Cathedral Grove | Totem Pole Websites

A personal website. Haida carver Reg Davidson is featured as part of a research project entitled "The History of Craft" by Carol Ventura, a professor of art history at Tennessee Technological University. A sequence of photos show how a giant cedar log (right) is transformed into a sculpture. "Reg began his artistic training under the guidance of his father, Claude Davidson, chief of the village of Dadens, Haida Gwaii. . . In August 1980, Malaspina College on Vancouver Island commissioned Reg to create a 31 foot, three figure Eagle crest totem pole for presentation to the Tamagawa University of Japan. This led to a second commission for a pole raised in Old Massett." From Carol Ventura.

Reg Davidson carving a cedar log
Photos: Carol Ventura

Saxman Native Village Tour

A commercial website. One page presents a gallery of totem poles at the Saxman Totem Park. Saxman is home of the Cape Fox Corporation which was organized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1973. Tourists from around the world visit the well known native community: "For generations, Tlingit villages have greeted visitors in regal style. This same time honored welcome is still enthusiastically practiced in Saxman." A photo of the carving workshop shows a large cedar log being transformed into a totem pole (right). From Cape Fox Corporation of Alaska. Note: this is a First Nations owned site.

Carving shed, Saxman.
Saxman Native Village, Alaska.

Saxman Totem Park and Totem Bight State Historical Park are both near Ketchikan, Alaska. Originally a Tlingit village site, Ketchican became Alaska's centre of industrial logging when a $55 million pulp mill was constructed here in 1954. In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps began to remove old totem poles from their original locations in coastal indigenous villages. These were restored and copied for totem pole parks, designed as tourism destinations as part of a government plan to build a cruise ship industry. The totem poles at the Tlingit village of Tongass were removed, including the famous figure of Abraham Lincoln. Today the original Lincoln carving has been preserved and is displayed at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau (right).

The carving of the Lincoln figure at Tongass was said to have been sponsored by Tlingit slaves in commemoration of President Lincoln's roll in ending slavery. However Tlingit William Paul Sr., Grand President of the Alaska Native Brotherhood, reported in 1971 that the true name of the pole at was 'Proud Raven Pole' after the figure at the bottom of the pole and that the top figure represented "The first white man seen by the Tongass Island People."

Some Tlingit elders give another interpretation; they say that the totem pole was created as a shame or ridicule pole. Its intended purpose was to shame the American government into repaying the Tlingit people at Tongass for the value of slaves which had been freed after the Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln in 1863.

As one writer says, there are many stories: "Anyone seeking to understand why the fight over Indian country is not just a legal dispute, but a power struggle between two views of the world, need look no further than the story of the Lincoln totem. Like the idea of tribal sovereignty, the story arouses emotions that run deep in Alaska's history, in the profound clash between Native identity and the American dream of assimilation. For decades, the Lincoln totem has been portrayed in speeches and books as a symbol of the American ideal of equality, which must ultimately rise above tribal traditions. Tlingits familiar with oral tradition, however, have always considered the tale a fable designed to celebrate the coming of white man's justice." External link: One Totem Many Stories (Ancorage Daily News).

Tlingit carvers James Starrish and Charles Brown were assigned to replicate some of the old totem poles for Saxman Totem Park in 1938. There are two photos of them taken at Saxman in 1940; one with the original Lincoln carving and the second with the replica they carved (right).

Lincoln figure, Alaska State Museum.
Photo: Alaska's Digital Archives

Saxman Totem Park, 1940.
Photo: Washington University

Sealaska Heritage Totem Pole

An educational website. Includes a page on the creation of two new house posts commissioned in 2003 by the Sealaska Heritage Institute and Burke Museum to replace house posts stolen from the Tlingit village of Gaash in 1899 by Harriman's expedition. The original poles were returned by the Burke Museum to the Cape Fox Corporation in July 2001. Tlingit carvers Stephen and Nathan Jackson created the new posts not as replicas but as original designs based on the Teikweidi Tlingit story of Kaats, the grizzly bear hunter who married a grizzly bear and was eventually killed by his bear children. External link: Nathan Jackson (National Endowment for the Arts). From Sealaska Heritage Institute. Note: this is a First Nations owned site.

