The American Museum of Natural History's ethnographic collections are some
of the best in the world,
especially for native North American materials.
We have one of the best of all Northwest Coast collections, if not the best
There were a series of special collecting
expeditions. The Jesup expedition was one of the largest expeditions to collect
ethnographic artifacts ever mounted.
It went to the northwest coast of North America
and the northeast coast of Asia, including Siberia and all the way down
to other parts of East Asia as well.
That involved the number of anthropologists who were working under
Franz Boas,
who was the curator of North American ethnology at the time.
this is a wonderful Nuu-chah-nulth whaler's hat
these are very early. They stop being made by the mid- to late- nineteenth century.
So this is probably made in the early nineteenth or even the late eighteenth century.
Most of these whaler's hats feature whalers in canoes hunting whales,
killer whales, like these.
Another medium in which people
represent their artistic styles is on carved spoons. This beautiful piece comes
from the Gitxsan people in British Columbia. He had beautiful overlay
upon with abalone. This is a
killer whale mask that comes from the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw people
on the coast of mainland British Columbia.
It's a huge mask it's one of the largest masks I've ever seen
and has many moving parts, so for example
the jaws hinge up and down and these could be
drawn up and down by the dancer during the dance.
Similarly, the dorsal fin with the eagle
could move back and forth,
the fins likewise to move back and forth as the dancer performs, and the double
tail, those move also in the course of the performance.
One of the best-known weaving traditions of the Northwest Coast involves the use
of mountain goat wool
with cedar bark
especially in the form of so-called
Chilkat blankets.
The Chilkat
are people who belong to the Tlingit nation
on the coast of Alaska.
Chilkat blankets, or dancing robes were and still are worn by people of chiefly rank
both men and women, especially during the course of ceremonies, generally speaking,
we refer to as potlatches.
Northwest Coast art represents a combination of naturalistic and abstract
principles
and it's frequently very difficult to decode
the abstract symbolic elements.
So this piece famously has three separate interpretations that are given to it
at the turn of the last century.
We're not sure about the particular provenance of this and we think it's
either Haida or Tsimshian. It's a raven rattle, this is a shaman's rattle
that was used by a number of people's and on the northern Northwest Coast.
The raven is a supernatural creature which is
part human as well as part raven
and this represents raven on the upper side and a sparrow hawk
on the lower side.
One aspect of raven is tearing the tongue of an evil spirit named Kakahete
said he was in mountain spirit, a whistling spirit, and by doing that
he's stealing fire. The raven is responsible for producing the light of the world by
stealing it from the underworld.
The highlights of our collection of course, a lot are on display in the Northwest Coast Hall
and there's the Great Canoe in the Grand Gallery, too.
But we have a huge collection in storage on the fourth floor.
We consider it sort of as an archive for traditional cultures.
It's an extraordinarily important resource.