FROM CARD: "CARVED FROM THE SOLID, WITH EXCEPTION OF TIP OF DOWN CURVED BEAK. TRACES OF VERMILLION, ALSO OF A GRAPHITE-LIKE PAINT. NEG. NO. 43,229-C (FRONT) 43,229-E (PROFILE-RIGHT SIDE) 43,229-D (BOTTOM) NEG. NO. 8374, LOANED TO THE S.I. CENTENNIAL COMM. 7-9-75. LOAN RETURNED MAR 22 1990." FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HEAD-DRESS.---CARVED FROM SOLID BLOCK OF CEDAR WOOD INTO A CONICAL HELMET SURMOUNTED BY AN EAGLE'S HEAD. WOOD STAINED BLACK. ON SIDES ARE RUDELY CARVED WINGS, AND UNDER HEAD IS CARVED A RUDE [SIC] REPRESENTATION OF HEAD AND FRONT PAWS OF A YOUNG BEAR. HOLLOWED OUT ON UNDER SIDE TO FIT HEAD OF WEARER. WORN IN NATIVE DANCES BY HAIDAH INDIANS AT KLEMMAKOAN VILLAGE, SOUTHWEST PART OF PRINCE OF WALES ARCHIPELAGO. OUTER DIAM., 12 INS. INNER DIAM., 8 1/4 INS. HEIGHT, 12 INS. PRINCE OF WALES ARCHIPELAGO, 1876. 20,883. COLLECTED BY J. G. SWAN." 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.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=531 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Helmet An eagle's head and wings give form to this battle helmet, on which a round-eyed spirit peers out from beneath the beak. The helmet was formerly owned by Chief Duncan Ginaawaan at Klinkwan. A Haida fighter dressed for battle in a helmet, wooden visor for his face and neck, a vest and lower body armor made of tightly bound wooden slats or rods, and a thick leather tunic. His weapons were a dagger, club, bow, or spear and in later times a musket or rifle.

FROM CARD: "WOOD; PAINTED BLACK AND RED."

SI ARCHIVE DISTRIBUTION DOCUMENTS SAY SENT TO AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, 1885. [This seems unlikley, as the object is still in the museum, and no such exchange is listed in the ledger books or cards. Wrong number?]

FROM CARD: "PAINTED. ILLUS. IN THE FAR NORTH CATALOG, NAT. GALL. OF ART, 1973, P. 218. 20,807. LOANED TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART OCTOBER 20, 1972. RETURNED 5-29-73. LOANED TO THE S.I. CENTENNIAL COMM. 7-9-75. LOAN RETURNED FEB 8 1988.LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG.430, P.303. ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 7 LEFT, PG. 245. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993." Crossroads of Continents caption identifies this as: "Painted skin robe, Haida. The squatting semihuman beings painted on this fringed skin robe have toothed mouths, clawed hands, and pierced (or eyed) palms - features also seen in Eskimo and Tlingit art. The border design, probably a sea lion, is a bilaterally symmetrical split image of a single beast. Axial symmetry, also seen in the central figures, is an important principle in Northwest Coast and Old Bering Sea art. Skin robes of this type may have been the predecessors of the appliqued button blanket, their ornamented borders equivalent to the latter's red flannel, button-decorated borders."Anthropology catalogue ledger book identifies this object as Swan original # 51. List in accession file identifies #51 as "1 buckskin dancing shawl, Haidah Indian at Howkan village Prince of Wales Island [sic, Howkan is on Long Island] Alaska."

Catalog number 88960 [part numbers E88960-0 through E88960-3] are four hats of a similar style. One of the four hats is illustrated (small) as Hat 112, 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. Only 1 hat of 4 on loan (E088960-3).Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on artfact (called E88960A) http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=626 , retrieved 6-24-2012: Hat This woven spruce-root hat, made at the village of Masset in the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, is not painted with clan designs and was probably made for everyday wear and rain protection. Roots for weaving are roasted in a fire, stripped of their bark, split into strands, and softened by soaking in water. "The Elders gathered the spruce roots, and when they were ready to quit they sang a song... The first one who started the song would go down and start the fire for the spruce root, the cooking of the spruce root…Then the next group would sing and they would be the ones who would help get the kindling. And it would go clear around, and when it reached the last ones they all went down the beach then and started the cooking…We pulled the roots through a stick that was forked, and that took the outer skin off." - Delores Churchill, 2005

Listed on page 50 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 front of card: "Used in masquerade dances. Illus. in USNM Rept, 1895; fig. 166, p. 514. Collector's description on reverse." From back of card: "Collector's description: "Jointed sword used in masqurade dances. The performer comes in with the sword around his neck like a necklace. A stuffed figure to resemble a serpent is then brought in when the indian by a slight of hand movement pulls the string which straightens the sword and the serpent is attacked and destroyed."