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Item is an audio recording of an interview by Wilson Duff with Jonathan Johnson about the geography of the Gitxsan village of Kispiox and surrounding region. According to Tribal Boundaries in the Nass Watershed by Neil J. Stewart (MOA Reading Room, call number 12.7c GIT STE), Jonathan Johnson (1902-1968) of Kispiox was from the House of Xhliimlaxha and had knowledge of territories in the Nass watershed, including his father’s territory at Gwinhagiistxw. In interviews that took place on July 6 and 7, 1965, Duff gathered information about house territories in the Nass and Skeena watersheds to produce a map showing territories and numbered sites at Kispiox, see the Wilson Duff fonds at MOA, Box/File# Mc15, File# 10-B-21.

Item is a recording of Tsimshian songs recorded by the American anthropologist Dr. Viola Garfield (1899-1983) of the University of Washington. The songs in this recording were sung by Matthew Johnson (ca. 1867 - ?) who was one of the leading lineage heads of the G-spaxlo-‘ts tribe, and a great admirer of the lineage of the Tsimshian chief, Legaic” (Legaik, Legex). The title Legaic was carried by at least four chiefs of the Tsimshian Eage Clan. The last-known individual to carry the title took it in 1938.The cylinder numbers referenced during the recording are #14561, #14562, #14563, #14564 .

The Dr. Viola Garfield fonds is housed at the University of Washington Special Collections. She carried out field work in the summer of 1932, 1935 and 1937 at the Tsimshian village of Port Simpson, British Columbia. An Ediphone machine provided by the University of Washington Anthropology Department was used to record and store the songs on wax cylinders, which were deposited at the University. The recordings were transferred to the open reel format in 1971. More information is available in Dr. Viola Garfield's book Tsimshian Clan and Society (1939), available in the MOA Reading Room, call number 12.7 TSI GAR.

A document that accompanied this recording contains the following text:
Document text:
Cylinder 14561
000 - Song # 1 - Matthew Johnson - marriage song composed for the wedding of Legaik’s sister to ni•s nawa•
030 - Song # 2 - Matthew Johnson - entertainment and potlaching song, a song belonging to Legaik
080 - Song #3 - Matthew Johnson - supernatural power song ni•s nawa, Sky Spirit
137 - Song #4 - Matthew Johnson - a winant secret society power song belonging to ni•s nawa• Kilutsan chief
168 - Song #5 - Matthew Johnson – a secret society song or ludzista•l song
Cylinder 14562
190 - Song #6 - Matthew Johnson, a dog eater society song. nute•m, ni•s nawa, giluska’u
255 - Song #7 - Matthew Johnson –
300 - Song #8 - Matthew Johnson - boasting song for potlatch of Legaic’s tribe
Cylinder 14563
385 - Song #10 - Matthew Johnson - supernatural power song. Legaik, wiskani•st
475 - Song #11 - Matthew Johnson - dirge ni•s nawa• limkoi
530 - Song #12 - Matthew Johnson - dirge gispaxbts, gilutsa’u
588 - Song #13 - Matthew Johnson - dirge
Cylinder 14564
614 - Song #14 - Mrs. Marsden (sp.?) – wolf clan song of kitsees
665 - Song #15 - Mrs. Marsden - song belonging to the supernatural power name lugaxli’bam laxha belonging to ni•syagane•t
774 - Song #16 - Mrs. Marsden - ni•sgune (gitsecs) supernatural power song
825 - Song #17 - Mrs. Marsden – supernatural (naxnog) power song, house of welk

Item is a recording with two distinct parts. The first part of the recording features Tsimshian songs recorded in 1932 by the American anthropologist Dr. Viola Garfield (1899-1983) of the University of Washington. The songs in this recording were sung by Lewis Grey (1857-1934) who was born in Port Simpson and was recognized as a shaman by the Nass River tribes and upper Skeen River people. The cylinder number referenced during the recording is #14573. The Dr. Viola Garfield fonds is housed at the University of Washington Special Collections. She carried out field work in the summer of 1932, 1935 and 1937 at the Tsimshian village of Port Simpson, British Columbia. An Ediphone machine provided by the University of Washington Anthropology Department was used to record and store the songs on wax cylinders, which were deposited at the University. The recordings were transferred to the open reel format in 1971. More information is available in Dr. Viola Garfield's book Tsimshian Clan and Society (1939), available in the MOA Reading Room, call number 12.7 TSI GAR.

The second portion of the recording starts at 8:26, when an unidentified male speaker states that the remainder of the tape are Tilamook recordings made by Prof Melville Jacobs of the University of Washington recorded in the Winter of 1933 using an Ediphone cylinder. The speaker states that the first three songs are Tillamook Coast Salish North West Orgeon songs, sung by Clara Pearson, the informant of Elizabeth Jacobs in late 1933, and recorded at Garibaldi, Oregon. The speaker states that two songs are possibly in one of the Muckleshoot Reservation dialects. The speaker states that Song 1, Tit Willow, is possibly sung by the American anthropologist Dr. Erna Gunther.

Accompanying documentation for this recording contains the following text:
B. Johnstone, November 15, 1971
Tsimshian Songs Recorded by Viola Garfield
Tape Two
000 - Song #18 - Louis Gray - Taunting Song
100 - Song #19 - Louis Gray - Nursing Song
145 - Song #20 - Louis Gray - Dancing Society song
180 - Tillamook recordings made by Jacobs in Garabaldi, Ore., 1933.
Ni-sgane’-s are a ganhada chief house of the ginad‚iks tribe

From accompanying note, sent to Wilson Duff by Peter Williams, President of Kitwancool: "This is the recording made by Mrs. Edith Campbell, Gwas-Lam's Wife, at our meeting with the Honourable Minister of Indian Affairs Mr. Judd Buchanan in Kitwancool on the iith. day of November 1974, A.D. I present two briefs, the big one is the voice of the aborigines, the short one is the voice of the Indian citizens of Canada. The records was so small but that was the best she can do and I had to transcribe it using my own recorder. I use 3 3/4 speed and the recorder is a four tracks stereo made in Japan called 'AIWA'. The Kitwancool people are very pleased for what you have done when you were in OTTAWA." Letter dated Nov. 13, 1974.

Content is commercially recorded music and comedy.