FROM CARD: "SPOON.---MADE OF GOAT HORN. THE HANDLE IS THE UPPER PORTION OF THE HORN IN ITS NATURAL SHAPE AND IS ORNAMENTED WITH CARVED TOTEMIC DESIGNS THE BOWL IS SHAPED BY STEAMING THE HORN IN A WOODEN MOULD. THE BOWL AND HANDLE ARE RIVETED TOGETHER. LENGTH, 10 INCHES; WIDTH OF BOWL, 2 7/8 INCHES. SITKA INDIANS (KOLUSCHAN STOCK), ALASKA. 20,747. COLLECTED BY JAMES G. SWAN."

From card: "Used in tattooing. Two brushes [brush # 4 of 4 and brush # 2 of 4] Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 8, second from left and right, pg. 246. Loan [brush with bird handle, brush # 4 of 4 only was on loan]: NHB Lobby Exhibit Oct 24, 1991." Originally catalogued as consisting of 4 brushes and 5 needles. As of 2005, only the 4 brushes are present. Brush 1 of 4 has a plain handle. Brush 2 of 4 has a salmon on the handle. Brush 3 of 4 has a land otter on the handle. Brush 4 of 4 has a bird on the handle. ET15006 may be the needles from this set? - F. Pickering 5-31-2005 . Neg. #2005-22349 is a photo of 3 paint brushes #E88905 (# 1 of 4; # 2 of 4 and # 3 of 4) with the 5 needles # ET15006.Part of this object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. Only 2 of the 4 brushes are on loan: #2 of 4 (also called B) with salmon carving, and #3 of 4 (also called C) with land otter carving.Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on paint brush 2 of 4 (also called B) and paint brush 3 of 4 (also called C), http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=621 and http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=622, retrieved 6-24-2012: The two paint brushes were part of a set that also included tattoo needles, suggesting they may have been owned by an artist who specialized in body decoration. Clan designs were painted on the face for dances, ceremonies, girls' initiation, and death; tattoos were an important symbol of high rank, applied by paid artists of the opposite moiety (clan group) during potlatches. When the tip of a traditional brush wore down the artist restored it by pulling the bristles farther out of the handle.The handle of brush 2 of 4 represents a salmon. The handle of brush 3 of 4 represents a long-tongued land otter. The otter's tongue, emphasized by the carver, was the seat of its powerful spirit. "To make a paint brush they would take a small piece of wood and tie it about four inches from the end, then split it down to where the tie stopped it…They placed the hair inside the split… They used guard hairs from the porcupine because they are hollow and take up the paint." - Donald Gregory (Tlingit), 2005

FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN NAT./MUS. REPT 1884, P1. XVII, P. 306 ALSO IN USNM REPT, 1902; FIG. 103; P. 309, AND PROCEEDINGS, VOL. 60; P1. 7, NO. 7; P. 48."

From card: "Carved wood. Design: A human head with deeply sunken eyes. "Oala" [sic, should be Olala, Oolala, Ulala] (Mountain demon). A section is sliced from the back of the head which forms the cover to the cavity excavated in the head. The holes in back of head are for tufts of hair. The neck is fitted to be attached to a staff. Illust. in USNM Rept., 1895, fig. 203, p. 652. Loaned to the Whitney Museum of American Art 9-10-71. Returned ... 2-9-72." Identified in USNM Annual Report for 1895 figure caption as "Part of a headdress representing the Olala." On p. 653 of this publication it is noted about 89038, 89039, 89072 and 89073: "In his dances the olala of all the northern tribes use headdresses which represent a corpse...."Provenience note: Swan list for this object in accession file, under #92 on list of objects collected at Skidegate, Skedans, Laskeek, and Fort Simpson, B.C. in the summer of 1883, identifies it as collected at Skedans, and calls it "old head of Oolalla."

Catalog card: "used in masquerade ceremonies". Also says that it was sent as an exchange to F.W. Galpin in 1907, but this is crossed out (and the whistle remains in the NMNH collection).

FROM CARD: "MADE OF HORNS OF MOUNTAIN GOAT."Listed on page 45 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 CARD: "ILLUS. IN USNM AR, 1888, PL. VI, FIG. 14, P.260. INVENTORIED 1979."FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "EAR-RINGS (2).---MADE OF SILVER; PENDANT TO HOOKS FOR LOBES OF EAR ARE BELL-BUTTON SHAPED ORNAMENTS, WITH EXTERIOR ENGRAVED. HAIDAH INDIANS, PRINCE OF WALES ARCHIPELAGO. EXTREME LENGTH, 1 1/4 INS. LENGTH OF PENDANT, 3/4 IN. ALASKA, 1875. 19,550. COLLECTED BY J. G. SWAN."

From card: "Illus. in USNM AR, 1890; Pl. 72, fig. 1; p. 416 Woman's knife, Kootznoo Indians (Kolushan stock)."From old label glued to artifact: "Ancient War Weapon, Koutznow Indians, Admiralty Island, Chatham Strait, Alaska Ter. June 24 1875 J.G. Swan"