At length the Indian hunters discovered the woman up a tree and thinking her a bear were about to kill her, but she made them understand she was human and they took her home, and this is the origin of all who belong to the Hoourts or Bear Totem. This remarkable carving takes its conception in the legend of the union between a bear and a woman. The carving shows the woman's agony on being suckled by her half human progeny. Illustrated in USNM AR, 1888, Pl. 47, fig. 263a; Pl. 49, fig. 263b; Pl. 50, fig. 263c, p. 322. Casts have been made of this specimen. Cast sent to Royal Zoological & Anthropological Museum, Dresden, Germany; March 22, 1905. 3/1951 apparently only one cast was left. Published originally as Pls. 49 & 50 in Niblack: "The Coastal Indians of Southern Alaska and N. British Columbia." See Swan's letter of Dec. 4, 1883 in Accession record in which he states that this object "was not finished when I got it but just roughed out and my (Haida) Indian assistant Johnny Kit Elswa finished it on the voyage from Skidegate ...". Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 2, pg. 595."Illus. Pl. 86, p. 113 and described p. 150 in Bear Mother chapter of Barbeau, Charles Marius. 1953. Haida myths illustrated in argillite carvings. [Ottawa]: Dept. of Resources and Development, National Parks Branch, National Museum of Canada. Motifs identified there as "Bear Mother under human form, a labret in her lower lip, and one of the Cubs also as a human, suckling ... at her breast, while she is in agony." Barbeau notes Swan's identification/transliteration of carver's name as "Skaowskeay" and says "Actually (according to Henry Young, a Skidegate craftsman, 75 years old in 1949) it is the work of David Shakespeare whose Haida name was Tsagay." An alternate transliteration Barbeau used for his name was Skaoskay.

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.

FROM CARD: "TWINED BASKET MAT. ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1888; PL.36, FIG. 183; P. 314. ONE SENT TO THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM, NOV. 7, 1922. RETURNED SEPT. 26, 1989. SEE ALSO ACC. 387023." FROM CARD: "...LOANED TO THE S.I. CENTENNIAL COMM. 7-9-75. LOAN RETURNED MAR 22 1990."

From card: "After an extensive survey of the totem poles in the USNM collections, it is probable that this specimen is the pole exhibited opposite totem pole #18925 near the entrance to halls 9 and 11. The specimen was apparently collected by Swan for the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876 and can be noted in photos of the exhibit. Based on the USNM NW Coast collections and current NW Coast literature, the treatment of the specimen resembles southern Tlingit-work. 6/6/68 GP. Earlier opinions have been noted as follows: 1882 accessioned.Haida. 1962 V. Garfield.Tlingit. 1962 M. Barbeau. Haida. 1962 W. Holm. Tlingit. Loaned to Renwick 1/27/82. Returned 1983. Illus.: p.58, pl.15, Celebrations Catalogue, Smithsonian Press, 1982. Totem pole, ca.1850-75. Tlingit Indians; Alaska. Cedar, red and black paint 176 x 20 [inches] (447 x 50.8 [cm]). NMNH 54297; Probably collected by James G. Swan."From Card: "In 1990 this totem pole is on exhibit in Natural History Museum Exhibit Hall 9/11 with the following label: "Totem Pole, Probably Tlingit, southeast Alaska. The figures represent a man, a bear, and a frog."As of 2004, totem pole is on exhibit in right side of NMNH IMAX Theater lobby. 2009 exhibit label: "Heraldic pole, Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada. Haida [sic] noble's heraldic pole illustrating ancestral history. Top figure wears chief's hat showing family wealth. Collected in 1875 by James Swan and Haida artist Johnny Kit Elswa for 1876 Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia."As of 2018, pole is on exhibit in NMNH Sant Ocean Hall.This pole is part of a group of poles, E54297 – 54302, collected by James G. Swan in 1875, though they were not catalogued by the Smithsonian till 1882. They were all catalogued as Haida, from the Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C., however that does not seem correct for E54297. Robin Wright, Professor and Curator Emerita, University of Washington, has attributed the pole as Southern Tlingit. She notes that a similar pole is shown in a photo of Tuxekan. On that pole the bear is sitting on a monster head, instead of another bear as in E54927. She also indicates that the Tuxekan poles often have the square base rather than a rounded pole. See Ketchikan Museums, photo KM 77.3.5.450. Steven C. Brown, former curator at the Seattle Art Museum, identified the pole as Southern Tlingit in 2005, and thought it could be attributed to the Tuxekan area. Steve Henrikson, Curator at the Alaska State Museum, is also of the opinion that it is more Tlingit looking than Haida.A photo of this pole on display at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives: Photo ID 90-7265, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 61, Folder: 5, https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_8250 . Pole partially visible in back left of photo.

FROM CARD: "ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 1 PP, PG. 3."

From Card: "Totem pole. 3 pieces. Collector's comment: '1 large totem pole or heraldic carving made by the Bella Bella Indians, B. C. The combination is a pictograph which illustrates the artist's idea of some mythical legend. As a general thing, these legends are rendered differently by each artist either in delineation or combination and unless the artist himself gives the explanation the story is difficult to be correctly obtained'. -- 1 Dec., 1884 James G. Swan. 9/8/70 - 9/20/70 Loaned to Nat. Gallery of Art."Ian Reid (Heiltsuk) and Evelyn Windsor (Heiltsuk elder) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. A chief would have the totem pole model when speaking in large groups and bang it four times to gain the attention of the crowd. The depicted figures are the ancestors from the owner's personal story. He cannot tell his own story because it would be bragging, so another speaker tells it for him. It is very much a sort of 'talking stick'.