FROM CARD: "AFTER AN EXTENSIVE SURVEY OF THE TOTEM POLES IN THE USNM COLLECTIONS, IT SEEMS LIKELY THAT THIS SPECIMEN IS ONE OF THE POLES PRESENTLY ERECTED IN THE OLD ART HALL. IN ACCESSION RECORDS #4686 THERE IS REFERENCE TO NOTES FROM A 'SWAN' LTR DTD. 10 JAN 76 WHICH DESCRIBES A 30' POLE (PRESUMABLY) ACQUIRED FROM THE HBC AT FT. SIMPSON BUT POSSIBLY ACTUALLY PURCHASED AT VICTORIA? M. BARBEAU (P. 382-3) DESCRIBES THIS SPECIMEN AS TSIMSHIAN-PORT SIMPSON, CA. 1860-70, SUMMARIZING FROM 'BOAZ', TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY, P. 506. NEW NEG. NOS. ON BACK OF CARD. AND PL. 1., FROM FIELD DATA COLL. ABOUT 1889. BOAZ ASCRIBES AN EARLIER DATE FROM AN ADDITIONAL REFERENCE, P. 506, NOTE 1, CA. MID 1850'S. APPARENTLY THIS SPECIMEN, ORIGINAL OR NOT, WAS COLLECTED BY SWAN FOR THE PHILADELPHIA EXPOSITION OF 1876 AND CAN BE NOTED IN PHOTOS OF THAT EXHIBIT. ADDITIONAL NOTES FROM SWAN LTRS MENTION THAT THE POLE WAS SECTIONED FOR SHIPMENT AND COST $120. A LTR. FROM BARBEAU DTD. SEPT. 19, 1962 WOULD SEEM TO INDICATE HE HAD CHANGED HIS OPINION FROM THAT STATED IN HIS TOTEM POLES, P. 382-3 AND P. 432. THE ORIGINAL TSIMSHIAN IDENTIFICATION IS RETAINED IN LIEU OF CONTRARY EVIDENCE. 6/6/68 GP. PHOTOGRAPHS OF TOTEM POLE TAKEN IN SECTIONS: (BLACK AND WHITE) NEG. NOS. MNH 2339; 2340; 2342; 2343; 2344; 2345. 11-6-[19]75 LOANED TO THE 1876 - CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT, A & I - CENTER POLE. LOAN RETURNED SEP 1990. 1990 - THIS POLE ON EXHIBIT IN NHB CONSTITUTION AVE. LOBBY STAIRWELL - CENTER POLE. 1991 EXHIBIT LABEL IDENTIFIED POLE AS WESTERN RED CEDAR (THUJA PLICATA). CARVINGS ARE IDENTIFIED AS (FROM TOP): BEAR MOTHER; THUNDERBIRD; CUTTING-NOSE OR MOSQUITO; GRIZZLY BEAR."From 2009 exhibit labels: Pole identified as carved from Western red cedar (Thuja plicata). Tsimshian Totem Pole, collected in 1876, Port Simpson, British Columbia, Canada. Crests, from top: Bear Mother, Thunderbird, Cutting-Nose or Mosquito, Grizzly Bear. Exhibit label includes a copy of a lithograph, which first appeared in 1854, which shows this totem pole standing by a Tsimshian house in Port Simpson. Source of lithograph is uncredited in the exhibit label. A separate label for the pole tells the story of Long Sharp-Nose. Also, the hooked nose crest identified in the first label as Thunderbird, is identified in this one as crest of Long Sharp-Nose. "Story of Long Sharp-Nose. Long Ago the People were celebrating the end of a successful fishing season. The children were noisy and woke the Chief of the Sky. Annoyed, he sent for them. to scare them into silence, he had Long-Sharp-Nose cut each child in two. Finally only a brave girl, who didn't cry, was left. Long Sharp-Nose struck her ... and broke apart. The brave girl married the Sky Chief's son and returned to earth with her husband and child. This story belongs to the Wolf clan of the Tsimshian people."Per Robin Wright, Professor and Curator Emerita, University of Washington, 2018, pole # E23550 was exhibited in 1876 in the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Swan collected it from Fort Simpson, B.C. in 1875. It is shown in an 1867 watercolor of Ft. Simpson by Edwin Augustus Porcher in the Beinecke Library at Yale: 51. Ft. Simpson On the North Extreme of British Columbia. June 13, 1867, From: Edwin Augustus Porcher HMS Sparrowhawk diary and watercolor drawings, 1865-1868, WA MSS S-1972, https://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3433378 .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 72-2383, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 285, Box 26, Folder: 5, https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_9960 . A print showing this pole on display at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia is in the Free Library of Philadelphia collections and is available online: Centennial Exhibition 1876 Philadelphia Scrapbook. Scrapbooks. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/2406. (accessed Feb 25, 2018).

FROM CARD: "LOAN: THE TEXTILE MUSEUM, 4/30/65." FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HEAD-DRESS.---THE FRONT PART, WORN OVER FOREHEAD, IS OF WOOD ELABORATELY CARVED AND PAINTED TO REPRESENT HEAD AND FRONT PAWS OF A BEAR. THE EYEBROWS, PUPILS, NOSE, LIPS, AND PROJECTING TONGUE ARE OF COPPER. THE TEETH ARE ROWS OF SMALL WHITE SHELLS. ATTACHED TO BACK IS A FRAMEWORK OR BASKET TO FIT HEAD OF WEARER. BEHIND ARE PENDANT STRIPS OF CEDAR ROPE AND PADDLE-SHAPED STRIPS OF WOOD, WHICH CLASH TOGETHER WHEN MOVED. WORN IN DANCING BY HAIDAH INDIANS, PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND. LENGTH ON TOP, 1 FOOT. HEIGHT IN FRONT, 8 INCHES. LENGTH BEHIND, 2 FEET. PRINCE OF WALES ARCHIPELAGO, 1876. 20,866." SEE PROCESSING LAB ACCESSION FILE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. See p. 206-207 in Wright, Robin Kathleen. 2001. Northern Haida master carvers. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Wright identifies this object as having been collected by James G. Swan from Duncan ginaawaan at Klinkwan in 1875.

