From card: "One of the two painted ones, carved. Refer to 231036 [card] for collection data. "These two are of special interest owing to the fact that the carving is not only of unusual interest but both poles are painted, the paint being in excellent condition, practically perfect." (G. A. Dorsey)"

From card: "Mask of wood - from Victoria reservation of the Skomish people, Vancouver Island, a family mask, worn upon festival occasions, representing a human face." Identified as Nuu-chah-nulth style by Barbara Brotherton, Seattle Art Museum, 11-6-2007.

FROM CARD: "LOAN LOWIE MUSEUM 12/31/1964, LOAN RETURNED FEB 15, 1966. LOAN GLENBOW NOV 13, 1987, LOAN RETURNED NOV 25, 1988. ILLUS.: THE SPIRIT SINGS CATALOGUE, GLENBOW-ALBERTA INST., 1987, #N16, P. 136." Illus. Fig. 8, p. 28, and Fig. H, after p. 48 in The Chilkat Dancing Blanket, by Cheryl Samuel, University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. There is a photo of this object on display in the Smithsonian Bureau of American Ethnology exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904, USNM Negative No. 16465. See Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 62B, Folder 12, Image No. SIA_000095_B62B_F12_010 .Emmons' handwritten list in accession file describes this object in this way: "No. 9. "Kate" - A Chilkat blanket waist robe which was found in the possession of an old shaman of the "Tahltan" people living at Tahltan 100 miles up the Stickheen [Stikine] River from its mouth. It was originally made at Chilkat (the village of Kluckwan) [a.k.a. Klukwan] and was carried in trade to Wrangel [Wrangell] + traded up the river. The design represents a beaver sitting up [,] it is both realistic and conventional, the leather fringe is hung with the upper + lower bills of the sea parrot or puffin. It was the only piece of clothing worn by the shaman in his practice."Fringe includes pendant puffin beaks and thimbles.The term 'Shaman' is a western term. The term ixt is preferred.

From card: "Same as "A" in form, and carved representation of a wolf-like animal about the same as "C" but covering more of the surface and not as well carved. Also only one pair of feet is shown while two are on "C". A long split across the lower half has been repaired with two cord stitches. Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 5d, pg. 460."

From card: "Fish killing club of wood, a chief's implement from Queen Charlotte Islands, the Haida people. It is carved to represent a bear with a snake in the mouth, and frog in the arms, in the middle is a beaver and near the handle is a wolf. Loan: Museo Nacional de Antropologia 5/18/[19]64." Loan returned 2012.

