Series consists of notes Duff took while visiting First Nations communities. The materials consist of handwritten notes by Duff concerning totem poles, carvers, language and social organization of the communities. There are also some notes of conversations with community members or stories recounted by them.
File consists of correspondence from 1966 and 1967 between Wilson Duff and K.O.L. Burridge, of the Pitt Rivers Museum, regarding Haida potlatch masks. Included is correspondence from 1902 between Franz Boas and E.B. Tylor, which notes a discussion between Charles Edenshaw and John Swanton. The file also consists of b&w photos of the masks and the article "The Haidas," from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, dated June-November 1882.
File consists of correspondence from 1969 between Wilson Duff and staff at the Smithsonian Institution regarding its Northwest Coast collection. Included are James Swanton's notes about items he collected in 1875 to be exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.