Native Alaska Gallery @ UPM of Archaeology and Anthropology

Raven's Journey @ the University of Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology and Anthropology

This exhibition opened in November 1986 to celebrate the Centennial of the Museum. By following "Raven's" journey, it interprets the traditions of the Tlingit, Athapaskan, and Eskimo groups that have inhabited western North America for centuries. In all three cultures, "Raven" is believed to be creator of all things, [Quiz Clue!] yet each group expresses this concept in distinctive ways. The galleries feature the late 19th and early 20th century art and culture of these three native Alaskan groups, with over 370 objects and rare ethnographic photographs from the Museum's extraordinary American collections. (Second floor, off the Main Entrance)

Raven of the Roof. Klukwan, Alaska.

Raven's Journey places objects in their cultural context, giving insight into the significance of the beautifully crafted implements, weapons, clothing, and ceremonial paraphenalia on display. The exhibition makes apparent how the Tlingit used certain objects as symbols of social standing and prestige as well as how the Eskimos encoded their implements and references to the animal spirit world. The Athapaskans shared the ideas and material culture of both the Tlingit and Eskimo groups.
By crafting beautiful objects with symbolic references to the mythological and supernatural world, the Tlingit, Athapaskan, and Eskimo people rendered the spirit world visible and tactile, a part of their everyday lives.
totems
House posts painted with geometric animal patterns.

Highlights of the exhibition include spectacular Tlingit clan hats, ornamented with brass and abalone shell; Northwest Coast shaman masks; large house posts intricately painted with geometric animal patterns; and woven grass-and spruce-root baskets, extraordinarily fine in their craftsmanship. In all, 376 objects from the Museum's exceptional American collections, accompanied by murals and enlarged rare ethnographic photographs, illustrate the remarkable creativity of Alaska's native people.

The Four Collectors

George Byron Gordon
G.B. Gordon began working as an assistant curator in the Museum in 1904. In 1905 and 1907 he and his brother traveled in the interior and along the coast of Alaska in their canoe, the Penn. [Quiz Clue!] After becoming the Museum's first director in 1910, he built the Museum's Arctic holdings for the rest of his life.
Louis Shotridge
Born into a high-ranking Tlingit family, he worked for many years as a Museum staff member and anthropologist. His Tlingit artifact collection has been recognized as one of the world's finest.

portrait of VanValin portrait of McIlhenny

William B. Van Valin
This schoolteacher and self-trained anthropologist was asked by G.B. Gordon in 1916 to make collections for the Museum. In addition to collecting ethnographic objects, he took hundreds of still photographs and motion picture films documenting North Alaskan Eskimo life.
Edward Avery McIlhenny
Upon his return from a journey to North Alaska in 1897, the young naturalist deposited 1,589 objects in the Museum. The detailed descriptions contained in his artifact ledger provide important information on the lives of late nineteenth-century North Alaskan Eskimos.

DID YOU KNOW?

One of the Museum's
four collectors pictured above
was the son of the
inventor of Tabasco Sauce.

Click on a bottle
to read all about it.
(but before you go, bookmark this page)

The exhibition was researched and developed by Guest Curator Susan A. Kaplan, Arctic archaeologist and anthropologist. Director of the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Study Center at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Dr. Kaplan is known for her archaeological fieldwork, numerous publications, and exhibitions produced for the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

NATIVE AMERICAN VOICES ON IDENTITY, ART, & CULTURE: OBJECTS OF EVERLASTING ESTEEM
Edited by Lucy Fowler Williams, William Wierzbowski,
and Robert W. Preucel

Guide to the North American Ethnographic Collections
at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Lucy Fowler Williams

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George Byron Gordon G.B. Gordon began working as an assistant curator in the Museum in 1904. In 1905 and 1907 he and his brother traveled in the interior and along the coast of Alaska in their canoe, the Penn. [Quiz Clue!] After becoming the Museum's first director in 1910, he built the Museum's Arctic holdings for the rest of his life.	Louis Shotridge Born into a high-ranking Tlingit family, he worked for many years as a Museum staff member and anthropologist. His Tlingit artifact collection has been recognized as one of the world's finest.

William B. Van Valin This schoolteacher and self-trained anthropologist was asked by G.B. Gordon in 1916 to make collections for the Museum. In addition to collecting ethnographic objects, he took hundreds of still photographs and motion picture films documenting North Alaskan Eskimo life.	Edward Avery McIlhenny Upon his return from a journey to North Alaska in 1897, the young naturalist deposited 1,589 objects in the Museum. The detailed descriptions contained in his artifact ledger provide important information on the lives of late nineteenth-century North Alaskan Eskimos.