Tlingit carver Nathan Jackson, 2004.
Photo: Sealaska Heritage Institute

Shotridge Totem Poles

A commercial website. Presents totem poles created at the carving studio of Israel Shotridge, a member of the Teikweidee Taantwaan Bear Clan of the Tongass Tribe. One page is a gallery that documents the carving of a totem pole commissioned in 2004 by the Ketchikan Indian Corporation for its new Health Clinic. A 13 meter long log from an ancient cedar tree was used for this pole: KIC Totem Project. Another page is: Mother Brown Bear. It presents a house post carved in 1994 "in honour of Esther Shea by her son Israel Shotridge." In 1996 it was purchased by Sealaska Corporation which loaned to the Alaska State Senate offices in Washington DC where it is displayed today.

Another page documents the "Forest Service Totem" (right), a pole commissioned to honour the Civilian Conservation Corps Totem Restoration Project which was carried out from 1939 to 1953, and its relationship to the native community and to the US Forest Service. A gallery documenting the carving of the pole is presented: Forest Service Totem. The totem pole was completed in 2005 and today is displayed at an exhibition in the Hall of Tribal Nations in Washington DC. From Shotridge Studios, Vashon Island, Washington State. Note: this is a First Nations owned site.

Carver Israel Shotridge, 2005.
Photo: Shotridge Studio

Israel Shotridge is the great grandson of Louis Shotridge (c. 1882 – 1937), born of a noble family from Klukwan. "The name Shotridge derived from Louis's maternal grandfather Chief 'Tschartitsch,' this being a Germanicized spelling of the Tlingit name 'Shathitch' or, in contemporary Tlingit orthography, Shaadaxhícht." External link: Louis Shotridge. Louis Shotridge began working for the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennyslvania in Philadelphia in 1905 and he served as an assistant curator from 1915 to 1932. One of the works he collected for the museum was the "White Man" mask (right). When worn, the face rotates full circle. It came from the Snail House T'akDeinTaan Clan in Hoonah in 1925. Many of the Tlingit carvings collected by Shotridge have been prominently exhibited in Philadelphia, as Shotridge wished, in a setting that presented Tlingit culture and art alongside the great cultures of Egypt, Asia, Mesopotamia and the Maya world.

Tlingit "White Man" mask.
Location: Philadelphia

Sitka National Historical Park

A governmental website. Presents a gallery of 15 totem poles at the Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska as a "Virtual History Carved Walk" (right). This was the site of the first "Public Park" with totem poles, created in 1890 on the site of the old Kikisadi Tlingit village where a group of totem poles once stood and where in 1804 the Battle for Sitka was fought. It became the Sitka National Monument in 1910 and is Alaska's oldest federally designated park. The first totem poles displayed here were acquired by Alaska's governor for display at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904 and at the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon in 1905.

Most of the poles were returned to the settlement of Sitka where a "Totem Park" was set up in 1905. Although it became part of the Sitka national monument, the US government did not provide adequate funding and for three decades the poles deteriorated. In the 1930s a Civilian Conservation Corps project to preserve and recreate the totem poles was initiated. From US National Parks Service.

Totem Pole Park, 2007.
Sitka, Alaska

Governor John G. Brady collected the Sitka totem poles primarily to promote the abundant timber resources of Alaska. He moved to Alaska as a Presbyterian minister and and encouraged the Americanization of the Indians and the abandoning of their heritage. As one of the earliest sawmill owners in Alaska, Brady engaged in the wrecking of the cedar trees necessary to the carving culture of the Indians.

Among the totem poles Brady sent to St. Louis in 1904 was the over 50 feet high Saanaheit Pole. It had been given to the District of Alaska through Brady in 1901 by Saanaheit, the Haida chief of Old Kasaan (also known as Soniyat). Archival photos this village show that its indigenous carvings were among the most monumental of the coastal indigenous villages and Chief Saanaheit must have been a wealthy and powerful leader. The magnificent pole, regarded as one of the finest in existence, included four house pillars. These were set up at Sitka in 1905 (right). Originally the Saanaheit Pole may have been an entrance to a bighouse, as a small hump at its base indicates the top of a door opening.

