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Instructional Guide
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What Do We Learn
From the Repatriation of Alaska Native
Artifacts?
Objectives
Standards
Materials
Procedure
Assessment
Extensions/Adaptations
Resources
Grade level: 6th through
8th grade
Subjects: Geography,
history
Time Needed for
Completion: Three to five class
periods
Objectives for
Students
- To observe and evaluate
evidence of Alaska Native cultural symbols and
artifacts.
- To research historical data
from a variety of primary resources, including the
Harriman expedition journals, related web sites, oral
accounts, maps, and photographs.
- To analyze data, make
observations and generate and answer
questions.
Standards
Geography:
- Correlates to the national
standards set by the National Council of Geographic
Education.
- The informed student knows
and understands the characteristics, distributions, and
complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics. (Standard
10)
- The informed student knows
and understands how to apply geography to interpret the
past. (Standard 17)
History
- Correlates to national
standards set by the National Center for History in the
Schools.
- The student is able to
engage in historical analysis and interpretation.
(Standard 3)
- The student is able to
conduct historical research. (Standard
4)
Materials
- Each student will need a
writing journal and, if assigned, a copy of the Artifact
Assessment Chart.
- A map of coastal Alaska for
classroom use.
- Computer with Internet
access.
Procedure
Overview:
Introductory Reading and
Class Discussion:
Part I: The Taking of
Artifacts at Cape Fox
The taking of the Native totem
poles and other objects from Cape Fox is one of the most
frequently retold episodes of the Harriman Expedition.
Earlier in the trip, on Kodiak Island, the artist Frederick
Dellenbaugh had met a man who told him about an empty but
intact Tlingit village "full of totem poles opposite St.
Mary's Island." On the return leg of the voyage, Harriman
set out to find the site, comparing the simple map that
Dellenbaugh had with navigational charts of the area. South
of Wrangell they found the village, with its many weathered
totems, and a string of painted houses facing the water.
It is not surprising that,
within an hour, Harriman ordered several crew members to the
beach to lower the carved poles and take them aboard the
Elder. Expeditions to Alaska often included this kind of
collecting -- at the very least, travelers to the coast
expected to buy souvenir Native artifacts made and sold at
every steamship stop between Vancouver and St. Lawrence.
Large expeditions, like the Harriman, often hoped to bring
back pieces of size and importance that would be of value to
museum in the United States.
Acquiring Native artifacts was
so much a part of the Alaskan experience for whites in the
nineteenth century that almost no one on the Harriman
Expedition protested as the poles came down and the houses
were emptied. Only John Muir, in his later writings,
referred to it as "a sacrilege."
Questions to
Explore:
- How does a cultural symbol
differ from an artifact?
- What do we learn from
artifacts?
- Should artifacts be taken
for preservation in museums and private collections? Why
or Why not?
Part II: Artifact Collection
in Historical Context
The collecting of Native objects
-- including everyday tools, garments, art and ceremonial
pieces, and even human remains -- can, in a way, be traced
back to a packet boat that arrived in New York Harbor in
1838 with 105 bags of gold on board. This was the fortune of
James Smithson, a British mineralogist who had never once
set foot on American soil. But he held the ideals of
American democracy in such esteem that he left his entire
fortune to the creation of an American "establishment for
the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Eight years later,
the Smithsonian Institution was created; its early curators
set out to build collections that would fully illustrate the
ethnic history of America. Explorers, surveyors and private
collectors were all encouraged to contribute to this growing
trove, and other museums followed suit. Indian artifacts
seemed particularly valuable because they were remnants of a
way of life that was fast disappearing from the continent.
When Alaska became a US possession in 1867, it was seen
partly as a new and fertile collecting site.
In some cases, Native tribes
sold their objects, and some even crafted items solely for
the collection and tourist trade. Collectors soon learned
that prices were lower in winter, that ceremonial objects
were often much more expensive than everyday items.
