FROM CARD: "INDIAN TRADITION SAYS THIS BIRD BROUGHT THEIR ANCESTORS OVER FROM ASIA. REDUCED COPY OF COLOSSAL CARVING. COLLECTOR'S DESCRIPTION ON REVERSE. COLLECTOR'S DESCRIPTION AND LEGEND: "HAIDA INDIANS, FORT SIMPSON B. C. AND TONGASS, ALAS. REDUCED COPY OF COLOSSAL CARVING ON POLE AT FT. SIMPSON, B. C. THE INDIAN TRADITION IS THAT THIS WAS THE SACRED BIRD WHICH BROUGHT OVER THEIR ANCESTORS FROM ASIA. IMAGES OF WHICH ARE SEEN UNDER EACH WING. COPIES OF THIS SACRED BIRD ARE FOUND IN VARIOUS FORM ALL THROUGH ALASKA. V. COLYER."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=510, retrieved 4-24-2012: Crest pole figure (model) This carving of a thunderbird carrying human beings beneath its wings was copied from a totem pole that stood in front of a Tsimshian or Haida clan house at Port Simpson, British Columbia during the mid-19th century. Vincent Colyer, an artist and Board of Indian commissioner who purchased this model of the pole, wrote on a paper tag still affixed to the back that, "Indian tradition is that this was the sacred bird which brought over their ancestors from Asia." This interpretation has not been verified and the story of the image in clan history has yet to be recorded.

FROM CARD: "INDIAN MATTING.--CEDAR BARK, PLAID WITH BLACK AND NATURAL COLOR. DIMENSIONS 5 FEET 9 INCHES BY 5 FEET 6 INCHES. FORT WRANGEL, ALASKA, 1872. 11,393. COLLECTED BY VINCENT COLYER."SI ARCHIVE DISTRIBUTION DOCUMENTS SAY [1 of 3] SENT TO AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, 1885.

FROM CARD: "BRACELET.--RED FLANNEL BAND, LINED WITH LINEN CLOTH AND ORNAMENTED WITH BEAD-WORK. TONGASS INDIANS, SOUTHERN ALASKA. CIRCUMFERENCE, 10 1/2 INS. WIDTH, 3 1/4 INS. ALASKA, 1872. 11,413. COLLECTED BY VINCENT COLYER."Provenience note, not every object in the collection is specifically listed and identified in the accession file list from Colyer in his letter dated August 29, 1872. The list mentions # "33, 34, 35 Indian beadwork from Wrangel Alaska, Stakeen [Stikine] Tribe." The Colyer collection does not contain a lot of Alaskan beadwork, so it is possible that some of the objects catalogued as E11411 - E11414, and identified as Tongass in the Anthropology catalogue ledger book, might be these objects?Florence Sheakley and Ruth Demmert, elders, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. This object was mostly likely used on dance clothes, potentially around the neckline of a shirt or as a cuff. Beadwork was designed and constructed separately from the garment so it could be removed and reused as the garments were replaced.

This object is catalogued as "Chilcat". An August 29, 1872 letter from Colyer in accession file has a listing for # "17 Coat of buckskin - from Copper River and the Youkon [a.k.a. Yukon], Alaska." It is possible that E11383 may be the coat this listing refers to?

Kodiak type per Harvey Golden, 3-13-2008

FROM CARD: "BENT BOWL; RECTANGULAR IN SHAPE; CARVED IN RELIEF; BASE ONCE PAINTED RED; RIM INLAID WITH OPERCULA; KERFED AND SEWN." FROM CARD: "FROM: PAGE 73, BOXES AND BOWLS CATALOG; RENWICK GALLERY; SMITHSONIAN PRESS; 1974. OBJECT ILLUS. ON SAME PAGE. 64. BENT BOWL WOOD; CARVED IN RELIEF; BASE ONCE PAINTED RED; RIM INLAID WITH OPERCULA; KERFED AND SEWN LENGTH: 21 1/2. TLINGIT, SITKA, ALASKA. COLLECTED BY VINCENT COLYER. CATALOGED OCTOBER 2, 1872. 11,372."