The original Saanaheit Pole dates from the early 1800's. Its dominant theme is the Grizzly Bear, two of the figures being Bear Mother and two cubs, one human, the other animal. The process of appropriation by which the indigenous meaning of the pole was transformed to one determined by Euro Americans has continued ever since it came into the hands of Governor Brady in 1901. Forced to resign in disgrace in 1906, the pole continued to be known as the Governor Brady Totem Pole. A stereoview postcard from 1924 documents the visit of the American President Harding to Sitka, standing before the Saanaheit Pole, then called the "Great Alaskan Totem Pole" (right).

In a study of the totem poles at Sitka National Historical Park, Andrew Patrick described the "preservation conundrum that has lasted more than a century." On the Saanaheit Pole, he reported: "Although several figures are identifiable such as the traditional Village Watchmen at the top, a bear and Raven, other figures are not. Unfortunately, little information about this intricately carved giant has survived." External link: The Most Striking of Objects.

Saanaheit Pole, Sitka, c. 1905.
Photo: Alaska's Digital Archives

US President Harding at Sitka, 1924.
Photo: Bancroft Library

Sitka Youth Kooteeyaa Project

An educational website. Several pages cover the Sitka Youth "Kooteeyaa" – Totem Pole – Project. This was a joint effort by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Pacific High School to create an original totem pole. Four students wrote a story for the pole and worked with carver Tommy Joseph to create the design. In 2004 students began carving the pole, in part using adzes with handles made for the project by Blatchely Middle School students. On 30 April 2005, the pole was raised in front of Pacific High School (right). The page explains the pole narrative and documents the carving of the pole with photos. From the Sitka School District.

Pole raising, 25 April 2005, Sitka, Alaska.
Photo: Sitka Youth Kooteeyaa Project

Skidegate Haida Model Houses and Poles

An educational website. Presents a collaborative project at the Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Coast Art, and the new Haida Gwaii Museum at Kaay 'llnagaay. The website documents a model village of Skidegate (hlgaagilda 'llnagaay) in 1864. Today located at the Field Museum, it was created by 17 commissioned Haida carvers for Chicago's 1893 World's Fair. The project includes community interviews and a travelling exhibit to arrive in Skidegate in 2011. Right: three views of Skidegate: 1878 (top); the 1893 model (middle); and 2006. From the University of Washington and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Skidegate, Haida Gwaii. (click to enlarge)
Bill Holm Center, Burke Museum

Stolen Totem Pole Unveiled

A commercial website. One page chronicles how a sixty foot totem pole from the Tlingit village at Tongass in Alaska was stolen and sent to Seattle where it was raised in 1899 in Pioneer Square as one of the city's first civic monuments. Many postcards were printed to publicize the monumental totem pole (right). The theft of the Tlingit totem pole was arranged in 1899 by a group of prominent Euro Americans and members of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. External link: The Totem Thieves (CounterPunch).

A witness to the crime explained: "The Indians were all away fishing, except for one who stayed in his house and looked scared to death. We picked out the best looking totem pole. . . I took a couple of sailors ashore and we chopped it down– just like you'd chop down a tree. It was too big to roll down the beach, so we sawed it in two."

"The Seattle totem belonged to the Raven Clan (English surname Kinninook) and had been carved in about the year 1790 to honor a woman named Chief of All Women who drowned in the Nass River while on a journey to visit an ailing sister. The top carving was that of a raven, which in Tlingit mythology did everything, knew everything, and seemed to be everywhere at once." The pole was torched by an arsonist in 1938 and Tlingit carvers, led by Charles Brown, created a replacement. From History Link Inc.

"The Totem Pole," Seattle, c. 1910.
Old postcard

Totem Bight State Historical Park

A governmental website. One page presents the 14 totem poles and clan houses on display at the Totem Bight State Historical Park near Ketchikan, Alaska. The park is part of the 17 million acres Tongass National Forest which covers much of southeast Alaska. In 1938 the United States Forest Services began a program aimed at salvaging and reconstructing the totem poles, or cedar monuments from different sites on the coast. Civilian Conservation Corps funds were used to hire native carvers who taught their art to a younger generation of native artists. Totem poles which had been left to rot were either repaired or duplicated.

