Florence Sheakley made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. These spoons are made of yellow cedar. All of these were made by the same carver. The paddles were made first, and then the carvings were added, but it is unclear why there are holes on the spoons. These spoons were used for blending and making soapberries, which fluff up, similar to a meringue. This is in a set of four, E20819-0, E20821-0, E20823-0, E20824-0

FROM CARD: "LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG.59, P. 58. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993."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://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=525, retrieved 4-24-2012: Nose ornament or nose ring, Tsimshian. High ranking men wore abalone shell nose pendants like this one. As young boys they received nasal perforations to hold pendants or pins, while girls had their lower lips pierced for labrets. Most abalone shell (also called haliotis) was acquired in trade from coastal tribes to the south, in exchange for eulachon oil, blankets, and spoons that the Tsimshian carved from the horns of wild goats and sheep.

LEDGER AND SI ARCHIVE DISTRIBUTION DOCUMENTS SAY 1 OF 2 SENT TO PEABODY MUSEUM, HARVARD, MASS. 1888. SI ARCHIVE DISTRIBUTION DOCUMENTS SAY [how many?]SENT TO OBERLIN, OH, 1889. As of July 2009, 4 pieces remain in the collection.

Described p. 101 in Brown, James Temple. 1883. The whale fishery and its appliances. Washington: Govt. print. off.: "Harpoon Head And Laniard. Head, apparently a piece of an old saw blade, covered with a coating of spruce gum. Laniard, sinews of the whale served with twine made from fibers of nettle to render it impermeable to water. Barbs, elk bone; sheath, bark. Length, 20 feet. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery, 1883. James G. Swan. Used by natives for fastening seal-skin buoys to whales."

FROM CARD: "23479-80. #23480 - ILLUS. IN NAT. MUS. REPT 1884, P1. XIII, P. 306."

FROM CARD: "ORNAMENTED WITH THE THUNDER BIRD."