Dugout Canoe (Full Size)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 14 Jun 1876
label: Collection Date
content: 1875
name: label: Collector
content: James G. Swan
label: Donor Name
content: James G. Swan
notes: label: Notes
content: Nootka made, Haida decorated, Kwakiutl owned. Additional black and white negative numbers: 83-15997-10 thru -12; 83-15998-1 thru -12. From card: "Made of a single log of red cedar (thuja gigantea) except the ends which were made separately and fastened on. Round bottom, keelless, long sharp overhanging bow with beak projection, nearly vertical stern rising in a knobbed projection above the gunwale, painted bow and stern sections, but amidships plain. The flare of the beam was achieved by filling inside with hot stones while maintaining a slow bark fire near the outside and then forcing stretchers in to keep it spread. This canoe was built by the Nootka tribe for their Chief Moquilla [a.k.a. Maquinna] (a grandson of the same named one mentioned in the early accounts of Meares, Vancouver, etc). He gave it (evidently undecorated) to the Nimpkish (Kwakiutl) chief resident at Alert Bay. This man then sold it (? whether used or not) to the trader Wesley Huson at Alert [sic, this should be Alden Westly Huson, often called Westly Huson, a trader at Alert Bay, B.C.]. From this trader in 1875, James G. Swan, while working for the Smithsonian, purchased the canoe and sent it to Victoria, B. Col. to be held for him by Israel W. Powell (not the same as Major John W. Powell of the Bur. Amer. Ethnology) Commissioner of British Columbia. When Swan returned from his field trip to the North that summer, he had the canoe painted by the Haida Indians. From there, he sent the canoe to the Smithsonian exhibit at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. *The above information is contained in the letter of Swan's in the newspaper "Post Intelligencer" of Seattle, Washington, April 15, 1883, a copy of which is in the accession file 5202... Painted by Geneskeles, brother of Head Chief of Laskeek, Queen Charlotte Islands. He died of smallpox after painting this canoe in Victoria, BC (4th BAE Annual Report, pg. 72-73). Refer to : 1) Capt. Joseph W. Collins (a Gloucester, Mass. fisherman who was with the U.S. Fish Comm.) : "The Boat Collection made by Capt. J. W. Collins" (in the U.S.N.M.), 1895. This is a four volume manuscript catalog, in the Div. of Transportation), Vol. 3, pg. 920. (Anthropology has a xerox copy of parts of this MS. related to its collections, including this page.). 2) Carl W. Mitman: "Catalogue of the Watercraft Collection in the USNM", U.S.N.M. Bull. 127 (1923), pg. 221-22." .... continued ... see catalogue cards. Canoe is in two pieces (halves), which was originally done in 1876 in order to ship it to the museum. Canoe is briefly described in accession papers for accession 4730. In a letter dated June 24, 1883 and filed in Accession 13804, Swan talks about having previously bought the "big Centennial canoe" from Wesley Huson at Alert Bay. On p. 22 in Cole, Douglas. 1985. Captured heritage: the scramble for Northwest Coast artifacts. Seattle: University of Washington Press, Cole indicates that that the canoe was "... [b]uilt for Maquinna of Nootka Sound, who sold her to Kla-ko-tlas, a Nimkish chief who lost her for debts ..."
label: Notes
content: Also from the catalog card, relating to restoration work done on the canoe: "In 1959 this canoe had badly deteriorated and the museum had the woodwork completely restored by the professional shipwright of the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay, James B. Richardson. The original painted designs had faded, but from old photos could be recovered and drawings were made for this purpose (now in National Anthropological Archives).The repainting of the designs on the canoe were done by Mr. Peter Rosock of the Anthro. Lab (under Mr. Joseph Andrews)."
label: Notes
content: A 1943 memo in Accession file 23888 discusses the transfer of various canoes, including this one, from the Division of Engineering to the Department of Anthropology, and indicates that it formerly had been suspended from the ceiling of the Boat Hall of the Arts and Industries building, but in 1942 was moved to the West Court of the Natural History Museum as an air raid precaution.
label: Notes
content: A photo of this canoe on display in the1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia (canoe is in aisle toward center of photo) is in the Free Library of Philadelphia collections and is available online: U.S. Government Building--Main Ave. looking east. Stereoviews. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/2252. (accessed Feb 25, 2018).
label: Notes
content: This canoe is visible on display in the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia in a photograph, "War Canoe and Models - U.S. Government Building", photo Accession number P.8965.17e, Catalogue of the Centennial Photographic Co.'s Views of the International Exhibition, 1876, no. 930. Image file P-8965-17e, Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/digitool%3A125769 .
label: Record Last Modified
content: 8 Oct 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth)
label: Culture
content: Haida
label: Culture
content: Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 76A00110
label: USNM Number
content: E26785-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Canoe
physicalDescription: label: Length - Bow
content: 6.9 m
label: Width - Bow
content: 2.3 m
label: Height - Bow
content: 1.7 m
label: Length - Stern
content: 9 m
label: Width - Stern
content: 2.3 m
label: Height - Stern
content: 1.7 m