The Thunderbird and Whale totem (right) that stands near the entrance to Totem Bight State Park is a replica of a Tlingit house post collected from Howkan. The site provides information on how to interpret the poles: "A Tlingit myth tells that the people were inspired to carve totem poles after finding a carved log washed up on the beach. . . The Haida tell of a master carver who created a house front and several poles overnight and then taught the villagers how to carve." From the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation.

Thunderbird and Whale Totem.
Totem Bight State Historical Park

Totem Heritage Center

A commercial website. Includes a gallery page on the Totem Heritage Center (right), "established in 1976 to preserve endangered 19th century totem poles retrieved from uninhabited Tlingit and Haida village sites near Ketchikan. Those magnificent, original poles are displayed at the Center in conjunction with other totems and Native Alaskan artifacts. In addition to functioning as a museum, the Totem Heritage Center also preserves and promotes the traditional arts and crafts of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures through a nationally recognized program of Native Arts classes and other activities." From the City of Ketchikan.

Totem Heritage Center.
Ketchikum, Alaska

Totem Pole

An educational website. One page on totem poles presents continually revised information and links to the free knowledge network. "Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from great trees, typically Western red cedar, by a number of Native American cultures along the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The word 'totem' is derived from the Algonkian word 'Dodem,' originally meaning 'to be related to someone (i.e. someone who shares a family crest, or totem)." Includes a wide range of information on totem pole history, style, meaning and purpose, construction and conservation, sources, further reading and external links. A commemorative work of art by Tommy Joseph and Fred Andrew Beltran that pays tribute to the native warriors slain in 1804 is the K'alyaan Totem Pole of the Tlingit Kiks.ádi Clan at Sitka (right). See: Battle of Sitka. From Wikipedia.

K'alyaan Totem Pole, Sitka.
Photo: Wikipedia

Totem Poles & Carvers

A commercial website. One page presents a "talking stick" about 22 feet high (right) by the Haida Metis carver Don Yeomans. "The talking stick or Speaker's Staff is held by the speaker, the speaker would stand by the chief and relay the message of the chief to those assembled." Yeoman's talking stick is modeled on an artifact in the Smithsonian Museum that was collected in the village of Massett on Haida Gwaii in 1883, likely by the Indian Agent. The artifact is believed to have been owned by the famous Haida Cheif Xana.

The page includes links to other texts on totem poles: What Do Totem Poles Mean?; Fake Totem Poles Versus Real Ones; How to Make a Totem Come Alive; Where to Visit Totem Poles; and Myths and Falsehoods About Totem Poles. From Native Online. Note: this is a First Nations owned site.

Talking stick (details) by Don Yeomans.
Photo: Native Online

Totem Poles: Heraldic Monuments of Cedar

An educational website. on totem poles with links and an extensive bibliography. "The term Totem Pole refers to the tall cedar poles with multiple figures carved by Native people of the northern Northwest Coast. Several different types of monumental poles include: house frontal poles placed against the house front, often serving as doorways of houses; carved interior house posts that support roof beams, and free standing memorial poles placed in front of houses to honor deceased chiefs. Mortuary poles made in the nineteenth century housed the coffins of important people in a niche at the top. Carved of red cedar logs, the figures on totem poles are inherited crests, which identify the pole owners and tell their family histories."

"In the late 1800s most tribes ceased to carve these monumental poles when the potlatch, the ceremony held when poles were raised, was made illegal in Canada. At this time Native artists began to carve small model poles for sale as souvenirs to tourists. The anti potlatch law was dropped in 1951, and today, Native people throughout the Northwest Coast raise new poles to honor deceased relatives and celebrate family histories and important events in their lives." Chief Shakes VI (Charlie Jones) of the Kaach.ádi Clan is seen next to a totem pole in 1910 (right). In 1922 he was arrested for voting. From the University of Washington and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

"Chief Shakes at Wrangell," 1910.
Photo: University of Washington

Totem Poles of the Northwest

A commercial website. Includes a page by four students at the Chinook Elementary School on the history of totem poles, how they are made and where they are located. Explains totem pole symbolism and narratives such as "The Story of T'xam – sem (Raven), Medeek (Grizzly) and Hon (Salmon) as told by Henry Green. This story takes place in Lax K'een (Prince Rupert) at what is now Hays Creek." From ThinkQuest Educational Foundation.

