FROM CARD: "HALIOTIS INLAID. ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1888, PL. 7, FIG. 23, P. 260."FROM 19TH CENTURY OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "EAR ORNAMENTS.---RED SKEINS OF WOOL, TO WHICH ARE PENDANT TO-TEMS OF CARVED SHELL, HALIOTIS CALIFORNIANUS, INLAID WITH HALIOTIS KAMSCHATKENSIS. WORN BY NASSES [NASS] INDIAN, NEAR FORT SIMPSON. LENGTH, 9 INS. BREADTH, 1 1/2 INS. BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1875. 20,674. COLLECTED BY J.G. SWAN."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=528, retrieved 4-24-2012: Ear ornaments or earrings. Ear ornaments made of yarn and abalone shell were a symbol of nobility. Fathers or uncles hosted potlatches to pierce the ears of their high-born children, nephews, and nieces, and the full measure of prestige was to reach adulthood with four holes on each side. The wise, elderly figure of Mouse Woman appears in Tsimshian sacred histories to offer advice to people in their dealings with supernatural beings. In payment she always asks for the person's wool earrings, which she burns and eats or takes away for lining her nest. Symbolically, ear perforations were connected with hearing, understanding, and wisdom of the kind that Mouse Woman offered.

FROM CARD: "SIMILAR TO 20,687, EXCEPT IT HAS FIVE SECTIONS FORMING FOUR AIR TUBES AND IS LASHED WITH TWINE. 4 CHAMBERED."Ian Reid (Heiltsuk) 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. The thickness of materials and chambers determine the sound. The reed is made from one intact piece of wood, determined by wood grain. It is a knifed piece.

FROM CARD: "HEAD-DRESS, (BATL-KUPTL-KIAR-KOOB). FOURTEEN STRINGS OF SHELL, DENTALIUM INDIANORUM, ROVE THROUGH STRIPS OF LEATHER ALTERNATELY 2 AND 3 INS. LONG. BETWEEN THE ENDS, WHICH ARE JOINED TOGETHER, IS A BAND OF BEADS OF GOLDEN AND PEARLY LUSTER. WITH ENDS FASTENED ON OPPOSITE SIDES IS PENDANT A CHIN-STRAP OF DENTALIUM, RED, BLUE, AND GOLDEN BEADS. THE HEAD-DRESS IS WORN, WITH THE BEADS ON LEFT SIDE, IN THE CEREMONIAL DANCES OF THE MAKAH INDIANS, CAPE FLATTERY. CIRCUMFERENCE, 2 FT. WIDTH, 3 INS. STRAP, 18 INS. LONG. WASHINGTON TERRITORY, 1878 [sic]. 30,097. COLLECTED BY JAMES G. SWAN."A letter in the accession file dated August 4, 1876, from collector James G. Swan of Port Townsend, Washington talks about the origin of E30097 and E30098: "[These objects] ... were made expressly for me in my office by a Makah ... [woman]. I procured the material and she made them under my supervision."

SI ARCHIVE DISTRIBUTION DOCUMENTS SAY [how many?] SENT TO AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, 1885.Listed on page 49 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 (Tools)".

FROM OLD 19TH CENTURY OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HEAD-DRESS.---SKULL CAP MADE OF FIVE TRIANGULAR PIECES OF BLUE AND RED CLOTH, ON THE EXTERIOR PART OF WHICH ARE SEWED NUMEROUS LONG LOCKS OF DARK-BROWN HUMAN HAIR. FITTED WITH STRINGS ON SIDE AND WORN AS DANCING WIG. SITKA-KWAHN INDIANS. CIRCUMFERENCE, 24 INS. LENGTH, 24 INS. SITKA, ALASKA, 1876. 20,781. COLLECTED BY J. G. SWAN."

Swan's original tag with the artifact identifies this as a dancing cap.

From card: "Bear, bear-killer whale, and beaver motifs."

Remains of blue paint are in mortar.