Audrey and Harry Hawthorn Library and Archives

Thunderbird pole, Alert Bay

51-01-28-a039445
Item
1955 or 1956

Part of Harry B. Hawthorn fonds

Thunderbird pole, Alert Bay

51-01-28-a039443
Item
1955 or 1956

Part of Harry B. Hawthorn fonds

Top of tallest pole, carved by Mungo Martin, Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, B.C.

134-a040087c
Item
9 Aug. 1972

Part of E. Polly Hammer fonds

Top section of the only standing totem left at Uchucklesaht, Vancouver Island

25-03-18-a038254
Item
1973

Part of Anthony Carter fonds

Image of a the only standing totem pole left at Uchucklesaht village site on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.

Anthony Carter

Top section of the only standing totem left at Uchucklesaht, Vancouver Island

25-03-18-a038255
Item
1973

Part of Anthony Carter fonds

Image of a the only standing totem pole left at Uchucklesaht village site on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.

Anthony Carter

Totem Park, UBC, Vancouver, Kwakiutl (#2 + 5 carved by Mungo Martin), Alert Bay sea lion pole #2, new Mungo Martin pole #5, frontal pole #6, eagle crest pole #7

134-a040100c
Item
7 Aug. 1972

Part of E. Polly Hammer fonds

This pole was on display at UBC in Totem Park in the 1960’s and 1970’s and moved to the Museum in the late 1970’s. It was carved in 1914 in Tsaxis (Fort Rupert) by George Hunt Sr. for the Edward S. Curtis film "In the Land of the War Canoes" which was originally titled "In the Land of the Head Hunters". The pole was collected by Marius Barbeau and Arthur Price in 1947. The pole was repaired and re-painted by carvers Ellen Neel in 1949 and Mungo Martin in 1950-51. It stood at Totem Park, UBC Campus until it was re-located to the Museum's Great Hall in 1976.

Iconography: Kolus is a young thunderbird. Thunderbird is a supernatural bird identifiable by the presence of ear-like projections or horns on the head, and a re-curved beak. The pole alludes to the story of Tongas people in south Alaska, who migrated south.

Totem pole at Kispiox

132-1-C-C-a041620
Item
[196-?]

Part of MOA General Media collection

Detail of a totem pole said to be standing in Kispiox. This image may be from a book by Marius Barbeau or Edward Linnaeus Keithahn.

Totem pole behind a fence

94-a034819
Item
1948

Part of Stanley E. Read fonds

Image depicts a totem pole located in a valley with mountains in the distance. The pole is probably from the Kitwanga or Kispiox villages in the Skeena Valley. This pole features a fish on top and a series of ravens interspersed with human-like characters below that. One section of the pole is not carved.

Totem pole close up

94-a034841
Item
1948

Part of Stanley E. Read fonds

Image depicts a totem pole that features a human figure at the base and three other human figures, aligned horizontally across the pole. Other wooden structures can be seen in the background. Read's note indicates that a possible explanation for this pole can be found in Barbeau, p. 149, which suggests that the three humans carved in this pole may be Hrpugweelan, a crest of Ksemgitgeegyaenih, a Larhsail chief.

Totem pole detail

94-a034837
Item
1948

Part of Stanley E. Read fonds

Image depicts a close up showing the details of the lower figures on a totem pole, probably the Snag-of-the-Sand-Bar pole from the House of Chief Skogum Laxhe. The bottom figure is is the monster Hagwelawrh, who lives under the water and causes the Sand-Bar to raise with his back. See also image a034836 for another view of this pole.

Totem Pole in Alert Bay

Part of Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada Slide Collection

Item is a hand-tinted glass lantern slide of a totem with a building in the background and a boat in the foreground with low tide. Based on the original order of the collection, photograph might have been taken in Alert Bay.