SITKA
Early Views
Historical Vignettes of Sitka National Historical Park 		NPS Logo

Chapter 4:
Collecting to Preserve

ALASKA'S Native communities experienced the opening of the Alaska territory as a series of immense changes cutting across all aspects of life. The primary mechanisms of these changes were the missionary movement, the disruption of subsistence, economic and settlement patterns, and the introduction of alcohol and disease. Many of the territory's new residents and visitors recorded their impressions of these impacts, including the fact that some villages appeared deserted, leaving houses, graveyards and cultural objects vulnerable to destruction by vandalism and the elements Perhaps fueled by the perception that Native culture soared. Residents, government officials, museum curators, merchants, and tourists all placed a premium on authentic Native artifacts.

The pursuit of Native cultural material was a significant part of the early Alaskan tourist experience. In Sitka, evidence of the commercial value of "curios," a term used to describe a wide range of Native art, crafts and artifacts, could be seen throughout the town, in the shops and on the street where Natives gathered to sell artifacts, jewelry and other handmade items. Some of the most favored items were Tlingit basketry, etched silver jewelry, and all types of carving, especially miniature totem poles.

In Sitka, the curio market was a recognized part of the local economy. Reflecting on the 1889 visitor season, The Alaskan acknowledged that ..... no visitor leaves these shores without carrying with him some memento of this land full of superb scenery and stocked with relics of barbaric days and historic times." [1]

Curios could be purchased from one end of Sitka to the other. Native vendors sold items in the village, at the wharf, and at several accustomed gathering places along the main street. Curios could also be bought in most of the main street shops that catered to the tourist trade. At the Sheldon Jackson Museum, authentic as well as "facsimile" objects were available in a range of prices. Three dollars, for example, would buy a pair of genuine carved silver bracelets or a decorative whalebone box and the museum would mail purchases home. [2] Near the park entrance, several of the residents of the Mission Cottage settlement built small structures for selling handmade items, such as moccasins and jewelry.

Figure 48: Native woman selling handicrafts. Photograph by Ansel Adams.

As in any collectors' market, the strength and desires of the market influenced price and selection. Relatively early in the Alaskan tourist trade, collectors began to comment on what they viewed as a reduction in quality and increase in price. Savvy sellers were aware of the concern and assured buyers of quality and authenticity. As early as 1885 there were rumors that not all of the Native work was genuine. [3] Although some in Sitka challenged that perception, skepticism remained. An especially cynical reference appears in an 1891 poem: "...Forth she goes to bleed the tourists, who land every steamer day, Sells them curios made in 'Frisco, and makes them dearly pay." [4]

Figure 49: A well-stocked Sitka curio shop. The sign assures the visitor of authenticity and defends its pricing policies: All Curios for sale here are guaranteed as represented. Having been in use by the Indians from 25 to 100 Years or more. We are not dealing with specimens made from steer bones. Desirability and Value to purchasers depends solely upon Antiquity and Usage by Indians. We offer none other.

RUDOLPH WALTON
NATIVE CURIOS.

SILVER TOTEM POLES, $1 & UP; YAKUTAT BASKETS NATURAL COLORS, NO DYES, $1 & UP; PADDLES, CANOES, ETC, AT REASONABLE PRICES. IVORY CARVINGS TO ORDER. REPAIRING WATCHES, JEWELRY, ETC, ON SHORT NOTICE. INDIAN DISHES FROM $1 UP ALASKA TOTEM POLES, $1 UP TOURISTS SHOULD CALL AND SEE INDIAN WORKING ON CURIOS.

THE ALASKAN, JULY 14, 1906

RARE AND CURIOUS RELICS: NO HOME IS COMPLETE NOW-A-DAYS WITHOUT A NEAT AND ARTISTICALLY ARRANGED INDIAN BASKET CORNER. THE FAD OF COLLECTING THESE BEAUTIFULLY WOVEN GEMS-THE HANDIWORK OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ABORIGINES—IS ONE WHICH IS FAST FINDING FAVOR WITH THOSE WHO JOURNEY NORTHWARD. WHAT A PLEASURE TO WANDER ABOUT IN QUAINT INDIAN VILLAGES WHICH STILL HAVE THE PRIMITIVE CHARM; STOP NOW AND THEN TO GAZE UPON THE VENERABLE TOTEM POLES OR POKE YOUR WAY INTO THE COUNTLESS HUTS AND IGLOOS IN SEARCH OF THE RARE AND CURIOUS RELICS... [5]

