Totem-Pole Full Size
date: label: Accession Date
content: 7 May 1904
label: Collection Date
content: 1904
name: label: Collector
content: Charles F. Newcombe
label: Donor Name
content: Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 1904
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD:"THIS IS ONE OF THE TWO LARGER POLES ACQUIRED FOR THE [LOUISIANA PURCHASE] EXPOSITION [a.k.a. the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904] EXHIBIT OF THE SMITHSONIAN. IT WAS PURCHASED FROM GEORGE GREEN THE OWNER IN 1904. SOME UNPUBLISHED MS. NOTES OF JUDGE J. G. SWAN ON HIS EXPEDITION FOR THE SMITHSONIAN IN 1883 APPEAR TO INDICATE THAT THIS POLE WAS ERECTED BETWEEN 1875-1880. THE EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES IS AS FOLLOWS: FROM BOTTOM TO TOP: 1. KILLER WHALE (SKANA) THE CREST OF THE OWNER, THE EARS ARE REPRESENTED BY HORSESHOE-SHAPED PARTS WITH THE FACE OF A TOAD IN EACH, AND THIS LATTER IS THE CREST OF THE WIFE (HERE SUPOSEDLY USED ONLY DECORATIVELY), 2. WOMAN'S FACE, LOOKING OUT FROM IN-BETWEEN THE FORKED TAIL FLIPPERS OF THE KILLER WHALE, AND HOLDING THE "WRIST" OR TAIL BETWEEN HER HANDS, 3. HUMAN FACE WITH THE EYES DROPPING OUT OF THE HEAD, THE OWNER'S CHINOOK JARGON EXPLANATION OF THIS WAS: TAHT LONG AGO, TO THE EAST ON AN ISLAND CALLED "QAL" (BONILLA I, CLOSE TO THE BANKS I, IN TSIMSHIAN TERRITORY) LIVED AN OLD CHIEF, WHOSE EYES DROOPED OUT OF THEIR SOCKETS AND HAD TO BE HELD BY FRIENDS WHEN HE WAS EATING HIS MEAL, MOSTLY OF HAIRSEAL, TAKEN WHOLE BECAUSE HE HAD NO TEETH, SO BONES WERE BLOWN OUT AFTERWARD. DORSEY SAID THIS WAS, PROBABLY, AN OLD TSIMSHIAN LEGEND REFERRING TO A SEA ANEMONE, 5. MAN'S FACE BETWEEN THE WINGS OF THE EAGLE, WITH FOUR CROWNED HAT ON HIS HEAD, 6. EAGLE, WITH A BEAK, WHICH IS THE CREST OF THE WIFE OF THE OWNER, & 7. THREE WATCHERS OR TOTEM POLE MEN, WITH THREE-CROWNED HATS ON EACH. 6/4/68 A FIELD PHOTO OF THIS POLE AT 'TANU' IS AVAILABLE IN SOA ARCHIVES [NATIONAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHIVES] (HAIDA FOLDER - ORIG.) GP. 11-6-[19]75 LOANED TO 1876 (CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT), A & I - RIGHT POLE. LOAN RETURNED SEP 1990. POLE MADE OF WESTERN RED CEDAR, THUJA PLICATA. NEW NEG. NOS. (SECTIONS); MNH 2348; 2350; 2354. 1990 - THIS POLE IS ON EXHIBIT IN NHB CONSTITUTION AVE. LOBBY STAIRWELL - RIGHT POLE. 1991 EXHIBIT LABEL IDENTIFIES POLE CARVINGS AS (FROM TOP): THREE TOTEM POLE WATCHMEN; EAGLE; SEA CHIEF/SEA ANEMONE; WOMAN HOLDING WHALE'S TAIL; KILLER WHALE, WITH FROGS." 2008, an additional exhibit label identifies the Eagle crest as belonging to the pole's owner; Sea Chief crest as belonging to to the wife's family, and the Killer Whale crest as belonging to the owner of the pole.
label: Notes
content: From 2009 exhibit labels: Pole identified as carved from Western red cedar (Thuja plicata). Haida Totem Pole collected in 1904, Tanu, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada. Crests, from top: Three Totem Pole Watchmen, Eagle, Sea Chief/Sea Anemone, Woman Holding Whale's Tail, Killer Whale, with Frogs. Exhibit label includes a copy of a 1901 photograph that shows "this pole on the far left, where it stood in front of Property House in the abandoned village of Tanu." Source of photograph is uncredited in the exhibit label. A separate label for the pole tells the Story of Sea Chief. It also says: This story and the other crests on the pole belonged to a particular Haida family. Crests, from top: The eagle crest belonged to the wife of the totem pole's owner. The Sea Chief crest belonged to the wife's family. (Look for the eyes hanging out of their sockets.) The killer whale crest belonged to the owner of the totem pole. "Story of Sea Chief. A long time ago, deep in the ocean, lived a great Sea Chief. At night the Chief's eyes dropped from their sockets and hung down to his waist. Friends held the eyes in their sockets so he could eat. The Chief's favorite food was hair seal. Because he had no teeth, he swallowed the seals whole and blew the bones out."
label: Notes
content: See "Monumental Art of Tanu", The Bill Reid Centre, Simon Fraser University https://www.sfu.ca/brc/virtual_village/haida/tanu/monumental-art-of-k-uuna.html . See entry on House 10: Property House. Pole E233399 is described there as Frontal pole 10, and the crests on the pole are identified in this way: 1. (top) three watchmen 2. eagle 3. story figure of Tsimshian sea-chief/sea anemone 4. killer whale whose head, arms, legs, and pectoral fins are at the base. The body of the killer whale extends above with a woman in its mouth clutching its tail
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Oct 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Tanu, Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) / Louise Island, British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Haida
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 042671
label: USNM Number
content: E233399-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Crest Column
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 91 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 122 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 10 m