THIRTY-THREE CULTURAL OBJECTS REPATRIATED

Sealaska Corporation has repatriated thirty-three cultural objects from a Massachusetts museum on behalf of Tlingit clans in Southeast Alaska.

Most of the objects were repatriated on behalf of the Yakutat Tlingit and title will be officially transferred to them at a future ceremony, said SHI President Rosita Worl, an anthropologist who assisted in the repatriation.

The collection underscores the creativity and talent of our ancestors, Worl said.

“I mean the pieces are extraordinary,” Worl said. “It demonstrates the sophistication and the uniqueness of our art--but more than that--really the cultural values that gave rise to this artistic tradition.”

The objects were collected in the 19th century by Edward G. Fast and purchased by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in 1869. The collection comprises a wide range of objects, including a wooden warrior’s helmet (above), masks, rattles, tools and pipes. Most of the objects were used by shamans, Worl said.

“The pieces are mostly shamanic items, and of course shamanic items are very sensitive to our people. We have strict rules and protocols about the handling of shamanic objects,” said Worl, adding Native people believe shamanic objects have powers that could harm people who do not respect the protocols.

Worl oversaw the repatriation at the museum with two Eagle and Raven members of the Council of Traditional Scholars, a panel founded by the institute to advise on programs. The objects, which arrived in Juneau in March, were repatriated through a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

The Yakutat Tlingit will decide whether to take the objects home or to sign a memorandum of agreement to leave them at Sealaska Heritage Institute, which has expanded its holding facility through grants and donations from Sealaska Corporation, the Rasmuson Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. SHI enlarged its facilities to accommodate a growing number ethnographic collections and archival materials acquired in recent years. The institute employs a professional staff to care for cultural objects and archival materials. Staff hopes to eventually have additional space for public exhibitions of its collections.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a Native nonprofit established in 1980 to administer educational and cultural programs for Sealaska, a regional Native corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The institute’s mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.

OLD AUDIO AND VISUAL RECORDINGS DIGITIZED

OLD AUDIO AND VISUAL RECORDINGS DIGITIZED
Change means public can now view and listen to recordings

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has transferred forty audio and visual recordings dating to between 1965 and 1975 to CD and DVD. The change means the public may now peruse the recordings, which had previously been off limits due to their obsolete format.

“Since we’ve been able to reformat them and make them available in DVD or CD, it makes them accessible for the public,” said Zachary Jones, archivist at the institute’s Special Collections Research Center. “People can now learn from these and use them, and they can be great educational tools.”

The audio visual materials include interviews with Tlingit Elders; Elder Johnny C. Jackson speaking and singing about clan history; footage documenting a totem pole raising ceremony in Kake; Klukwan Tlingit dancing and lectures; and youth dancers performing in Angoon.

“People are dancing, they’re singing their clan songs, they’re doing these things for their descendants and for their people so they can learn and know these things,” Jones said.

The audio recordings include lectures from the Juneau Indian Studies Program; Angoon ceremonies; traditional Haida stories told by Mrs. Carl; William L. Paul speaking on civil rights and the land claims battle; and speakers at a Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand Camp convention, said Jones, noting in some of the recordings people speak entirely in Tlingit.

“They talk about the culture and tell things that are important to the Tlingit heritage,” Jones said.

The recordings were all on open reels of film: seventeen were audio-visual and twenty-three were audio recordings. The transfers were made by Preservation Technologies, L.P., which specializes in care and preservation of recordings. The institute will also keep uncompressed digital copies on a portable hard drive for preservation purposes. A sample of one film concerning a Kake totem raising can be viewed by click here.

The institute has expanded its holding facility through grants and donations from Sealaska Corporation, the Rasmuson Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. SHI enlarged its facilities to accommodate a growing number ethnographic collections and archival materials acquired in recent years. The institute employs a professional staff to care for cultural objects and archival materials. Staff hopes to eventually have additional space for public exhibitions of its collections.

The Special Collections Research Center is open to the public 8:15-4:15 pm, Monday-Friday (closed noon-1 pm). It is located on the third floor of Sealaska Plaza.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a Native nonprofit established in 1980 to administer educational and cultural programs for Sealaska, a regional Native corporation formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The institute’s mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.


CONTACT: Zachary Jones, SHI Archivist, by clicking here.