Although the Native and non-Native merchants who sold curios must have welcomed the profits that high demand brought, this popularity also resulted in theft. At the large end of the size spectrum were entire totem poles removed from unoccupied southeast villages. The Harriman Expedition's raid on Cape Fox village is one example, documented by trophy-like photographs and a song called "The Taking of the Totems." [6] In some villages, Native houses were boarded up when residents were seasonally absent with signs instructing unwanted visitors to stay out. [7] Objects such as Chilkat robes, rattles, and even bones were so commonly removed from grave houses and burial monuments that it was impacting traditional burial practices; these items no longer could be left in the open. [8] To be fair, Native artifacts were not the only things to fall victim to "tourist acquisitiveness." A sample of other items to turn up missing in Sitka include the collection baskets at the Tlingit Presbyterian Church, flowers from graves in the Russian Cemetery, and the Russian-era hardware from the newspaper editor's door. [9]

A different aspect of the fascination with curio collecting were the professional collectors competing to acquire and preserve an ethnographic record of northwest coast culture for posterity. Sitka was home to some of the best known of the northwest's early collectors. In the late 1880s, from his two-story house overlooking the harbor, Navy Lieutenant George Thornton Emmons was just beginning his famous monograph on the Tlingit. His research was based on his own observations and on a spectacular collection of artifacts that eventually was sold to the American Museum of Natural History. Emmons was a friend to the family of Louis Shotridge, a Tlingit man who would one day live in the mission model cottages near the park entrance. Shotridge became known as a collector, of both artifacts and information, for the University of Pennsylvania Museum beginning in the early 1900s. [10]

Just around the corner from the park entrance, Sheldon Jackson's clapboard museum was filled with Native artifacts. By 1897 the collection had grown so large that a remarkable new fireproof museum, still attracting visitors today, was under construction on the mission property. [14] In 1887, an organization of museum supporters formed the Society of Alaskan Natural History and Ethnology. The society, which was devoted to collecting and preserving the territory's natural and cultural history, provided a number of Sitka's citizens with an outlet for their interest in collecting. One member was John Green Brady, Alaska's territorial governor from 1897 to 1906. Through Brady, the turn of the century urge to collect and preserve would become permanently entwined in the history of Sitka's Indian River Park. [11]

BOTH AT THE NORTHWEST TRADING COMPANY'S STORE ON THE WHARF, AND IN THE LARGE, RAMBLING STORES ON THE STREET, THERE WERE CURIOS BY THE ROOMFUL, AND EVERYTHING FROM CANOES TO NOSE RINGS WERE TO BE SEEN. THOUGH THE PRICES WERE HIGHER, AS BEFITS A CAPITAL, THE SITKA TRADERS HAD THE MOST TEMPTING ARRAYS OF CARVED AND PAINTED WOODWORK, AND BASKETS, AND BRACELETS IN ENDLESS DESIGNS. [12]

UP THE STREET AND ON THE RIGHT ARE THE STORES IN WHICH CURIOS MAY BE BOUGHT, AS MAY ALSO BE DONE FROM THE NATIVES SITTING ALONG THE STREET AND WHARF. IN PASSING I WOULD SAY THAT THESE CURIOS SOLD BY THE NATIVES ARE GENUINE NATIVE MANUFACTURE AND ARE NOT, AS OFTEN CLAIMED, BOUGHT FROM THE EAST I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS BEING DONE HERE. WHILE THE ARTICLES MAY NOT BE AS ANTIQUE AS SOMETIMES CLAIMED THEY ARE GENUINE NATIVE WORK AND THUS FAR ARE VALUABLE.

THE ALASKAN, JULY 4, 1896

VANDALISM, A POLITE TERM FOR ROBBERY IS A LAMENTABLE MANIA POSSESSED BY THE MAJORITY OF THE GENUS TOURIST. IT ASSUMES FORMS VARYING FROM THE THEFT OF A TOTEM POLE TO THAT OF A SIXPENNY RUSSIAN NAIL...

THE ALASKAN, JULY 21, 1900


Figure 50: Chief Saanaheit letter to Governor Brady. [13]

SEVENTH CRUISE OF THE RUSH, VISITS MANY SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA POINTS. CHIEF SON-I-HAT'S GIFT. CHIEF SONIHAT PRESENTS THE GOVERNMENT WITH FIVE TOTEM POLES, COUNCIL HOUSE AND WAR CANOE - POLES TO BE ERECTED IN GOVERNMENT PARK AT SITKA.

