Drawings of a wolf totem on a grave and a mortuary column at Chief Shake's house
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: NAA MS 76607

OPPS NEG SI.4,109

OPPS NEG.14,838-a
name: label: Artist
content: Unknown
place: label: Place
content: Alaska
label: Place
content: North America
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The provenance of the collection is unknown.  The drawings were found in USNM collection; no catalog or accession numbers have been located.  The drawings were transferred from the object collections of the Department of Anthropology to the National Anthropological Archives in 1969.
creator: label: Artist
content: Unknown
culture: label: Culture
content: Tlingit
setName: label: See more items in
content: Drawings of a wolf totem on a grave and a mortuary column at Chief Shake's house
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Drawings (visual works) (ink, 9.5 x 7.25 inches)
unitdate: label: Date
content: undated
container: label: Container
content: 75085 / 76603 / 76607 / 76608, Folder 3
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS76607
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Graphic Materials
label: Type
content: Drawings (visual works)
label: Type
content: Works of art
label: Type
content: Drawings
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of two (2) drawings depicting a grave and totem poles at Wrangell, Alaska.  The drawings are stylistically similar to representations of same subjects in:

Niblack, A.P. "Coast Indians of Southern Alaska," Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution [...] for the year ending June 30, 1888.  Washington: Government Printing Office, 1890. (Plate LXV, Figure 349; and Plate LXIX, Figure 356).

They were possibly drawn by a member of the Geodetic Corps connected with the survey of Alaska, 1885-87 or drawn from photographs taken by Niblack or others.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.