Tlingit Totem Pole

Tlingit Totem Pole

Until 1899, this 20 foot memorial totem pole bearing the Brown Bear crest stood in front of the Hoots-Hit house on the beach at Old Cape Fox village, Alaska. The clan leader of the house at that time was a man known as Big Thomas.

The totem pole was removed from Cape Fox via theft by members of the Harriman Alaska Expedition in July 1899 when the expedition’s steamer anchored near the village and found it abandoned due to residents having fled several years before to escape the spread of smallpox. Several other items of material culture, including other totem poles, were removed at the same time.

Charles Palache, a mineralogist and member of the expedition, solicited the pole from Edward Harriman and gave it as a gift to the Peabody Museum in 1900. In 1970, it was displayed at the World Expedition in Osaka as part of an exhibition of American folk art. Subsequent consultation with descendant communities and archival research indicated that at the time of its removal, the pole depicting the Brown Bear crest was considered the communal property of the Teikweidi of the Saanya Kwaan, and could not have been sold by any individual member of the community.

The Tlingit Saanya Kwaan submitted a petition for repatriation in 1999 to the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. In February of 2000, as part of the Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced project, the Cape Fox Corporation initiated the repatriation process on behalf of Tlingit clans at Saxman Village: Teikweidi (Brown Bear), Neix.adi (Eagle - Beaver - Halibut) and Kiks - adi (Frog). This included visiting several museum's collections, including the Peabody where this totem pole was kept.

In appreciation for returning the pole, the Teikweidi clan gave the Peabody Museum a large red cedar that portrayed a bear peering from its den. A replacement pole was carved by Nathan Jackson, a Tlingit carver from Ketchikan (accession number 2001.26.1).

1

Monument – obelisks, stelae, tombstones, totem poles

Tlingit People

Peabody Museum, Harvard University

USA

Indigenous or sovereign nation/tribe

Jason Felch

Damien Huffer