The painting by Theodore Richardson, from c. 1900, of the interior of a Tlingit bighouse, was probably sketched from an actual scene and may be an abandoned house (right).

Interior of a Tlingit bighouse.
Painting by T. Richardson, c. 1900.

Totem Poles of the Northwest Coast Indians

An educational website. One page is devoted to totem poles as part of a school curriculum developed by Maryanne Kathleen Basti to strengthen teaching in public schools. "To the Northwest Coast Indians, the totem pole provided a means of communicating their stories, myths and legends. The totem pole is an arrangement of symbols or memory devices in sequence created for the purpose of recalling a story or event. These symbols function as a form of 'writing' – pictures, not written letters, convey meaning. Further, these stories conveyed symbolically a visual expression of what the Indian culture meant." Includes resources for teachers such as bibliographies. From the Yale National Initiative.

The Kaigani Haida grave marker (right) is from the village of Howkan (Long Island) or Klinkwan (Prince of Wales Island) and was photographed c. 1921. It was removed and transfered to the new village of Hydaburg and repaired for the Totem Park there. According to Marcel Barbeau, there is no evidence of mortuary poles among the Haida prior to 1840 or 1850. The Alaska Historical Museum at Juneau has two massive house posts, also Kaigani Haida, that feature Grizzly Bear Mother and her two cubs wit human features, one of her head, the other on her lap. A third human face appears at her feet. Barbeau makes the point that as traditional customs were abandoned due to most Indians becoming converts to Christianity, the poles were cut down.

Klinkwan bear totem pole, c. 1895.
Photo: University of Washington

Totem Poles: Sitka National Historical Park

No longer online. A commercial tourism website. A page presents a gallery of the totem poles at Sitka National Historical Park. Includes information on the carvers, the meaning and the history of each pole. Several totem poles are copies of originals taken by the disgraced Governor of Alaska, John Brady. The photos are marred by a prominent copyright logo. From Eddystone Inn Bed & Breakfast.

Deikeenaak’w, Tlingit carver from Sitka.
Photo: Alaska Virtual Library

Totem Restoration Preserves Tlingit History

A commercial website. Presents an important essay on totem pole restoration by Patricial Neal that describes the restoration of the totem poles in Wrangell, Alaska in the 1940s and 1980s and explains how these totem poles help to preserve Tlingit history. Includes the 1987 dedication of a Totem Park and a totem pole raising ceremony. A second essay documents the 50th anniversary in 1990 of the dedication of Chief Shakes Island: The Last Great Potlatch. From Designs by Trisha.

Totems to Turquoise

An educational website. Presents the exhibition "Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and Southwest" organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. One of the participants as well as a principal advising artist was the renowned Haida carver and hereditary chief Jim Hart. External link: The Three Watchmen. An installation photo taken in the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians shows Hart's bronze totem "Watchmen" being unwrapped beside a huge Haida style war canoe (right). The 18.9 metre (63 foot) canoe was acquired by the Museum in 1878 with the assistance of Israel Powell, BC's first Indian Agent, and ever since has been a star attraction. In 2006 the Haida requested its repatriation for its new Haida Heritage Centre.

The "Totems to Turquoise" exhibition toured the US for two years including the Autry National Center in Los Angeles which includes the Museum of the American West, the Southwest Museum of the American Indian and the Institute for the Study of the American West. To mark the 2006 "Totems" exhibition, the Autry commissioned a carving by Jim Hart for its permanent collection. A video was made of the Haida artist carving a twelve foot traditional house pole from a 435 year old red cedar weighing 1800 pounds from the Haida Gwaii (right). In Vancouver the exhibition was given a prelude and traditional ceremony presided over by Jim Hart. External link: Prelude.

