Bringing a Native American story pole home

This 37-foot story pole stood prominently for nearly 70 years in Krape Park in Freeport, Illinois.

Photo courtesy of the Freeport Park District.

It's colorful carvings represent interrelated stories hand-carved by renowned Coast Salish artist and Snohomish Tribe leader William Shelton, who began carving story poles in the early 1900s to revitalize and increase understanding of Native American culture.

The Carved Legacy of Snohomish Cultural Leader William Shelton

 

William Shelton, Model Story Pole,
Snohomish (Tulalip Indian Reservation),
Southern Coast Salish. Ca. 1920s.

By Christy Hansen
Guest writer, Ethnology

From the late nineteenth-century through the early decades of the twentieth century, white American culture embraced the notion of the Native American culture as rapidly disappearing. The popular visual iconography of the totem pole, along with the feathered war bonnet and teepee, had come to be interpreted as an exotic and spellbinding relic of a "savage" "vanishing race" by whites, and miniature carved model totem poles became popular souvenirs from curio shops to commemorate a visit to a Native village along the northern Northwest Coast. Urban stores, such as the landmark Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, Washington (founded in 1899), offered model totem poles for sale, as well, to those who may never even have traveled to villages of the Haida, Tsimshian or Tlingit - northern Northwest Coast Native cultures from which totem poles originated.

The totem pole, which had become a symbol of "a generalized American Indianess," was not a traditional art form of the Southern Coast Salish – the grouping of over fifty autonomous Native American tribes which populate the Puget Sound Basin in Washington State.

Amongst the Coast Salish peoples, traditional religious beliefs did not tolerate extroverted art forms such as the heraldic totem poles of the northern Northwest Coast cultures; thereby, making the circa 1920s Snohomish (a group of the Southern Coast Salish) model totem, or story, pole (pictured at right) so fascinating.

Q. Is the tradition of carving totem poles native to Western Washington?

The Burke Museum partners with the Seattle PI's Big Blog to answer commonly asked questions about the natural and cultural history of our region. Read past entries from the Ask the Burke column here.

Q. Is the tradition of carving totem poles native to Western Washington?

A. Although totem poles have become a symbol of all Northwest Coast Native people and their use has spread to neighboring tribes through the years, they weren't always in the Seattle area. Tall multiple-figure poles known as totem poles were first made only by the northern Northwest Coast Haida, Tlingit and Tsimshian peoples in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia and are not native to the people of Western Washington. Closer to home, the Coast Salish people in Southern British Columbia and Western Washington carved large human figures representing ancestors and spirit helpers on interior house posts and as grave monuments.

Even though totem poles were not originally carved by people living around the Puget Sound, references to totem poles can be found in many places around Seattle, such as a totem pole in West Seattle that was recently stolen (and returned), the Pike Place Market totem pole, those here at the Burke Museum, and of course, the long-standing totem pole in Pioneer Square.

Tlingit totem pole is unveiled at Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington, October 18, 1899. Photo courtesy University of Washington, Special Collections Division.

The Pioneer Square pole was originally aquired in 1899 by a group of Seattle businessmen who took a trip to Southeast Alaska and stopped in the Tlingit village of Tongass. They assumed that the village had been abandoned and proceeded to remove a large pole that was taken back to Seattle and erected in Pioneer Square. In fact, the Tongass people were just away at their fishing camps, and when they returned, they were unhappy to find the pole stolen. The thieves had been observed and their actions were reported to Governor Brady in Alaska. The Tongass people asked for the return of the pole or payment for it. After lengthy negotiations, a payment was made, but the pole remained in Seattle. This pole was damaged by fire in Pioneer Square in 1938, and a replica was carved by a group of Tlingit carvers from Ketchikan as part of a Civilian Conservation Corps project. This replica pole still stands in Pioneer Square in Seattle today.

To learn more about the history of totem poles and other carvings, visit the Burke's award-winning website The Enduring Power of Totem Poles.

Story of a pole raising

On the afternoon of September 23, a crowd of at least 100 people crammed into the lobby of the UW Tower for a very special celebration. The festivities were surrounding the Burke Museum’s recently acquired totem pole, carved by well-known Tsimshian artist David Boxley, and we were proud and excited to raise the pole in the University of Washington Tower for those who pass through that building to enjoy.

There is a nice story behind how the Burke acquired this pole: in the late 1990s, Warren and Ellie Guntheroth (Warren is a physician at the UW) commissioned David Boxley to carve a pole for their home, partially in memorial to their Siberian Husky, Sasha. The pole was dedicated at the Guntheroth home in 1999. When Ellie passed away a few years ago, Warren decided the pole needed to be moved to a place where future generations could enjoy it, as he and his wife had, and generously donated the pole to the Burke Museum.

The pole, as it stood outside the Guntheroth's home:

As the pole had been standing outdoors for ten years, it required some touchup work by David before it could be reinstalled at the university:

Then, a rededication ceremony helped introduce the pole to its new home: the UW Tower lobby. The unveiling of the pole itself was very exciting and dramatic!

Following the unveiling, David and his friends in the Git-hoan (People of the Salmon) Dance Group treated the crowd to several dance numbers, many written by David himself.

Their performance was a great reminder of the living culture that thrives in Native communities, like the Tsimshian, today. In the words of David, “The traditions are ours, but there needs to be a witness.” Now, for as long as the pole remains in the UW Tower, all people who pass by it will be the witnesses to a beautiful work of art, and to one piece of the Tsimshian tradition.

The artist, David Boxley, speaks about his culture and his craft.

The Enduring Power of Totem Poles

About a year ago, we launched a special Web site called The Enduring Power of Totem Poles. It has since won the 2009 CASE award for best Web site. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the history of totem poles ought to explore the site a bit. You might learn something about totem poles that you did not know, such as:

• Totem poles, which are defined as free-standing columns with many figures, are not actually indigenous to Washington State. Even though totem pole imagery can be found all over the place in Seattle, it was the northern Northwest Coast groups (Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingit, etc.) that carved totem poles, not the Coast Salish people surrounding the Puget Sound. It’s a common misconception that totem pole carving was practiced near present-day Seattle, but it is not historically or culturally accurate. The totem poles standing outside the Burke Museum are all replicas of poles from Canadian or Alaskan-based tribes.



• Totem poles are not only historical objects; up and down the Northwest Coast, poles are being raised again in a spirit of cultural survival and revival.



• The Burke Museum has been very active in the repatriation of poles and other clan treasures that were taken from communities along the Northwest Coast in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Enduring Power of Totem Poles tells the story of two of the Teikweidi clan’s houseposts, taken from the Tlingit village of Gaash (Cape Fox, AK) by an American railroad magnate in 1899 and donated to a young Burke Museum. In July 2001, along with four other North American museums, the Burke returned the posts and other clan treasures to the Tlingit people of Cape Fox and acknowledged the wrong that had been done. Two new houseposts were created for the Burke Museum by father and son, Nathan and Stephen Jackson, to replace the two posts that were repatriated and are now on display in the Pacific Voices exhibit.

For more fascinating stories about totem poles and the people who make them, visit the Enduring Power of Totem Poles site:

Posted by: Julia Swan, Communications

Photo: Replica of Tsimshian Memorial Pole, carved by Bill Holm in 1969, now standing in front of the Burke Museum