Fire-Sticks (2 Sets)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Dec 1884
label: Collection Date
content: 1884
name: label: Collector
content: Sgt. John J. McLean
label: Donor Name
content: Sgt. John J. McLean
notes: label: Notes
content: Provenience note: collection apparently purchased or collected by McLean in Sitka and vicinity circa 1884.
label: Notes
content: From card: "[1] Trocadero/July, 1885. Illus. in USNM AR, 1888; fig. 1, p. 535; also in Proceedings USNM, vol. 73, Art. 14; fig. 1; p. 10." From old 19th or early 20th century typed exhibit label stored with artifact: "Fire drill and tinder of cedar, Thuja gigantea, slightly charred, in order to repel moisture. Tinder of frayed cedar bark. Lower piece [hearth] shows three cavities, in which the spindle works, with their accompanying furrows for collecting the dust in which the spark appears. Length of lower piece and spindles 23 i[nches]. Tlingit Inds., Sitka, Alaska. Two spindles are often kept with the set on account, perhaps, of the difficulty in procuring a round seasoned stick on an emergency."
label: Notes
content: In 2023, Paz Nunez-Regueiro, Head of the Americas collection at the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac confirmed that object that went to the Trocadero is still there at Branly, now as catalog number 71.1885.78.71.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 11 Oct 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 4
place: label: Place
content: Baranof Island / Sitka, 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: 015504
label: USNM Number
content: E74379-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Fire Set