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?

FROM CARD: "BASKET. 1 GIFT TO ROCHESTER ATHENAEUM & MECHANICS INSTITUTE, FEB. 14, 1903. ONE-EXCHANGE-MR. G. D. E. SCHMELTZ LEIDEN MUSEUM, LEIDEN HOLLAND. MAY 1899."

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.

RATTLE TOP: IN THE SHAPE OF A RAVEN, ON ITS BACK A RECUMBENT HUMAN FIGURE SUCKING A FROG'S TONGUE, FROG HELD IN BEAK OF BIRD'S HEAD. RATTLE BOTTOM: HAWK'S HEAD. LEATHER THONGS HOLDING HOLLOW TOP AND BOTTOM TOGETHER. SEEDS INSIDE? CARVINGS PAINTED IN BLACK, RED, GREEN AND BROWN PIGMENTS. SEE ACCESSION FILE FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF 1952-53 RESTORATION BY DONOR. TRIBAL AND LOCATION DESIGNATIONS BY WILSON DUFF, 1969.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=716, retrieved 3-31-2012: Rattle, Tsimshian. During secret society performances chiefs carried raven-shaped rattles that portrayed the transfer of spiritual power from animal beings to people. On Raven's back a crested bird holds a frog in its extended beak, and through its tongue the halaayt of the frog enters and transforms a person or spirit in human form. Raven rattles, used by the Tsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit, are thought to have been first made by a Tsimshian or Nisga'a artist.

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.

2 WOOD OARS OR PADDLES, NEEAH BAY, ESKIMO, SWAN.

9 WOODEN PAINTED FISH-LURES? OR ORNAMENTS.

From card: "Described in Amer. Ind. Costumes in the U.S. National Museum by H.W. Krieger. S.I. Annual Report for 1928, p. 640: "The warp of this specimen is a stiff heavy cord of some fibre not ascertained. The weft is soft pelage of the mountain goat. The colors are dark green, brownish red, black, and white. The patterns are simple, consisting of w shape, comblike, and sets of three horizontal bars, divided by narrow stripes of herringbone pattern. The border is of wedges of black and green on white background. This interesting relic is probably [?] from the Lewis Collection from the Columbia (Lewis and Clark Expedition), which is said to have been acquired by Catlin." Illustrated plate 9 a and b, same publ. Note: "on old museum label this specimen is identified as "ancient blanket of the Nez Perce Indians (Shahaptian stock) [sic]." However, Spinden, in the "Nez Perce Indians" Memoirs AAA. Vol.II Pt.III. states (p.190) "It seems fairly certain that these people never wove blankets."From 19th or early 20th century exhibit label with card: "177,710A. Ancient blanket of the Salish Indians .... The warp is of two-ply twine of Indian hemp. The weft is of dog hair. The warp is not set on a loom, but is suspended from a pole, and the weft is inserted by twine weaving in precisely the same manner as the basketry of the Tlingit Indians and tribes farther south, only the blanket is woven from the top downward."Fragment of Classic Salish blanket, illus. Fig. 29, p. 46, in Salish Weaving by Paula Gustafson, University of Washington Press, 1980. It is described on p. 125, cat. entry 84: "Colour: Dark green, brownish-red, black and white, all faded. Weave: Twine." It is also described on p. 47-8 of Gustafson as: "... both the warp and weft are of vegetable fibre, probably Indian hemp. The blanket appears to have been designed with at least fourteen horizontal bars, six or more of which are broken by dark vertical lines. It is bordered on at least two sides by an arrowhead pattern, and the one remaining edge carries two horizontal panels, one repeating the arrowhead design of the borders but with narrow vertical red and blue stripes, and the lower edge evidencing a red and black zigzag pattern. The original fibre colour has aged to a soft honey yellow and the dyed areas have faded slightly, giving a mellow appearance to the finely woven fragment."There has been speculation (see reference above) that some of the Northwest Coast artifacts in the Catlin collection came originally either from the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806 or from Clark's Indian Museum in St. Louis (1816-1838). Catlin did know Clark, however there is no proof or documentation that Lewis and Clark Expedition artifacts or Clark artifacts are in the Catlin collections. See "William Clark's Indian Museum in St. Louis 1816-1838" by John C. Ewers, in "A Cabinet of Curiosities", ed. Walter Whitehill, University of Virginia Press, 1967.Reference: Solazzo, C., S. Heald, M.W. Ballard, D.A. Ashford, P.T. DePriest, R.J. Koestler, and M. Collins. 2011. Proteomics and Coast Salish blankets: A tale of shaggy dogs? Antiquity 85: 1418-1432. http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/085/ant0851418.htm . Identified there as a Classic (1778 - 1850) blanket - mixture of Mountain goat hair and Salish wool or woolly dog hair in both warp and weft.See p. 296 in Catlin, George. 1848. Catlin's notes of eight years' travels and residence in Europe with his North American Indian collection: with anecdotes and incidents of the travels and adventures of three different parties of American Indians whom he introduced to the courts of England, France, and Belgium, Vol. 1. New-York: Burgess, Stringer & Co. There Catlin is describing his "Indian Gallery" artifacts, and notes that they include "Indian Cloths, Robes &c, manufactured by the Indians from the mountain sheep's wool, and from wild [sic] dogs' hair, beautifully spun, coloured, and woven." See p. 386 in "The George Catlin Indian Gallery in the U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian Institution) with Memoir and Statistics" by Thomas [Corwin] Donaldson, in Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1885, part 5, Government Printing Office, 1886, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31077461 . It is noted there: "After Mr. Catlin's return to London from Paris in 1848, he added to his gallery a series of full-length costumed figures [mannequins]." See also p. 388 of the same publication https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31077463 . There it is noted that one of these mannequins, Catlin display mannequin # 625, depicted "A Nay-as Woman, wearing ... a splendid robe, made of the wool of the mountain sheep and wild [sic] dog's hair ... ."Illus. Fig. 40, p. 99 (detail), in Tepper, Leslie Heymann, Janice George, and Willard Joseph. 2017. Salish Blankets: robes of protection and transformation, symbols of wealth.