THE ALASKAN, NOVEMBER 2, 1901

THE FIVE TOTEM POLES AND THE WAR CANOE RECENTLY BROUGHT TO SITKA FROM THE VILLAGE AT KASAAN BAY ON PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND HAVE JUST BEEN REPAIRED AND PAINTED BY NATIVE ARTISTS, WITH THE AID AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JIM THE NATIVE JEWELER, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS KLAY-NAY-HOO, AND THE POLES ARE NOW BEING [INSTALLED] IN THE GOVERNMENT PARK AT INDIAN RIVER POINT.

THE ALASKAN, MARCH 8, 1902

Although Brady's involvement with collecting is usually linked to his role in planning and carrying out the St. Louis Exposition exhibit, his interest began much earlier. In his days as a Sitka merchant he both collected and sold curios. He developed a concern for the effect that cultural change was having on the disappearing material culture of the region. Aware that poles were being vandalized by tourists and rotting in declining villages like Old Kasaan, Brady conceived the idea of collecting a number of poles and bringing them to a central place, a park in Sitka, where people could view them.

His idea was set into motion in 1901 with a single totem pole, a house, a canoe and four house posts, given to Brady by Chief Saanaheit of Old Kasaan. Brady's plan was to reconstruct the house and display the canoe inside it. The house was never completed but the other objects were transported to Sitka where the pole and houseposts were erected in the park near the point. Although a canoe was displayed with the pole and houseposts, it is not certain that it was Saanaheit 's canoe. [14]

There is no question that Chief Saanaheit gave the objects willingly. In response to Brady's request for cultural objects, he dictated a letter to Governor Brady, through a crewman on the Rush, clearly stating his intent and expectations.

You wanted to know in your letter if I had anything to give the park. You helped us to get a school so I feel good and will say yes. I have a large coeneau [canoe]. The biggest one in Alaska and a fine large Totem Pole I will give to alaska. You can come down and get them. I will give them to the white people of alaska to take to Sitka and put in the park there to stop and stay. At the time the Totem pole was put up it cost me a good many dollars. I give a big potlatch and everything was high. The coeneau I paid a hundred dollars for and was used by me and my people for a war coeneau and have kept it for a long time in a house where it still is. I want them marked presented to the White people of Alaska by soneheart Chief of the Hoydas Indians, Kasan Bay Prince of Wales island... [15]

THE PICTURESQUE AND THE PRACTICAL ARE AT WAR IN ALASKA BECAUSE THE GOVERNOR OF THAT TERRITORY IS MAKING A COLLECTION OF TOTEM POLES AND INDIAN HUTS TO SEND TO THE WORLD'S FAIR, WHILE THE SETTLERS WANT ALL THE APPROPRIATION DEVOTED TO EXHIBITING THE "CIVILIZED" PRODUCTS OF ALASKA. BUT IN ORDER TO EXHIBIT THE RYE, OATS, COAL AND METALS OF ALASKA TO WORLD'S FAIR VISITORS, IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO GET THE VIS1TORS TO STOP AT THE ALASKA DISPLAY. IF ALASKA WANTS PEOPLE TO LOOK AT HER, SHE MUST MAKE THEM LOOK BOTH THE PICTURESQUE AND THE PRACTICAL ARE NECESSARY IF ALASKA HAD A MILE OF TOTEM POLES HERE. AMERICA, EUROPE AND ASIA WOULD NEVER FORGET HER.

THE ALASKAN, DECEMBER 26, 1903


Figure 51: Governor Brady (left) and Chief Saanaheit of Old Kasaan (third from left) preparing the Saanaheit pole for transport to Sitka in 1901.

Figure 52: The Alaska Building at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Sitka National Historical Park's totem pole collection, along with a community house and large canoe, flanked the building.

When Brady, in 1901, assumed the task of overseeing the exhibit for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, he envisioned a display of towering Alaskan totem poles to be the one feature that was sure to draw crowds of potential Alaskan visitors. Over the next two years, assisted by the crew of the revenue cutter Rush, Brady toured southern southeast Alaska's Tlingit and Haida villages, seeking poles for the exposition. [16]

Support for Brady's interests, especially with respect to how to portray Alaska to the world, was not universal. There were those who felt that the totem poles gave too much attention to Alaska's Native culture. The focus should be on progress and civilization.

