Shgen George, weaver, Florence Sheakley, elder, and Shirley Kendall, elder, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. This blanket features a diving whale design, and once had fur, such as mink or sea otter, along the top. The eyebrows look like Tsimshian design eyebrows because they are thin and pointed at the top.Lines of dark thread at the bottom right and left corners of the blanket along the edge's braiding represents the weaver's signature. Information recieved by Chilkoot Indian Association visit 8/29/2024.

FROM CARD: "A TYPICAL BLANKET OF THE GROUP WITH THE BASIC COLOR OF DARK BROWN INTO WHICH IS WOVEN THE MYTHOLOGICAL DISSECTED ANIMAL DESIGNS IN LIGHT BLUE-GREEN, AND YELLOW AND NATURAL WHITE. WIDE BORDER OF DARK GREEN; 15" WHITE FRINGE ON BOTTOM. THIS SPECIMEN PURCHASED IN JUNEAU ALASKA BY MRS. CROSS IN 1887 OR 1897."Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=359 , retrieved 3-12-2012: Chilkat robe or blanket, Tlingit.

FROM CARD: "$2.50. WOMAN-21-1/2" H. 4-3/4" W. 3" DIA. SHOES.-7"1.1-3/4" W. 3/4" DIA." FROM SWAN'S HANDWRITTEN LIST IN ACCESSION RECORD: "FROM CHILCAT INDIANS. COOKS INLET ALASKA." THIS LISTING IS A BIT CONFUSING SINCE COOK INLET IS MORE TYPICALLY AN ATHAPASKAN OR ALUTIIQ (PACIFIC YUP'IK) AREA RATHER THAN A TLINGIT AREA? - F. PICKERING 11-3-2008

FROM CARD: "PROBABLY A CHILKAT DANCE LEGGING HAVING STANDARD CHILKAT MOTIFS AND BORDERED BY FRINGED LEATHER. SOME REPAIRS - FRAGILE - REMNANTS OF PUFFIN BEAK ATTACHMENTS. ILLUS.: THE SPIRT SINGS CATALOGUE; GLENBOW-ALBERTA INSTITUTE; 1987, #N17, P. 136. LOAN GLENBOW NOV 13, 1987; LOAN RETURNED." Illus. in Fig. F, after p. 48 in The Chilkat Dancing Blanket, by Cheryl Samuel, University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. Illus. Fig. 5, p. 46 in Pasco, Katie, 1997, "The Tsimshian Connection in Weaving the Painted Formline," American Indian Art Magazine, 22(2):44-51. Attributed there as Tsimshian, early nineteenth century. Mountain goat wool, yellow-cedar bark, leather, porcupine quills, yellow, black and green dye.

From card: "Bone, broken carved head, very ancient."E104638 - E104641 appear to be the same objects catalogued previously as E73822, part of Accession No. 15196, and described on catalogue card for that number as "Ancient Bone and Wood Instrument, 4; Upper Yukon River, Alaska; Used for trapping mink & martin; Av. [length] 10 1/2 in." E73822 does not have a culture identified on card, ledger book, or in accession record.

McLean list in accession file identifies this object as Chilcat. It appears that Chilcat may be meant as a place name on this list, perhaps not specifically or exclusively as a culture name, similar to the way other objects in the collection are identified as Sitka, Kootzahoo, and Hoonia. Chilcat/Chilkat is a name sometimes used for Klukwan.

FROM CARD: "CARVED. WORN BY MEDICINE-MAN."List in accession file identifies #s 34 (E168370), 35 (E168371), and 36 (E168372) as "Bone necklaces worn by medicine men when practicing about the sick." Old museum tag with E168370 identifies this object as Tanana (i.e. Athabaskan). The heading above the listing for #33 (E168369) says: "These three pieces [which is presumed to apply to #33, 34, and 35] were brought by the Chilkaht Indian traders + packers from the Gunannao? [word hard to read] people who live about the headwaters of the Yukon River." The museum cataloguer has interpreted Gunannao to be Gonaho, i.e. Gunahoo/Gunaaxoo or the Dry Bay Tlingit, and has listed that designation for E168369 - E168373. It may be instead that this is a version of the word Gunana, i.e. Athabaskan (including Tutchone, Tagish ...), as the Chilkat traded with them. The Yukon River location seems to support this, as that would apply to the Athabaskans, not the Gunaaxoo Tlingit. (See p. 57 in Emmons, George Thornton, and Frederica De Laguna. 1991. The Tlingit Indians. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, v. 70. Seattle: University of Washington Press.)

FROM CARD: "DESIGNS OF AN OLD "GARS" POST IN CHIEF'S HOUSE. POSSIBLY KLUCKWAN. "FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING THE ITEMS DEPICTED IN PHOTOGRAPHS 860 & 860A, SEE: EMMONS, GEORGE T. THE WHALE HOUSE OF THE CHILKAT. ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOL XIX, PART I (1916) THESE CARVINGS MAY BE SOME MADE FOR THE NEW WHALE HOUSE AT KLUCKWAN WHICH WAS STARTED BETWEEN 1899-1901, BUT NEVER FINISHED, OR THEY MAY BE CARVINGS MADE FOR SOME OTHER UNKNOWN USE. WCS [William C. Sturtevant]."Note: the Accession papers for Accession # 27833 for the year 1894 list the following objects: "TWO RECENT CARVINGS (TOTEMS) YELLOW CEDAR FROM ALASKA EX. WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. MODERN WORK OF TLINKIT INDIAN PRESENTED BY DEPT. OF INTERIOR WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, F. W. CLARKE REP., COLLECTED BY LIEUT. G. T. EMMONS." Accession file 27833 does not record the catalogue number or numbers for these artifacts, nor have they been identified in the collections to date. It therefore can be speculated that the two house posts Catalogue No. 169102 may possibly be the objects referenced?

FROM CARD: "PEOPLE *CHILKAT-SITKA ? REMARKS *9/30/66: THIS SPECIMEN DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE LISTED ON THE ORIGINAL MCLEAN INVENTORY (NOV. 9, 1881) THAT PROVIDES SPECIFIC PROVENIENCE FOR EACH ITEM. GEP."