Model of canoe, painted totemic design in red, green, and black. Wolf design (fide Charles Brown).
Donor:
William A. Setchell
Collection place:
Skidegate, Unknown Borough, Alaska
Verbatim coll. place:
Alaska; Skidegate
Culture or time period:
Haida
Collector:
William A. Setchell
Collection date:
1899
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Canoes and Models (concepts)
Function:
5.7 Objects made for sale, souvenirs, models, and reproductions
Production date:
Circa 1899
Accession date:
1922
Context of use:
Canoes were at the forefront of Haida material culture as a means of transportation, fighting wars, and they were used in rituals and a cornerstone of Haida mythology, where many stories are often centered around canoeing. An extensive trading network with both neighboring cultural groups and white settlers aboard the Queen Charlotte, and the equally exploitative Russians also travelled through the Northwest Coast. Seahunting was an important part of Haida culture and seafood was a staple of Haida sustenance. Canoes were almost exclusively made from red cedar. Paintings like the one on this canoe are akin to syllabary, elements of paintings such as eyes, teeth, and tongues can be switched around and combined in countless ways. The design on this canoe seems to be a seawolf, waasghu.
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Dimensions:
length 74 centimeters and width 17.5 centimeters
Comment:
cf. Bringhurst, Robert, and Ulli Steltzer. The black canoe: Bill Reid and the spirit of Haida Gwaii. 1991. Swanton, John R. "Types of Haida and Tlingit myths." American Anthropologist 7, no. 1 (1905): 94-103.
Loans:
S1966-1967 #100: Social Science Department (UC Berkeley) (April 26, 1967–May 4, 1967) and S1968-1969 #128: Department of Anthropology (UC Berkeley)/Nelson H.H. Graburn (May 29, 1969–May 29, 1969)