Brady saw his fifteen poles delivered and installed at St. Louis in 1904 and was pleased with their reception. At the close of the exposition, most of the poles were transported to the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland for another exhibit there in 1905. Two long, decorated cedar house planks and two totem poles, deemed too deteriorated for the trip to Portland, were sold.

Figure 53: Totem Pole exhibit, 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, Portland.

One of the poles wound up in the Milwaukee Public Museum, the other in an Indianapolis neighborhood. Demonstrating his perception that an obligation had been incurred by accepting the poles, Brady requested that he be allowed to use $75 of the money to buy gifts to thank the pole's Native donors. His request was refused on the grounds that the expenditure could not be allowed under existing law and treasury regulations. [17]

GOVERNOR BRADY SPOKE INTERESTINGLY OF THE EXHIBIT ALASKA IS TO MAKE AT THE FAIR. HE BROUGHT WITH THE PLANS OF THE ALASKA BUILDING, A TYPICAL ALASKAN STRUCTURE, USING FOUR GIANT TOTEM POLES, ONE AT EACH CORNER. IN ADDITION TO THE BUILDING THE PROJECT OF BRINGING TO THE EXPOSITION A NATIVE HOUSE WAS CONSIDERED.

THE ALASKAN, AUGUST 29, 1903

THE FOURTEEN POLES AND WAR CANOE WHICH ARRIVED HERE ON THE LAST AL-KI HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO THE GOVERNMENT PARK, INDIAN RIVER, WHERE THEY WILL BE ERECTED. BOTH GOVERNOR BRADY AND COMMISSIONER W. A. KELLY ARE TO BE CONGRATULATED ON THEIR SUCCESS IN SECURING THESE INTERESTING RELICS AS OTHER TOWNS HAD TRIED, IN VAIN, TO OBTAIN THEM. THE SERVICE OF OUR LOCAL ARTIST, W. MERRILL [SIC] HAVE BEEN RETAINED FOR THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE POLES ARTISTICALLY THANKS TO THE COURTESY OF THE PC S.S. CO. [PACIFIC COAST STEAMSHIP COMPANY] THEY HAVE BEEN FREIGHTED FREE OF ALL CHARGE.

THE ALASKAN, JANUARY 13, 1906

E.W. MERRILL HAS CONCLUDED HIS TASK OF ERECTING THE TOTEM POLES WHICH WERE EXHIBITED AT THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPOSITION AND HAS ARRANGED THEM IN AN ARTISTIC MANNER AND THEY MAKE A GOODLY SHOW. HE IS NOW ENGAGED IN REPAINTING THE OLD WAR CANOE THAT FOR A LENGTHY PERIOD SLUMBERED BESIDE THE OLD NAVAL HOSPITAL.

THE ALASKAN, MARCH 24, 1906


Figure 54: Governor and Mrs. Brady with family and staff at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904.

Finally, the poles were returned to Sitka to be installed along park trails in 1906. Once home, Brady gave local art photographer Elbridge Warren Merrill and a crew of Native carvers [18] the job of overseeing the repair and installation of the poles at the park. As the years passed, the community watched the poles continue to deteriorate. Caretakers tried many approaches to keep the aging collection of original poles standing, but treatment of deteriorating surfaces resulted in a cumulative alteration of subtle design features. Rotted wood was repeatedly carved away and patched with metal, wood and fabric. Paint and preservatives were applied to surfaces. Different types of mounts were tried, and some inadvertently hastened deterioration. In spite of these efforts, it became apparent that there was a limit to the length of time that unprotected wood could exist in southeast Alaska.

In the late 1930s, a new era of totem pole preservation began with a restoration project that was led by the U.S. Forest Service and implemented by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). A crew of Native carvers patched and/or painted most of the poles, and four were so deteriorated that they were completely recarved. [19] Interestingly, once the original poles were replaced they lost their associated display value. They were set aside in the woods, and although there were discussions of the need to protect them from the elements, no serious efforts were made. At one point it was even suggested that the most decayed of the original poles should be destroyed. Instead, some were loaned to the Naval Air Station on Japonski Island and even passed into private hands for a period of time. New interpretive exhibits being planned at the park will include a display of one of the original poles, once again a valued artifact.