Oftentimes the precious ceremonial pieces were not for sale,
and more ruthless collectors resorted to thievery. When it
was discovered that burial boxes and shaman grave houses of
the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Natives in southeastern
Alaska were a rich source for ceremonial blankets, rattles,
headdresses and masks, these graves were routinely opened
and robbed. Sometimes the human contents of the grave --
bones and mummified bodies -- were removed and placed in
ethnological collections. Museums in the United States were
eager to assemble osteological collections for research
purposes, and the fact that they were willing to pay for
such material meant that Native graves were likely to be
robbed.
At Cape Fox, the Harriman crew
did not open the graves they found, but Merriam took one of
the Chilkoot blankets covering a shaman's grave, and the
crew removed a set of carved bears from a burial site. These
items, along with several totem poles and countless smaller
artifacts were taken aboard the Elder over two day's time.
Eventually the large totems were donated to museums in the
United States, including the Field Museum in Chicago and the
California Academy of Sciences. In 1920, one of the poles
was donated to the Peabody Museum at Harvard. Most of the
other artifacts were taken to the Smithsonian, a few were
held in private collections.
Questions to
Explore:
- How would you share
artifacts today?
- Should there be limits to
how cultural symbols are replicated? Explain.
- How can the authenticity of
an art piece or artifact be determined?
Part III:
Repatriation
In February of 2001, as part of
the Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced project, a group of
Natives from the village of Saxman, some of them descendants
of the Cape Fox tribe, visited New York City and viewed a
number of the totem poles and other objects taken from the
village in 1899. This was one of the first steps in a
repatriation process that, in the coming years, may see the
return of some of the artifacts taken on that July day in
1899.
Questions to
Explore:
- Do you feel that
repatriation is a reasonable way to handle artifacts
removed from Native sites?
- Are all artifacts equally
worthy of repatriation? Should human remains be given
priority for repatriation over domestic objects or
religious objects?
- Who owns history?
Class Assignments --
Essays
Using what you've learned from
the above questions, write an essay responding to the
essential questions:
- How has the handling of
cultural symbols and Native artifacts in village sites
changed since the Harriman expedition of 1899?
- What is the difference
between a symbol and an artifact? Can symbols be
repatriated or protected?
- Is a Native art piece
authentic only if it is created by an Alaska Native or is
it also authentic if a on-Native artist creates it?
Explain.
- Locate Saxman and Cape Fox
on the map, and discuss the ways that geography could
influence the development and distribution of Native
cultural objects.
Class Assignment -- Activity
Chart
Working in groups, have the
students discuss the following listed items, and answer
questions raised. Groups may present their finding to the
class, or individuals can fill in the chart.
Item
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Is this an
artifact or a symbol?
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Is the cultural
symbol or artifact authentic? How
determined?
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A piece of Native
jewelry purchased in a museum gift shop
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A chilkoot blanket
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The painting on the
front of the chief's house at Cape Fox
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The raven image on a
Tlingit totem pole
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A Tlingit totem
pole
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Assessment
Suggestions
- Students can be assessed for
their participation in the discussions and activities you
may have implemented after viewing the online souvenir
album.
- Students can be assessed on
how thoroughly and thoughtfully they completed the essays
on the handling of artifacts and on authenticity.
- Students can be assessed on
the completeness of the activity
chart.
Extensions/Adaptations
- Search the on-line
Harriman
Souvenir Album for
artifacts from the other Native cultures that the
Harriman expedition encountered. Compare the ways that
the different communities used (and did not use) symbols
in decorating their homes.
- Have students identify
Native American communities in your own area, and the
tribal artifacts and symbols that are connected with
these groups. Students can collect information on these
local tribes and repatriation issues at the
National
Museum of American History Repatriation Web
site.
Resources
- For information on the
Tlingit culture, visit the Crossroads
of Culture on-line exhibit.
- Check out the Web sites
under the Alaska Native Cultures section of the
Harriman
Links page for a
number of sites with information on Native language,
culture, history and present-day issues.
Prepared by Debbie A.
Chalmers, teacher, Alyeska Central School, Juneau, and team
leader, Harriman Young Explorers Team.
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