Representing killer whale head and dorsal fin (hole in middle of baton represents blow hole of whale), made of red cedar, decorated with hair of deceased relative (kept as a memento), painted red, blue, and black. This is a comparatively small baton.
Donor:
Alaska Commercial Company, Benjamin Bristol, and Older University Collections
Collection place:
Northwest Coast, United States
Verbatim coll. place:
; Northwest Coast
Culture or time period:
Tlingit
Collector:
unknown
Collection date:
unknown
Object type:
ethnography
Function:
5.3 Objects relating to the Secular and Quasi-religious Rites, Pageants, and Drama
Accession date:
1904
Context of use:
Dancing baton. It is held in both hands by the conductor of the dance songs, who uses it to direct the drumming and singing and thrusts it about to the movements of the dance (remarks by Charles Brown).
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Dimensions:
length 71.5 centimeters
Comment:
Native name: keyt-gooshe. "such batons can be as much as 8 - 12 ft. long" (fide Charles Brown). Cf. University of Penn. Museum Journal, Vol. 10, 1919, pp. 213-215.
Loans:
S1945-1946 #4: Winfield Scott Wellington (March 11, 1946–October 28, 1955), S1951-1952 #1: University of California, Los Angeles (March 15, 1952–returned by 1957), S1974-1975 #41: Palo Alto Cultural Center (January 6, 1975–March 19, 1975), S1981-1982 #50: Heffernan Films (March 15, 1982–March 23, 1982), S1983-1984 #2: Heffernan Films (July 18, 1983–July 22, 1983), and S1988-1989 #8: Art Gallery (Sonoma State Univ.) (September 7, 1988–October 25, 1988)