IN WRITING YOU A REPORT OF THE PROGRESS OF WORK IN THE SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT I MIGHT REFER TO IT AS REPEATING THE REPORT OF THE PAST YEAR, 1919. REPAIRING, CARVEING [SIC], AND PAINTING FIRST AND SECOND COATS OF PAINT AFTER CREOSOTING OR TARRING THE BACK OF A TOTEM POLE THE SCAFOLING [SIC] IS REMOVED. THERE ARE TWELVE COMPLETED. THEY ARE GIVING A GREAT PLEASURE TO THE TOURISTS AND ALASKANS. THEY ARE A GREAT CREDIT TO SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT AND REFLECT CREDIT OF THE GREAT INTEREST YOU HAVE TAKEN IN PRESERVING THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF INDIAN ART AND TOTEM POLES.

LETTER FROM E. W. MERRILL TO GOVERNOR THOMAS RIGGS,
JULY 12, 1920. [20]


Figure 55: An unidentified carver working on the park totem poles during a Civilian Conservation Corps project in the late 1930s.

"CCC SERVICE IN ALASKA BEING LIQUIDATED AFTER NINE YEARS' HARD WORK": "ONE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT PROJECT...HAVING GREAT ARCHAEOLOGICAL VALUE HAS BEEN THE RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION OF TOTEM POLES AND COMMUNITY HOUSES, THE MOST INTERESTING FORM OF ART DEVELOPED BY THE SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA INDIANS. THE TOTEM POLES AND COMMUNITY HOUSES WERE RAPIDLY DECAYING AND DISAPPEARING FROM SIGHT WHEN THE CCC UNDERTOOK THE TASK OF PRESERVING THESE STRANGE MEMORIALS AND PERPETUATING THIS ANCIENT ART."

ALASKA WEEKLY JULY 31, 1942


Figure 56: February 20, 1940 issue of the Civilian Conservation Corps newsletter The Alaskan.

The CCC-era poles have remained in place at the park, with periodic maintenance. In 1993, as they reached a half-century in age, the National Park Service undertook another intensive restoration program. Conservators from the Harper's Ferry Center and the park applied a new generation of research and preservation techniques to the project.

WHEN POSSIBLE, THE POLES WERE RESTORED BUT OFTEN THEY WERE SO BADLY DECAYED THAT DUPLICATES HAD TO BE CARVED. ALL OF THE COMMUNITY HOUSES WERE IN SUCH A POOR STATE OF PRESERVATION THAT THEY HAD TO BE ENTIRELY REBUILT. ALL OF THIS WORK WAS DONE BY INDIAN ENROLLEES, THE OLDER INDIANS TEACHING THE YOUNGER MEN THE ART OF CARVING. IN ADDITION TO PRESERVING THE TOTEM ART, MANY OF THE YOUNGER INDIANS WILL BE ABLE TO EARN A LIVELIHOOD IN THE FUTURE, THROUGH THE SALE OF THEIR CARVINGS TO CURIO SHOPS AND TOURISTS. THIS PROGRAM OF REHABILITATION HAS RECEIVED HIGH PRAISE FROM MANY ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS THROUGHOUT ALASKA AND THE STATES.

ALASKA WEEKLY JULY 31, 1942


Figure 57: The park entrance during the Civilian Conservation Corps project in the late 1930s.

Figure 58: Modern totem pole preservation involves collaboration by specialists in several different fields.

The year 2002 will mark the 100th anniversary of the placement of the first totem pole in Sitka's Indian River Park. As a collection, the poles may be most remarkable for the range of cultural values that have been applied to them over the years. Without question, the display of these Haida and Tlingit cultural monuments so clearly outside their intended cultural contexts seems contradictory. Outside of Alaska, totem poles are a recognized symbol of Alaska Native culture and yet the poles collected by Brady had no cultural connection to local clans or the Indian River. Even the effort devoted to the collection's preservation is ironic when compared to the typical way of dealing with aging poles in traditional times: as an old pole decayed, another would be planned, carved and raised. In the process, it was clan relationships and cultural practices that were being preserved, not wood. But just as the original poles donors witnessed 100 years ago, times and contexts change. Today, much of the interest in preserving totem poles is being generated by Native organizations and cultural centers.

Figure 59: National Park Service staff continue to monitor the condition of the poles.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the collection is that for almost 100 years, it has fulfilled its stated purpose. Just as the original donors intended, the preservation and display of totem poles in Sitka National Historical Park has provided a lasting memorial to their wealth, generosity and cultural heritage. And, just as Governor Brady intended when he began his efforts to bring totem poles to the park, the poles are powerful symbols that continue to generate attention and tourism for Alaska and provide a tangible link to the past.

Figure 60: Chief Saanaheit.

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