The ethnological collections of the Washington State Museum (now the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum) were greatly enlarged by the acquisition of the Emmons collection of Tlingit material at the close of the Alaskaka-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. At that time, curator Frank Hall began to catalog the collection. Perhaps arbitrarily, since Hall had to start somewhere, a pair of Haida dance shirts collected by James Swan for the Washington exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago were given the catalog numbers 1 and 2. The design on the front of the tunic represents a sea lion, while the one on the back is a killer whale, or orca. Killer whale and sea lions are crests of the Haida Raven phratry. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The trade cloth is red and blue.

The copper theme is a favorite with Kwakwaka'wakw artists. Representations of coppers are used as grave monuments, housefront paintings, and other objects, including button blankets. The button blanket is the traditional ceremonial blanket of the Kwakwaka'wakw. The general form is fairly uniform, with variations in the figures represented and in the details of the border designs. Most have as foundation a dark blue blanket, but green is not uncommon. All the materials in button blankets are products of trade. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

VOICES OF THE ANCESTORS: MUSIC IN THE LIFE OF THE NORTHWEST COAST INDIANS. EXHIBITION CATALOG, 1986, Publisher: THE BRUCE MUSEUM