Kingfisher Fort Headdress
Object or Group Name
Kingfisher Fort Headdress
Case Summary
In March 2011, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts returned the Kingfisher Fort Headdress to the Lúkaaxh.ádi clan of the Tlingit tribe of Alaska.
The headdress is made of several materials, including wood, eagle or eider down, sea lion whiskers, ermine hide, abalone shell and other feathers and fibers. It was taken from the Tlingit tribe at some point before 1955, likely well before, as part of the Axel Rasmussen Collection, a collection of some eight-hundred objects dating to the close of the nineteenth century.
The headdress was sold to the Portland Art Museum in 1955 by Earl Stendahl, a well known American art dealer who ran the Stendahl Art Galleries in Los Angeles. The VMFA acquired the headdress and 24 other Tlingit and Haida objects from the Portland Art Museum in Oregon in 1955.
In the early 2000s, the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA) issued the claim under NAGPRA, the federal law governing the repatriation of native cultural goods. "Harold Jacobs, a cultural resource specialist for the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA), reclaimed the Kingfisher Fort Headdress because it is viewed as an object of “cultural patrimony,” which means it belongs to the entire tribe, rather than one person, and therefore it cannot be sold or transferred from one person to another, according to the VMFA's press release.
VMFA staff reviewed the request and recommended to the Board of Trustees that it be deaccessioned for eventual repatriation to the Tlingit tribe.
At the repatriation ceremony, held at the Smithsonian Institution's Suitland, Maryland storage facilities, key Lúkaaxh.ádi clan representatives were present to ensure the Headdress was treated correctly.
The headdress is made of several materials, including wood, eagle or eider down, sea lion whiskers, ermine hide, abalone shell and other feathers and fibers. It was taken from the Tlingit tribe at some point before 1955, likely well before, as part of the Axel Rasmussen Collection, a collection of some eight-hundred objects dating to the close of the nineteenth century.
The headdress was sold to the Portland Art Museum in 1955 by Earl Stendahl, a well known American art dealer who ran the Stendahl Art Galleries in Los Angeles. The VMFA acquired the headdress and 24 other Tlingit and Haida objects from the Portland Art Museum in Oregon in 1955.
In the early 2000s, the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA) issued the claim under NAGPRA, the federal law governing the repatriation of native cultural goods. "Harold Jacobs, a cultural resource specialist for the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA), reclaimed the Kingfisher Fort Headdress because it is viewed as an object of “cultural patrimony,” which means it belongs to the entire tribe, rather than one person, and therefore it cannot be sold or transferred from one person to another, according to the VMFA's press release.
VMFA staff reviewed the request and recommended to the Board of Trustees that it be deaccessioned for eventual repatriation to the Tlingit tribe.
At the repatriation ceremony, held at the Smithsonian Institution's Suitland, Maryland storage facilities, key Lúkaaxh.ádi clan representatives were present to ensure the Headdress was treated correctly.
Number of Objects
1
Object Type
Religious Work – crucifixes, shrine objects, icons, religious texts
Culture
The Lúkaaxh.ádi clan of the Tlingit tribe of Alaska
Private Collector
Axel Rasmussen Collection
Museum Name
Virginia Museum of Fine Art
Portland Art Museum
Museum Accession Number
55.31.7 (VMFA)
48.3.439 (PAM)
Receiving Country
USA
Indigenous or sovereign nation/tribe
Sources
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Returns Headdress to Native Tribe
https://vmfa.museum/pressroom/news/virginia-museum-of-fine-arts-returns-headdress-to-native-tribe/
Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 23800-23801 [2010-10365]
https://regulations.justia.com/regulations/fedreg/2010/05/04/2010-10365.html
Images
MOLA Contributor(s)
Damien Huffer
Peer Reviewed By
Jason Felch
Citation
“Kingfisher Fort Headdress,” Museum of Looted Antiquities, accessed October 5, 2024, https://mola.omeka.net/items/show/2149.