Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka, Alaska
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This is a wonderful and rare opportunity to enjoy art for art’s sake here. The overwhelming number of objects at the Sheldon Jackson Museum, my excitement at seeing them and our limited time made me forget all about my practice of photographing the label of every item after taking a photo of it.
Unfortunately, Alaska State Museum’s online object catalog is not working. It’s possible that some of the objects I photographed were featured as one of the museum’s artifacts of the month, in which case I might be able to retrieve information about the piece from that section of the museum’s web site. I might also be able to retrieve general information about the object type to which the piece pertains.
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Headdresses frontlets were the principal form of ceremonial headgear on the Northwest Coast in the nineteenth century.
Frontlets were worn by prominent members of a clan or family, and were part of an elaborate headdress which typically included sea lion whiskers, animal fur, and often ermine tails. In addition to rich painting in red, blue and black, many examples were embellished with fragments of abalone shells and mirrors, a material deemed particularly significant by numerous First Nation peoples.
The inlay would have reflected firelight and animate the headdress frontlet when worn during notable social occasions.
www.donaldellisgallery.com/offerings/northwest-coast/cate…
The Sheldon Jackson Museum collections include objects from each of the Native groups in Alaska: Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Aleut, Alutiiq, Yup’ik, Inupiat and Athabascan.
The collections strongly reflect the collecting done by founder, Sheldon Jackson, from 1887 through about 1898 during his tenure as General Agent of Education for Alaska.
Other objects were subsequently added to the collection, but in 1984 when the museum was purchased by the State of Alaska, the decision was made to add only Alaska Native materials made prior to the early 1930s.
The Yup’ik and Inupiat objects are the most widely represented and have the broadest selection of materials but in no way provide a comprehensive picture of the cultures.
The collection of objects from Southeast Alaska is rich in objects made for sale around the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. Spruce root baskets, engraved silver objects, and bead work are important representatives of traditional skills and materials being used to make items for sale.
However, there is only a smattering of stone tools, fishing and hunting equipment and clothing in the collection. Many everyday utilitarian objects are missing.
Sheldon Jackson only traveled deep into the interior once in his career in Alaska. He or his representative collected only a dozen Athabascan objects during that time. Athabascan objects have been added but well over half of the 106 Athabascan objects came to the museum after 1960.
Aleut and Alutiiq materials are even more rare. By the time Jackson and his teachers began collecting in the Aleutian Islands and Prince William Sound, those cultures had been impacted by Western cultures for nearly 150 years.
Museums in St. Petersburg, Russia and Finland are rich in material culture from those areas. Jackson was able to purchase made-for-sale grass baskets, gut bags and model baidarkas, but little else in the way of materials representing the people of the Aleutians.
To better represent the cultures of Alaska, the Museum is seeking items relating to certain areas and subjects. The following is a partial list:
Tlingit spoon bag, spoon mold, digging stick, bentwood box with woven cover and other utilitarian objects.
Aleut/Alutiiq clothing, kayak bailer, wood carvings and utilitarian objects.
Athabascan masks and utilitarian objects.
Any objects collected by Sheldon Jackson.