Watchmen totem by Jim Hart, 2004.
Photo: American Musem of Natural History

Jim Hart. (Click to see video)
Video: Autry National Center

University of Washington

An educational website. One page is an online research tool that can be used to access the extensive collection of material on totem poles including photographs, newspapers, reports, pamphlets, posters and maps: "The emphasis of these collections is on rare and unique materials." By entering "totem pole" in the search function, the data base can be browsed. See also the exhibit "American Indians of the Pacific Northwest." From University of Washington.

Chief Shakes Island, Wrangell, c. 1900.
Photo: University of Washington

Virtual Totem Poles

A commercial website. Features the work by Don Bain, a geographer at the Geography Computing Facility, University of California at Berkeley. Virtual panoramas of totem poles encompass the total landscape. A search under "totem pole" will locate some dozens of virtual photos (right). In Alaska, totem poles at Sitka and Ketchikan can be seen. In BC, totem poles at Kitwancool, Kispiox, 'Ksan Historical Village, Victoria Convention Center, Thunderbird Park, Royal BC Museum, the Museum of Anthropology and Stanley Park in Vancouver can be seen. Also presents a photo of the Kaigani Haida carver Lee Wallace at work. See: Saxman Totem Park. From Don Bain's Virtual Guidebooks.

Killer Clam Totem, Saxman Totem Park.
Photo: Don Bain (Click for QuickTime)

Wellbriety Kootéeyaa Totem Pole

No longer online. A commercial website. One page shows the carving of a totem pole (Kootéeyaa) by Tlingit carver Wayne Price for the Regional Health Consortium in Sitka, Alaska (right). "The Wellbriety Kootéeyaa stands for sobriety, addictions recovery and healing from the many illnesses that Tlingits and others in southeast Alaska suffer from." Two 40 foot long red cedar logs were chosen for the community project. The raising ceremony was on 14 October 2006. Wayne Price explains: "Mother Earth is at the base of the Wellbriety Kooteeyaa, to sustain us, teach us, and connect us all as we choose the path of healing and the sacred ground of wellness." From Silver Cloud Art Center. Note: this is a First Nations owned site.

Wellbriety Kootéeyaa, Sitka, 2006.
Photo: White Bison

Australian Totem Pole Websites

Totem Pole Treasures

An educational website. Features a Haida totem pole as one of the treasures of Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. The museum began in 1854 as a natural history collection which was expanded to include anthropology at the turn of the century. The artifacts were displayed in a Grand Hall in the style of the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University, with the Haida totem pole dominating the Victorian exhibition space. The site provides a historic photo of the early hall and detailed views of the 12 m totem pole from Skidegate on Haida Gwaii. It was obtained by the museum in 1911 from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. From the Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.

Haida pole, Melbourne.
Museum Victoria, Australia

Austrian Totem Pole Websites

Totempfahl fuer Schoenbrunn

No longer online. A governmental website. Presents the totem pole sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in Vienna, Austria, to mark the 250th anniverary of the oldest zoo in the world, "Tiergarten Schoenbrunn." The pole was raised in a traditional ceremony in 2002 by the Austrian army, Viennese police and fire departments. The totem pole was carved by Nisga'a artist Alver Tait, who is from the indigenous village of New Aiyansh in northern British Columbia, Canada. Alver's brother, Norman Tait, is the carver of a totem pole that marks the Nisga'a Lisims building. Available only in German. From Tiergarten Schoenbrunn.

Nisga'a totem pole, Tiergaren Schoenbrunn
Vienna, Austria

Belgian Totem Pole Websites

Totem Poles

No longer online. A personal website. One webpage is entitled "A Tribute to the Native People" and includes a gallery of archival totem pole photos with general information on the mythology and history of this monumental form of Northwest Coast art: "While totem poles are thought by many to be a symbol of Native People culture generally, their production was limited to six tribes in British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. . . The figures under the Crest represent figures in a story. The story may be a myth or legend, or it may be a story from the life of a person in the tribe." Serves as an educational resource for classroom projects at schools in Florida and Missouri. From B. Tigerlily.

Klawock Totem Park, 2005
Klawock, Alaska