From card: "Plain twined weaving. Three ply twined weaving and lines at regular intervals of diagonal twined weaving. Hat band is also of this weave. Ceremonial hat. Very fine weave. Brought from the interior of Alaska by a Naval officer. Totemic design. Illus.: Crossroads of Continents catalogue; Fig. 394, p. 286." [Note: 2 images of hat are glued to back of card] Crossroads catalogue caption identifies as: "Spruce-Root Crest Hat. ... spruce-root wefts of the [four] top cylinders [i.e. hat rings, sometimes called potlatch rings] were split to less than a milimeter in width - there are 12 warps and 12 rows of twining per centimeter. Probably dating from the early historic period, its once rich painting of black, red (repainted in vermillion), and blue has faded, and the darkening root has obscured the fine formline patterns. Although it is often said that each cylinder ring represented a potlatch given by the owner, according to some native traditions the number of cylinders associated with a crest was fixed long ago." For small illustration see Hat 103, p. 220 in Glinsmann, Dawn. 2006. Northern Northwest Coast spruce root hats. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006.

A BLACK-BRIMMED HAT. TIGHTLY WOVEN, CONICAL RAINPROOF HAT WHICH IS SLIGHTLY CONCAVE AT THE TOP. A HEAD CAP IS WOVEN IN THE INTERIOR FOR A CLOSER FIT. THE EXTERIOR IS PAINTED WITH A BROAD BLACK RIM BAND WITH ABSTRACTED FORMLINE DESIGNS IN RED AND BLACK AT THE TOP. THIS PEALE NUMBER HAS BEEN ARBITRARILY ASSIGNED TO THIS CATALOGUE NUMBER FOR PURPOSES OF IDENTIFICATION. Note re photos: Neg. # 88-15534 is shot of hat from side.

FROM CARD: "REPLACEMENT CARD: INFORMATION COPIED FROM LEDGER, AUGUST, 1983. HAT OF WOOD PAINTED DARK BLUE W/4 BROAD BANDS OF GRAY. HEAD FORMS SHAPE OF ANIMAL W/SNOUT, FANGS. COPPER STRIPS ON LIPS, NOSTRILS. LARGE, METAL COVERED EYES (METAL MISSING FROM ONE EYE.)" Hat also has a column of blue painted cylindrical basketry hat rings (sometimes called potlatch rings) stored with it, which was at one time attached to top of hat.Object has been stored withTsimshian, based on Fort Simpson collection location. Note however that Bella Bella is written inside the hat.Ian Reid (Heiltsuk), Evelyn Windsor (Heiltsuk elder) and Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) 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. This is made of spruce root, completely woven. Each of these rings represent how many times the person has potlatched. It may be of Tsimshian or Tlingit origin and it appears that it could be a sea creature.

From card: "Brittle; small section broken out; painted with characteristic designs in red, black, blue, and green." In a 1937 letter in the accession file, the donor notes that she purchased this "more than 30 years ago" and identifies it as from Sitka.

A black-brimmed painted basketry hat. Illustrated Fig. 15, p. 64 in Ostapkowicz, Joanna, 2010, "Nuu-chah-nulth and Makah Black-brimmed Hats: Chronology and Style," American Indian Art Magazine, 35(3).From Chirouse's entry on the hat in his catalogue in the accession file: "No. 3. Makha-Shekho. Shekho is the name of every kind of head-dress. The present hat was used by men and women untill the whites came to the country. It is called Makha, because the Makha were the first makers of that kind of hat. The designs on the hat represent the eyes of a mighty spirit that protects men against the injuries of the weather." "Makha" referenced above may refer to the Makah? - F. Pickering 1-15-2008Provenience note: many objects in the Chirouse collection were catalogued as Duwamish, however that really only seems to definitively apply to Catalogue No. 130965. Accession record indicates that the collection is the "handiwork of the Snohomish, Swinomish, Lummi, Muckleshoot and Etakmur Indians on the Tulalip Reservation in Washington Territory".

Original cataloguing identifies this object as "Wooden Dance Hat, Green." Illus. Fig. 385, p. 280 in Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron Crowell. 1988. Crossroads of continents: cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Crossroads caption identifies the brilliant red pigment on the hat as vermillion, made in China and acquired by trade. 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=184, retrieved 4-28-2011: Crest hat. This wooden ceremonial hat a Beaver clutches two Eagles in its paws. Haida clans of the Eagle moiety own both of these crests. Cylinders stacked on the beaver's head signify that the owner of the hat had hosted four major potlatches, an accomplishment possible only for a wealthy chief. Decorated shields of beaten native copper (called "coppers") were a symbol of wealth and are represented here by painted motifs on the hat's brim. The base of this hat was carved from alder and the upper portions from cedar. Extracts from Elders' discussions of the hat in 2005 (see web page cited above for the full entries): Delores Churchill (Haida): 'It's a beaver. . . . It's strange though, even though it says "Haida," it's doing that color on the rings. You very seldom see color. So I'm wondering if it's Haida from Kassan or Howkan, because in Alaska they followed some of the Tlingit, things that they did. They picked up some of those traits that the Tlingits had, and this coloring is one of the things that the Tlingits did. So that to me is indicative that they were really influenced by the Tlingit. So I wouldn't be surprised if it was from Kassan or Howkan or Klukwan. . . ." Delores Churchill: "Well what makes it real interesting too is it [painted design] looks like the coppers." Clarence Jackson (Tlingit): "Yes, copper shields." Delores Churchill: "Well the copper shields were very important not just to the Tlingit but to the Haida and to the Tsimshian. And they thought it of great value. And I'm wondering if, when the person obtained this hat, he had to give four coppers. Because sometimes when people got married they threw coppers down to show how rich they were, and then the bride would dance around the coppers. So I'm really wondering if his is signifying that the person who got this hat paid four coppers for this hat."This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.