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Press Release
April 28, 2005
ALASKA NATIVE ELDERS GO TO WASHINGTON FOR COLLECTIONS PROJECT
Four Alaska Native Elders made a poignant and often emotional trip
to Washington, D.C., this month to share information about ancient
Tlingit and Haida objects held by the Smithsonian Institution.
The trip, sponsored by Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Arctic
Studies Center, marked the beginning of a consultation among the Elders,
the institute and the Smithsonian on the museum’s Alaska Collections
Project. Many of the objects viewed by the Elders will be brought to the
Anchorage Museum in 2009 for a long-term exhibition and for the creation
of a cultural resource center, according to the Arctic Studies Center,
an arm of the Smithsonian.
The delegation visited two Smithsonian museums from April 15-24: the
National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of the
American Indian. One of the highlights of the trip came when the
delegation saw a Teikweidí clan hat with a Bear and tinaá, said SHI
President Rosita Worl, who accompanied the Elders.
“Peter Jack, a Tlingit Elder from Angoon, told the story behind the
hat,” said Worl, noting her grandson Rico Worl and SHI employee Donald
Gregory, both Ravens, in accordance with Tlingit tradition then put the
hat on Peter Jack, an Eagle.
“When they put the hat on Peter’s head, we were truly overcome with joy
and sadness,” said Worl, a Tlingit.
Tlingit Elder George Ramos of Yakutat gave an excellent account of the
visit in 1785 by French explorer Jean Francois de Galaup de la Perouse,
who sailed to Alaska to map the west coast. Twenty-six members of de la
Perouse’s crew drowned at Lituya Bay near Yakutat. Ramos told the story
after viewing a pipe featuring two supernatural beings who guard Lituya
Bay. Ramos also described three different movements of seals submerging
into the sea.
In addition to Jack and Ramos, the delegation included Elders Clarence
Jackson, a Tlingit from Kake, and Haida artist Delores Churchill, who
was exceptionally knowledgeable about the museums’ collections,
particularly the weaving, Worl said.
The Elders gave information about the objects’ use, meaning and history.
They were encouraged to speak in Tlingit and Haida and their comments
were recorded to video. The institute plans to transcribe and translate
the Native language portions of the recordings and use the material in
its education programs.
Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private, nonprofit founded in 1981 to
administer cultural and educational programs for Sealaska Corp. The
institute is governed by an all-Native board of trustees. Its mission is
to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of
Southeast Alaska.
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CONTACT: Rosita Worl, SHI President, 463-4844