File mainly contains historical images of Haida and Tlingit villages and totem poles located on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia and Alaska. There are also images of Haida and Tlingit peoples dressed in regalia. Other photos include images of Haida and Tlingit artifacts, such as bentwood boxes and carvings, housed in various museums around the world. There are also images of a modern day ceremony in front of some totem poles and long houses. The textual records include photocopies of images of totem poles and Haida and Tlingit villages.
File consists of photographic prints depicting Haida cultural objects from other institutions. Many of the prints are annotated with handwritten, stamped, or typed information about the contents of the images or their original repositories. The contents of this file were used to create object labels for MOA Object ID A50000 a, b, c, & d; A50001; A50002 a, b, & c; A50012; A50013; A50014 a & b; A50015 a & b; A50017; A50018; A50021; and A50045 in MOA's Great Hall.
Image of a section of a totem pole, featuring a beaver, on Anthony Island, Haida Gwaii. This appears to be a pole now housed at the Museum of Anthropology (museum item #A50013). This museum item has the following description: "Base section of a wooden totem pole, crescent shaped in cross section and carved in shallow and deep relief. Depicted is a seated beaver with one potlatch ring between erect ears; protruding upper incisors; raised forepaws and hind paws grasping chewing sticks. Below its rectangular shaped crosshatched tail is a human face with large circular eyes. Traces of blue in eye sockets and around nostrils... Beaver was one of crests owned by the lineage of Chief Ninstints (Tom Price), 'Those Born Up the Inlet', of the Eagle moiety... Remainder of pole, except top figure, burned when the village was burned in 1892 by the Koskimo and the crew of a sealing schooner. ."
