Original cataloguing identifies this object as "Wooden Dance Hat, Green." Illus. Fig. 385, p. 280 in Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron Crowell. 1988. Crossroads of continents: cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Crossroads caption identifies the brilliant red pigment on the hat as vermillion, made in China and acquired by trade. 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=184, retrieved 4-28-2011: Crest hat. This wooden ceremonial hat a Beaver clutches two Eagles in its paws. Haida clans of the Eagle moiety own both of these crests. Cylinders stacked on the beaver's head signify that the owner of the hat had hosted four major potlatches, an accomplishment possible only for a wealthy chief. Decorated shields of beaten native copper (called "coppers") were a symbol of wealth and are represented here by painted motifs on the hat's brim. The base of this hat was carved from alder and the upper portions from cedar. Extracts from Elders' discussions of the hat in 2005 (see web page cited above for the full entries): Delores Churchill (Haida): 'It's a beaver. . . . It's strange though, even though it says "Haida," it's doing that color on the rings. You very seldom see color. So I'm wondering if it's Haida from Kassan or Howkan, because in Alaska they followed some of the Tlingit, things that they did. They picked up some of those traits that the Tlingits had, and this coloring is one of the things that the Tlingits did. So that to me is indicative that they were really influenced by the Tlingit. So I wouldn't be surprised if it was from Kassan or Howkan or Klukwan. . . ." Delores Churchill: "Well what makes it real interesting too is it [painted design] looks like the coppers." Clarence Jackson (Tlingit): "Yes, copper shields." Delores Churchill: "Well the copper shields were very important not just to the Tlingit but to the Haida and to the Tsimshian. And they thought it of great value. And I'm wondering if, when the person obtained this hat, he had to give four coppers. Because sometimes when people got married they threw coppers down to show how rich they were, and then the bride would dance around the coppers. So I'm really wondering if his is signifying that the person who got this hat paid four coppers for this hat."This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.

From card: "Collector's data: "This very fine specimen of indian carving was procured by me at Koona village [a.k.a. Tanu], B.C. of an indian named STA LAI who carved it. It was worn on the headdress of the chief during ceremonial dances and is the crest of the Koot or Fish eagle (hawk). It is one of the best carvings I have seen both in design and execution and shows that the ancient art of carving in stone and metal and wood for which the Haida are so just known has not died out among this interesting tribe. - James G. Swan, Sept., 1883."On exhibit in NMNH Sant Ocean Hall. 2014 exhibit caption identifies this as carving of eagle claw with salmon (frontlet for headdress), by Sta Lai, Haida.

From card: "After an extensive survey of the totem poles in the USNM collections, it seems likely that this specimen is the 'door post' presently on exhibit near the entrance to Halls 9 and 11. It was probably collected for the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition and may be one of the poles obtained from the HBC trader at Ft. Simpson. Based on the USNM NW Coast collection and current NW Coast literature, the treatment of this specimen resembles Tsimshian work. 6/6/68 GP. Earlier opinions have been noted as follows: 1962 - V. Garfield.........Tlingit. M. Barbeau..........S. Tlingit or N. Haida. W. Holm.............Tlingit. G. MacDonald - Tsimshian."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. This tall cedar pole with a doorway at the bottom stood at the entrance to a Northwest Coast Indian home. The animals at the bottom are a grizzly bear and a killer whale. The figures at the top are called "watchmen.""The original shipping labels are still attached to the back of this pole. A comparison was made of the numbers on these invoices with Swan's journal (Swan's papers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver; Swan's correspondence with Smithsonian Secretary Spencer Baird in the Smithsonian Archives). In the James Swan papers in the University of Washington's Special Collections a voucher was found dated April 15 1875 which read "To 1 carved column from Fort Simpson, BC in 4 packages marked No 11J 1 to 4, $100". 11J is the only pole that Swan shipped in 4 sections and the Smithsonian pole is in 4 sections. These shipping records now lead us to believe that Swan obtained this pole from Fort Simpson in British Columbia and the pole was most likely made by the Tsimshian people. George F. MacDonald of the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies at SFU has been working with the Tsimshian for many years and had been studying the poles of Fort Simpson. He pointed out several images, starting with an 1854 engraving of house fronts in Fort Simpson, that show what we believe to be the house with the pole in front of it. The engraving is of an 1852-1854 drawing by a member of the Virago crew done while they repaired their keel at Fort Simpson. There is also an 1867 sketch by Emil Teichmann, a drawing by Edwin Augustus Porcher from 1867 of the village of Lax Kw'alaams, and a George Horetzsky photograph of Fort Simpson in 1873. George MacDonald was trying to figure out why the pole had Haida style watchmen on top, when the 1854 Virago crewmember's drawing does not show watchmen. In the 1867 sketch by Emil Teichmann, the pole has watchmen on top. George MacDonald knew from other records that Haida had moved nearby around that time and he knew at least one Tsimshian chief had added watchmen to a Tsimshian pole out of influence from the Haida. Tlingit artists George and James Bennett and Tommy Joseph examined the pole and they all concluded that the wood of the watchmen are different pieces than the wood of the pole under it and they were added as a set long ago. See Anthropology Collections Lab accession file for additional information.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=53 , retrieved 3-12-2012: Totem pole.A photo of this totem pole (in front of house front # E410732) outside the building at 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia is in the Free Library of Philadelphia collections and is available online: Centennial Photographic Co.. Indian curiosities from Puget Sound [sic]. Stereoviews. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/1949. (accessed Feb 25, 2018).

From card: ""... with white hair, moveable [movable] eyes and with Staie or labret in under lib [sic, should be lip]." Swan's descriptive catalogue."Provenience note: Swan list for this object in accession file, under #63 on list of objects collected at Skidegate, Skedans, Laskeek, and Fort Simpson, B.C. in summer 1883, identifies it as collected at Skedans, as does the Anthropology catalogue ledger book. The Fort Simpson location on the catalogue card appears to be an error.

Listed on page 43 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".

SI ARCHIVE DISTRIBUTION DOCUMENTS SAY EXCHANGED WITH KEW ROYAL GARDENS, ENGLAND. 1891.