Painted Room Partition - House Screen
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Jan 1905
label: Collection Date
content: 1904
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. John R. Swanton
label: Donor Name
content: Bureau Of American Ethnology
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "(A & D) Illus. Bu. Ethno. Ann. Report #26, p. 420, fig. 106. Note: Apparently prior to Dec. 1969 these specimens had not been numbered. The former dimensions and quantity (1) were also in error as shown in the old catalog book. Previous attributions to James Swan now seem to have little basis. -GP (George Phebus). Bear crest designs. See: The Far North, Nat'l. Gallery of Art, Washington, 1973, Pl. 235, pg. 188-189 (where all 4 are illustrated). Loaned to the National Gallery of Art October 20, (19)72. Returned 5-29-(19)73. A & C Loaned to Renwick 7/28/(19)82. Returned 1983. (Excerpt from exhibit catalogue for Renwick exhibit, called Celebration, A World of Art and Ritual, is taped to back of card. Objects are described as:) House screens, ca. 1850-1900, Tlingit Indians; Wrangell, Alaska, wood, fiber lashing, red and black paint, non-Indian frames." ... cont., see card.
label: Notes
content: According to Eric Hollinger, Repatriation Office, Feb. 2007, E233498 was originally a pair of house screens measuring 7ft by 14 ft each. Both screens were sawed in half after they arrived at the museum and framed. Red borders were painted on each of the four sections and the same red paint was then applied to touch-up the red paint of the figures (based on Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute XRF analysis). Screen E233498A originally articulated with E233498D but they were separated when they were sawed in two within the museum. E233498A was on the left and E233498D was on the right. E233498B was originally articulated with E233498C before it also was sawed in two pieces within the museum. E233498B was on the right side and E233498C was on the left side. The screens were purchased by John R. Swanton from Mrs. Robert Shadesty in Wrangell, Alaska in 1904. See the Repatriation Office Tlingit case report (Hollinger et al. 2005).
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: 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=667 , retrieved 1-5-2012: House screen This carved and painted screen is from a Tlingit clan house and was once part of a wall that separated off a rear room reserved for the house leader and his immediate family. The red cedar panel may be two hundred years old or more. The central figure has been interpreted as Beaver because of its large incisors, and the design may refer to the Deisheetaan story, "The Beaver of Killisnoo." However, Beaver crests are owned by several Raven and Eagle clans and the precise meaning of the art is unknown. The figure may even be a bear, or marmot.
label: Notes
content: Florence Sheakley, Shirley Kendall, and Alan Zuboff, all three elders, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. Screens like these were used in houses to separate compartments, with screens in the back and the front of the house. Florence gives the Tlingit word for these screens (rv_Tlingit_20170320_004; 9:59). Alan pointed out that since there was no smoke line or sun bleaching, they were likely used indoors. Shirley commented that screens like this were no longer being made when she was growing up.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jun 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Wrangell Island / Wrangell, Alexander Archipelago, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Tlingit
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 043833
label: USNM Number
content: E233498D-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: House Screen
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 231.1 cm