FROM CARD: "PEOPLE: *TLINGIT. REMARKS: *HAS A NOOTKAN APPEARANCE."Notes from Glen Wood, Tsimshian artist, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 8/14/1983: "Nootka, not Tlingit. Typical Nootka wedge-shaped head. See the Legacy cat. from Victoria, B.C., as well as Cat. 54084 for further examples."

FROM CARD: "OVOID-SHAPED; TWO PIECES OF CARVED WOOD JOINED WITH LEATHER THONGS. ANTHROPOMORPHIC FACE WITH FROGS ON THE FOREHEAD AND CHEEKS. "A REPRESENTATION OF HOW FROGS AND TOADS COME WITH THE RAIN. FROGS ARE SHOWN SPRINGING FROM THE EYES OF T'KUL, THE SPIRIT OF THE WIND." SEE: USNM AR 1888, PL. 58, FIG. 306, P. 330; AND PL. 60, FIG. 318."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=520, retrieved 3-31-2012: Rattle, Tsimshian. Frogs appear often on shamanic art because they were imagined as primordial, partly human creatures that retained supernatural power from early times. They lived in the dark before Raven brought the sun, and they made fun of the great trickster; in anger he caused the North Wind to blow the frogs away and freeze them onto rocks. This shaman's rattle shows frogs that appear with the rain, springing from the eyes of South Wind, who brings rain and desires the world to be green as in spring. The back of the rattle shows the wind's arms, legs, and body. “He is showing this look, like a trance; the eyes are underneath the lids, rolled back. Having these frogs come out, too – frogs were the shaman's messengers.” - David Boxley (Tsimshian), 2009.

FROM CARD: "THE SCANA OR ORCA ALL FITTED FOR USE." MASK (WITHOUT DORSAL FINS) ILLUS. FIG. 109, P. 134, DISCUSSED P. 133, IN DOWN FROM THE SHIMMERING SKY BY PETER MACNAIR, VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, 1998. IDENTIFIED THERE BY PETER MACNAIR AS MASK REPRESENTING KILLER WHALE (ORCA).EC372 was determined to be part of mask E89102 and was "reunited" with it on January 26, 2023. The following notes are from records related to that number: Anthropology Conservation Lab records identify as "fish fins" or parts for a mask or costume. These appear to be two wooden representations of killer whale dorsal fins, worn on the body as part of masked dance outfits. Compare to similar object Catalogue No. E88814, Haida. Tag for dorsal fins indicates "Asbestos Cleared 1994."

FROM CARD: "20804-6. WOVEN OF WOOL OF THE MOUNTAIN GOAT AND DOG HAIR [sic]." THIS ARTIFACT WAS LENT (UNDER INCORRECT CATALOGUE NUMBER OF 219504) TO CROSSROADS SEP 22, 1988. LOAN RETURNED JAN 21, 1993. ILLUS: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE, FIG. 281, P. 216." FROM CROSSROADS CATALOGUE: "THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS ROBE OF NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN NOBILITY IN THE 19TH CENTURY WAS THE CHILKAT BLANKET. HIGHLY STYLIZED DESIGNS IN DYED MOUNTAIN GOAT WOOL WERE WOVEN INTO THE TEXTILE, THE WARP OF WHICH WAS WOOL WITH A CEDAR BARK CORE. HERE THE CENTRAL PANEL REPRESENTS THE KILLER WHALE. THE CREATURE'S HEAD IS AT THE BOTTOM, THE TAIL AT THE TOP, AND THE TWO SIDES OF THE DORSAL FIN EXTEND OUTWARD FROM THE CENTRAL FACE, WHICH REPRESENTS THE BLOWHOLE. THE BOTTOM FRINGES OF THE BLANKET ARE NEARLY AS LONG AS THE HEIGHT OF THE WOVEN PANEL." Illus. Fig. 437, p. 198, and Fig. 438, p. 199, in The Chilkat Dancing Blanket, by Cheryl Samuel, University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. Blanket 20805 is similar (same?) design to the one Illus. Fig. 572a, p. 382, in "The Chilkat Blanket" by George T. Emmons, Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 3, part 4, 1907. There is a photo of this object on display in the Smithsonian Bureau of American Ethnology exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904, USNM Negative No. 16465. See Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 62B, Folder 12, Image No. SIA_000095_B62B_F12_010 .Per Repatriation Office research, as reported in the Tlingit case report (Hollinger et al. 2005), in 1875 James Swan purchased this dancing blanket of the type commonly known as a Chilkat blanket from an unknown person probably in Wrangell, Alaska.Florence Sheakley, elder, and Shgen George, weaver, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. This blanket still has it's ties so it could be worn. This object is not made with woolly dog hair, but rather mountain goat guard hairs. The hairs are stiff and thick, which makes them hair and not wool.

FROM CARD: "FROM A HEMLOCK FUNGUS."List in accession file identifies this as # 71 - "Specimens of Indian paint made from the fungus which grows on hemlock trees. This is roasted in hot ashes half an hour, when it turns Indian red color."