House Front
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1876
label: Collection Date
content: 1875
name: label: Collector
content: James G. Swan
label: Donor Name
content: James G. Swan
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "COMMENTS BY SPECIALISTS IN THE FIELD OF NORTHWEST COAST ART, JAN. 13, 1970: 'MY GUESS WOULD STILL BE PORT SIMPSON, WITH THE IDENTITY OF THE ARTIST MAYBE HAIDA.' - WILSON DUFF, UNIV. OF B.C.. SEE: FORREST, ROBERT D.; FALL 1982, 'REDISCOVERING A MASTERPIECE', HERITAGE WEST; 6:15-20. SEE NEG. #84-13566, RECENT NEG. MADE OF OLD PHOTOGRAPH, WHICH SHOWS EXHIBITS AT S.I. BUILDING (CASTLE), INCLUDING THIS HOUSE FRONT. SEE FIG. 5, P. 230 OF GEORGE F. MACDONALD, 'COSMIC EQUATIONS IN NORTHWEST COAST INDIAN ART,' IN THE WORLD IS AS SHARP AS A KNIFE; BRITISH COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL MUSEUM, VICTORIA; 1981. OBJECT IS DESCRIBED THERE AS TSIMSHIAN HOUSEFRONT DEPICTING NAQUANAKS, THE TSIMSHIAN 'CHIEF OF THE SEAS' FLANKED BY TWO WHALES, IN A CLASSIC POSE OF 'CHIEF OF THE ANIMALS.' ILLUS.: HANDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 6, PG. 273." "LOANED TO ARCO CENTER FOR VISUAL ART 10-18-1983, RETURNED 1-11-1984."
label: Notes
content: SEE ANTHROPOLOGY COLLECTIONS LAB ACCESSION FILE FOR INFORMATION ON CHILKAT BLANKET, #VII-A-132 IN THE COLLECTIONS OF THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION/CANADIAN MUSEUM OF HISTORY, WHICH MAY RELATE TO THIS HOUSEFRONT.
label: Notes
content: Neg. #MNH2241 is black and white composite view of entire house front. Neg. #83-11069 is a color slide view of almost the entire house front (tail fins of whales are cut off). Neg. #83-11067 is a color slide view of the entire left side and center with door (opening). Neg. #83-11068 is a color slide view similar to 83-11069, except about half of each whale is cut off. Color digital neg. #s NHB2016-00217 to NHB2016-00238 = photos of front of panels; Color digital neg. #s NHB2016-00239 to NHB2016-00260 = photos of back of panels. Color digital neg. # NHB2016-00415 is composite image of front of house front. Color digital neg. # NHB2016-00418 is composite image of back of house front. Color digital neg. # NHB2016-00413 is a composite image of front of left side of house front. Color digital neg. # NHB2016-00416 is composite image of back of left side of house front. Color digital neg. # NHB2016-00414 is composite image of front of right side of house front. Color digital neg. # NHB2016-00417 is composite image of back of right side of house front. This object is illustrated in Figures 5.1 - 5.4, pp. 168-169, and Plate 10, p. 235, of Malin, Edward; 1999; Northwest coast Indian painting house fronts and interior screens; Portland, Ore: Timber Press. Object is described and discussed on pp. 42-43 of same publication. Note that this object appears to be described in the accession papers for accession 4730 and for accession 5260.
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 9, p. 57 in Brown, Steven C., 2005, "A Tale of Two Carvers: The Rain Wall Screen of the Whale House, Klukwan, Alaska," American Indian Art Magazine, 30(4): 48-59. Identified on p. 57: "... the house [front] painting is said to represent the story of Nagunak, an emblem of the Tsimshian Gisbutwaada clan (McLennan and Duffek 2000:119)." Full citation for McLennan and Duffek 2000: McLennan, Bill, and Karen Duffek. 2000. The transforming image: painted arts of Northwest Coast First Nations. Vancouver/Toronto: UBC Press.
label: Notes
content: P. 69 of Smithsonian Annual Report for 1875 lists some of the artifacts that James Swan has collected for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Among them is noted "... materials for a complete dwelling, 100 feet long by 20 wide ...", which may be a reference to this house front?
label: Notes
content: A photo of the house front outside the building at 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia is in the Free Library of Philadelphia collections and is available online: Centennial Photographic Co.. Indian curiosities from Puget Sound [sic]. Stereoviews. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/1949. (accessed Feb 25, 2018).
label: Notes
content: House front on display at National Museum of Natural History exhibit "Objects of Wonder", 2017 - 2024.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 6 May 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 22
place: label: Place
content: Fort Simpson, British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Tsimshian (Ts'msyen)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 004730
label: USNM Number
content: E410732-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: House Front
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 3 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 44.4 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 257.8 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 3 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 47 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 274 cm