FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN USNM AR ? P1. VI, FIG. 13, P. 260. INVENTORIED 1979." FROM CARD: "EAR-RINGS (2).---MADE OF SILVER; PENDANT TO HOOKS FOR LOBES OF EAR ARE FLAT HOOK-SHAPED PLAIN ORNAMENTS. SITKA INDIANS. LENGTH, 1 1/8 INS. BREADTH, 13/16 INCH. ALASKA, 1875. 19,551. COLLECTED BY J. G. SWAN. NEG. NO. 9994."

FROM CARD: "IN FORM OF A BILL OF A BIRD. ILLUS. IN J. SWAN, INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY, SMITHSONIAN INST., 1869; FIG. 41, P.70."

From card: "Collector's data, description and legend: "Model of totemic column in front of chief's house LASKEEK, Queen Charlotte Id., B.C. Carved by Johnny Kit Elswa, Haida interpreter for James G. Swan in 1883. The column of which this is a model was 40' high and 6' across at the base. top - raven HOOYEH fish eagle KOOT center - beaver TSCHING The head with diamond markings is the beaver tail. lower center - bear HOORTS and butterfly STLA-KWAN-MA bottom - bear's wife and young bear ITLTASDODA. James G. Swan, Port Townsend, W. T." 6/13/67 loaned to Nat'l Archives. Returned - 8/5/68".Per Robin Wright, Professor and Curator Emerita, University of Washington, 2018, James Swan's notes for this model pole by Johnny Kit Elswa don't specifically say it's Kitkun's house frontal pole, just a "chief's house." Technically there were several "chiefs" in this village, leaders of different clans. Kitkun was the chief of an Eagle clan (E3) "Those Born at Skedans". His clan had these crests: the multi-ringed dance hat (from the flood story), the dogfish, beaver, eagle, hummingbird, black whale, frog, cormorant, halibut, plus a few others. However, looking at the poles located around Kitkun's house in the village, none of them have beavers. The only beaver poles in the village are at the opposite end, in front of three other houses that belonged to the Djigua Town People E4 clan, which could use the same crests as E3. Therefore Wright thinks the pole E74748 might be based on one of these houses. See George MacDonald's Haida Monumental Art, houses 16, 20 and 23. The Department of Anthropology has one of those poles in the collection, E233398, collected by Newcombe in 1904.

FROM CARD: "THESE RATTLES ARE OF A SIMILAR CLASS TO 20.786, BUT THE STICK IS CARVED, ONE END TO REPRESENT THE HEAD AND BEAK OF A DUCK, THE NECK IN THE MIDDLE FORMS THE HANDLE AND THE OTHER END THE BACK WITH WINGS. IN THE LOWER EDGE OF THE BACK AND WINGS ARE DRILLED SMALL HOLES TO WHICH ARE ATTACHED BY SINEWS MORMON PUFFING [sic, should be puffin] BILLS. ILLUS. IN U.S.M. REPORT 1888 (NIBLACK) PL. LIV, NO. 289. LOANED TO THE DIVISION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 9/30/77. LOAN RETURNED 11/14/77. LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. [E20828-0] ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG.375, P. 274. ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 15E, PG.222. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993." Crossroads of Continents catalogue caption identifies E20828-0 as: Tlingit baton rattle. "Tufted puffin beaks were used on baton rattles such as ... [this one], carved as an abstract duck. Wings, tail, and head are detailed with formlines; the long neck forms the handle. Such rattles were used in sets by shamans and dancers," FROM OLD 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "RATTLE.---MADE OF WOOD AND CARVED. DESIGN, A DUCK, WITH ORNAMENTS OF THE BEAKS OF THE PUFFIN. KLOWAK INDIANS (KOLUSCHAN STOCK), PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND, ALASKA. 20,828. COLLECTED BY JAMES G. SWAN."Anthropology catalogue ledger book identifies Catalogue #s E20827 and E20911 as Swan original # 61. List in accession file identifies # 61 as "1 box containing complete outfit of an Indian medicine man, Hannegan Indians, Klawark village, P. of Wales Island, Alaska." Catalogue Nos. E20828 - 38 may be related objects?

Originally listed in Anthropology catalogue ledger book as dance skirt and leggings. At some point when the catalogue card was typed, only the pair of leggings was listed. However all 3 parts are present as of 2003.

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."