Totem-Pole
date: label: Accession Date
content: 12 Jul 1900
name: label: Collector
content: Iver Fougner
label: Donor Name
content: Bureau of American Ethnology
notes: label: Notes
content: In 1968, George Phebus did a survery of the Department's totem poles, some of which did not have catalogue numbers written on them. At that time, he made his best guess as to which number went to which pole. He assigned catalogue no. E18925 to a Bella Coola/Nuxalk pole with bear/owl/beaver figures. However, the description in the accession records for totem pole #205851 more closely matches this pole, so its number has been changed from 18925 to 205851. Robin Wright has confirmed the Bella Coola/Nuxalk attribution of this pole. ET14953 and ET14957 also match the accession record descriptions of other parts of this pole, so they have been changed to # 205851 as well. - Sally McLendon and F. Pickering 11-2-2006.
label: Notes
content: As of 2006, pole consists of 5 separate sections: bear/owl/beaver section (which actually consists of two connected pieces); eagle crest top section; mountain goat? section; head section; torso section. See info. in accession record from collector for why this is so. Note from collector/donor Iver Fougner in accession file indicates this is from "the lower Indian Village, Bella Coola, B.C.".
label: Notes
content: IN 1990 THE LARGEST SECTION OF THIS TOTEM POLE (WHICH CONSISTS OF TWO CONNECTED PIECES) WAS ON EXHIBIT (under incorrect Catalogue No. 18925) IN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM EXHIBIT HALL 9/11 WITH THE FOLLOWING LABEL: "TOTEM POLE. PROBABLY BELLA COOLA. THE FIGURES REPRESENT (FROM TOP TO BOTTOM) A BEAR, AN OWL, AND A SQUIRREL [sic]." As of 2004, this section of totem pole was on exhibit in left side of NMNH Imax Theater lobby. 2009 exhibit label identified pole as made by Tlingit, Bella Bella, or Bella Coola [though Bella Coola is most probably correct], and identified crests as, from top: bear, seated owl, beaver.
label: Notes
content: Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. The very top figure always represents the form in which your ancestor came from the upper world and it depicts your male lineage. The next figure underneath usually represents the mother, grandmother, or wife because she is uplifting her husband with all that she's brought to him. At first when we got here, I thought we were looking at a Heiltsuk piece because Nuxalk are fully painted, they're not supposed to leave any spot unpainted.
label: Notes
content: Starting from the top down, the 5 currently separate component parts of the pole would be put together in this way: eagle section, bear/owl/beaver section, mountain goat section, human head section, human torso section (head goes with/on the torso, though currently in two separate pieces). The back of the wing of the eagle section has the number 367523 scrawled broadly in a blue drafting pencil. The accession number for the Fougner collection is 36752. Possibly the additional 3 was a part number?
label: Notes
content: 2018, Bear, owl, beaver section of pole is on exhibit in NMNH Sant Ocean Hall.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 4 Sep 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 5
place: label: Place
content: Bella Coola, Lower Village, British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Bella Coola (Nuxalk)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 036752
label: USNM Number
content: E205851-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Crest Column
physicalDescription: label: Height - Bear/owl/beaver Section
content: 512 cm
label: Width - Bear/owl/beaver Section
content: 143 cm
label: Depth - Bear/owl/beaver Section
content: 72 cm
label: Height - Bird Crest
content: 165 cm
label: Depth - Bird Crest
content: 56 cm
label: Width - Bird Crest
content: 151.1 cm
label: Height - Head
content: 48 cm
label: Width - Head
content: 61 cm
label: Depth - Head
content: 56 cm
label: Height - Torso
content: 122 cm
label: Width - Torso
content: 61 cm
label: Depth - Torso
content: 46 cm
label: Height - Mountain Goat?
content: 168.9 cm
label: Width - Mountain Goat?
content: 61 cm
label: Depth - Mountain Goat?
content: 61 cm