FROM CARD:"THIS IS ONE OF THE TWO LARGER POLES ACQUIRED FOR THE [LOUISIANA PURCHASE] EXPOSITION [a.k.a. the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904] EXHIBIT OF THE SMITHSONIAN. IT WAS PURCHASED FROM GEORGE GREEN THE OWNER IN 1904. SOME UNPUBLISHED MS. NOTES OF JUDGE J. G. SWAN ON HIS EXPEDITION FOR THE SMITHSONIAN IN 1883 APPEAR TO INDICATE THAT THIS POLE WAS ERECTED BETWEEN 1875-1880. THE EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES IS AS FOLLOWS: FROM BOTTOM TO TOP: 1. KILLER WHALE (SKANA) THE CREST OF THE OWNER, THE EARS ARE REPRESENTED BY HORSESHOE-SHAPED PARTS WITH THE FACE OF A TOAD IN EACH, AND THIS LATTER IS THE CREST OF THE WIFE (HERE SUPOSEDLY USED ONLY DECORATIVELY), 2. WOMAN'S FACE, LOOKING OUT FROM IN-BETWEEN THE FORKED TAIL FLIPPERS OF THE KILLER WHALE, AND HOLDING THE "WRIST" OR TAIL BETWEEN HER HANDS, 3. HUMAN FACE WITH THE EYES DROPPING OUT OF THE HEAD, THE OWNER'S CHINOOK JARGON EXPLANATION OF THIS WAS: TAHT LONG AGO, TO THE EAST ON AN ISLAND CALLED "QAL" (BONILLA I, CLOSE TO THE BANKS I, IN TSIMSHIAN TERRITORY) LIVED AN OLD CHIEF, WHOSE EYES DROOPED OUT OF THEIR SOCKETS AND HAD TO BE HELD BY FRIENDS WHEN HE WAS EATING HIS MEAL, MOSTLY OF HAIRSEAL, TAKEN WHOLE BECAUSE HE HAD NO TEETH, SO BONES WERE BLOWN OUT AFTERWARD. DORSEY SAID THIS WAS, PROBABLY, AN OLD TSIMSHIAN LEGEND REFERRING TO A SEA ANEMONE, 5. MAN'S FACE BETWEEN THE WINGS OF THE EAGLE, WITH FOUR CROWNED HAT ON HIS HEAD, 6. EAGLE, WITH A BEAK, WHICH IS THE CREST OF THE WIFE OF THE OWNER, & 7. THREE WATCHERS OR TOTEM POLE MEN, WITH THREE-CROWNED HATS ON EACH. 6/4/68 A FIELD PHOTO OF THIS POLE AT 'TANU' IS AVAILABLE IN SOA ARCHIVES [NATIONAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHIVES] (HAIDA FOLDER - ORIG.) GP. 11-6-[19]75 LOANED TO 1876 (CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT), A & I - RIGHT POLE. LOAN RETURNED SEP 1990. POLE MADE OF WESTERN RED CEDAR, THUJA PLICATA. NEW NEG. NOS. (SECTIONS); MNH 2348; 2350; 2354. 1990 - THIS POLE IS ON EXHIBIT IN NHB CONSTITUTION AVE. LOBBY STAIRWELL - RIGHT POLE. 1991 EXHIBIT LABEL IDENTIFIES POLE CARVINGS AS (FROM TOP): THREE TOTEM POLE WATCHMEN; EAGLE; SEA CHIEF/SEA ANEMONE; WOMAN HOLDING WHALE'S TAIL; KILLER WHALE, WITH FROGS." 2008, an additional exhibit label identifies the Eagle crest as belonging to the pole's owner; Sea Chief crest as belonging to to the wife's family, and the Killer Whale crest as belonging to the owner of the pole.From 2009 exhibit labels: Pole identified as carved from Western red cedar (Thuja plicata). Haida Totem Pole collected in 1904, Tanu, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada. Crests, from top: Three Totem Pole Watchmen, Eagle, Sea Chief/Sea Anemone, Woman Holding Whale's Tail, Killer Whale, with Frogs. Exhibit label includes a copy of a 1901 photograph that shows "this pole on the far left, where it stood in front of Property House in the abandoned village of Tanu." Source of photograph is uncredited in the exhibit label. A separate label for the pole tells the Story of Sea Chief. It also says: This story and the other crests on the pole belonged to a particular Haida family. Crests, from top: The eagle crest belonged to the wife of the totem pole's owner. The Sea Chief crest belonged to the wife's family. (Look for the eyes hanging out of their sockets.) The killer whale crest belonged to the owner of the totem pole. "Story of Sea Chief. A long time ago, deep in the ocean, lived a great Sea Chief. At night the Chief's eyes dropped from their sockets and hung down to his waist. Friends held the eyes in their sockets so he could eat. The Chief's favorite food was hair seal. Because he had no teeth, he swallowed the seals whole and blew the bones out."See "Monumental Art of Tanu", The Bill Reid Centre, Simon Fraser University https://www.sfu.ca/brc/virtual_village/haida/tanu/monumental-art-of-k-uuna.html . See entry on House 10: Property House. Pole E233399 is described there as Frontal pole 10, and the crests on the pole are identified in this way: 1. (top) three watchmen 2. eagle 3. story figure of Tsimshian sea-chief/sea anemone 4. killer whale whose head, arms, legs, and pectoral fins are at the base. The body of the killer whale extends above with a woman in its mouth clutching its tail