From card: "Of wood, carved to represent a sea offer [sic, should be sea otter, not offer]. Carried to kill fish before taking into canoe." Illus. Fig. 412, p. 295 in Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron Crowell. 1988. Crossroads of continents: cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Identified there: Killer Whale Fish Club, Tlingit. "Clubs of hardwood, sometimes elaborately carved as animals or spirit allies, were used to kill halibut and salmon. Seals and sea otter were killed the same way. Very often these carvings took the form of predators like sea lions or killer whales - animals that feed on salmon and seals."This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.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=664, retrieved 3-31-2012: Fish Club. Halibut fishermen used wooden clubs to kill or stun their catch; otherwise a heavy, struggling fish might turn over the canoe. The clubs were often beautifully carved, like this one which bears the image of a sea otter. "They didn't want to spoil the head because they were going to cook it, so they were very careful where they hit it [a halibut]. / Yeah, right here in the nostrils. That stunned it and then you turned it over so the belly side was up and then it didn't fight as much. If you leave it belly side down then it bangs the boat a lot." - Delores Churchill (Haida) / Donald Gregory (Tlingit), 2005.

From card: "This is one of the two unpainted ones. Carved. Refer to: 231036 [card] for collecting data."

From card: "Carved in low relief in front painted on front, sides, and ends. Top adorned with shell. The figure represents the mythical sea spirit Kome Ko-tale, believed to be larger than the whale and bringing good fortune to anyone who saw it. A great favorite with Haidas and Tsimpsheans, often imitated in their carvings. Painted black, red, and green; lid inlaid with opercula; kerfed, sewn and pegged. From: page 80, Boxes and Bowls catalog; Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Press; 1974. Object illus. on same page, and following page. Chest. Wood; carved in relief; painted black, red, and green; lid inlaid with opercula; kerfed, sewn, pegged, and nailed. Length: 34 1/2 [inches]. Tlingit, (Alaska.) "Mythical sea-spirit.""In accession file 41512 Emmons identifies this as Kar-qwan-ton clan. See also accession file for Accession 41221, which contains information about objects from several Emmons accessions. It may contain information about box # E221182? Box # E221182 may be the object referred in Emmons' letter of 17 June 1903 where he indicates: "There is a very handsomely carved and painted chest about the size of a small trunk at Sitka [for sale for] $75.00."

From card: "Same as "A" except thinner, and the carving on the face, across the center only, represents a bird with wing spread above, and a large hooked beak - Right edge, in front of the beak, has a minor split off. Loaned to IAIA Santa Fe, NM April 1, 1966. Loan Returned Nov 28 1966. Loaned to the Whitney Museum of American Art on Sept. 10, 1971. Returned to the Department of Anthropology 2-9-72. Loan Glenbow Nov 13 1987. Loan returned Nov 25 1988. Illus.: The Spirit Sings catalogue, Glenbow-Alberta Inst., 1987, #N8, p. 134. Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 5b, pg. 460."

From card: "Black slate covered with tolunie [sic, "tolunie" probably a mistranscription of "totemic"] carvings on upper surface and rim, the latter also set with pairs of opercula. Design represents a ------."

From card: "Carved face of bear in intaglio. This was one of two carvings on the walls of the lower platform of an old house in Sitka. The family [i.e. clan] The Kar-Kwan-tou [listed as Kar-qwan-ton in accession record] have the bear totem. The teeth are the opercula of shells. Loaned to the Whitney Museum of Art on Sept. 10, 1971. Returned to the Department of Anthropology 2-9-72."

From card: "This is one of the two larger poles, acquired for the La. Purch. Expos. exhibit [a.k.a. St. Louis World's Fair of 1904] of the Smithsonian. It was purchased from Joe Hans who had it erected about 1885 as a memorial to his deceased uncle, whose name and totemic emblems he was assuming. It was put up on a site called: "nadogids" (the house to which people are always glad to go). The explanation of the carved figures is as follows, from bottom to top: 1. Beaver, was the original crest of Hans (tseng), 2. Whale (kun), 3. Sea Grizzly Bear (Chagan huaji), 3 Cormorant (kialo) with a face carved on its tail which is merely ornamental, 5. Two "totem-pole" men, with a ceremonial hat between them, on which stands: 6. Eagle (got) (at the top). The Eagle, Cormorant, and the whale are the crests which he took over from his uncle. Carved by natives from the giant cedar Thuja plicata."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 7b: Favourite House of Assembly, where it is noted that the second house on this site, Favourite House of Assembly, was erected sometime before 1885. Pole E233398 is described there as Frontal pole 7B, and the crests on the pole are identified in this way: 1. (top) separate carving of an eagle 2. two watchmen on either side of a small frog with large potlatch cylinders 3. cormorant 4. sea grizzly 5. killer whale 6. beaver with four potlatch cylinders

From card: "Same as "A" except quite thin and the carved representation of a wolf-like animal with its tail in its mouth is not carved all over like "C & D", but only has a row of arrow-shaped points running down the middle of the body. About 2 1/2" of the left edge has been irregularly broken off (not damaging the carving.) Loaned to the Whitney Museum of American Art on Sept. 10, 1971. Returned ... 2-9-72. Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 5e, pg. 460."Illus. Fig. 3.15, p. 44 in Brotherton, Barbara. 2008. S'abadeb = The gifts : Pacific Coast Salish arts and artists. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum in association with University of Washington Press. Figure caption notes: "The sinuous creature delicately carved into the darkened wood (perhaps maple wood) bends a flexible body around the circular whorl to catch his tail in his mouth. The series of crescent and trigon shapes that might represent his spinal anatomy drive the flow in a circular direction, imparting a perceptible sense of motion or activity. Both the economy of carving and the particular structure of the eye are reminiscent of older styles, suggesting a much earlier date of manufacture (ca. 1800) than the time this piece was collected - at the turn of the twentieth century."