Smithsonian Channel

We’ve had a few posts about the new Smithsonian Channel series “Smithsonian Spotlight” that each week tells the story of some fascinating corner of the Smithsonian Institution where dedicated and passionate curators and scientists are engaged in fascinating work. We thought that you might like to hear directly from these people and so we’ve asked them to contribute guest blog posts that are related to their appearances on Smithsonian Spotlight.

I’m excited to say that today we have our first guest post from Dr. Stephen Loring, an anthropologist at the Arctic Studies Center at the National Museum of Natural History. He writes about the creation of a special canoe for the  Sant Ocean Hall exhibit.  You can learn more about Sant Ocean Hall on this week’s Smithsonian Spotlight program premiering Sunday at 10 am ET.

In April 2007 at a solemn gathering in the forest north of Juneau, a magnificent old-growth red cedar was felled to become a Great Canoe. A raven, noticed by some because of the odd way it held its wing, was in attendance, as were Tlingit and Haida representatives, elders and artisans.

On that occasion Cristián Samper, then Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Director of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) sent a message of greeting and appreciation from NMNH as part of the blessing ceremony in which he acknowledged the extraordinary generosity of Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska in bringing a canoe from the Northwest Coast to Washington.

Samper noted, “Creation of a new canoe is always a time of celebration and respect: a celebration of the potential of the canoe to unite peoples and respect for the ancestors whose wisdom and legacy is embodied in its lines and in its spirit.” (Watch video of the ceremony below)

The premier event of the last year at the NMNH was, unequivocally, the opening of the new Sant Ocean Hall in September. Recognizing that the Ocean is the source for all life on earth, the new exhibition features the evolution and diversity of the ocean world. Human beings have always had an intimate association with the ocean: as a source of food and materials, as a source of wonder and inspiration, and as a place of extraordinary challenges and adventures.

The Yéil Yeik canoe in its new home in the Ocean Hall. Photo: Smithsonian Institution NMNH Imaging: C. Clark

No exhibition about the Oceans could be complete without the story of the Human Connection. For that story, the Smithsonian sought a dramatic symbol of human prowess and mastery of the ocean world, a symbol that recognizes the extraordinary spiritual and emotional as well as the economic and practical bonds that the Ocean has always presented to the brave and adventurous. That symbol, a great canoe from the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast, has become an integral feature of the Ocean Hall where it provides an inspirational display as well as “anchoring” an exhibit on the abiding intimacy between the native peoples of the Northwest Coast and other North Pacific indigenous cultures, and salmon.

As such we hope it will lead to recognition of the responsibilities that all human beings share to safe-guard and protect our home, this Ocean world. The generosity of Sealaska Heritage Institute in making this log available for this project is a conspicuous donation that honors the new exhibition and furthers the long-standing friendship between the Smithsonian and the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples.

Following the felling of the tree the log that was destined to become a canoe was taken to Juneau where Douglas “Kevin” Chilton along with his brother Brian and a small cadre of friends and relatives set about to carve the canoe. Mysteriously, a raven with a curiously trailing wing, became a regular visitor to the work-shed where the carving was taking place. Early in the spring of 2008 the canoe was finished and after an inaugural paddle in Pacific Ocean waters, arrangements were made to ship it to Washington. The imposing canoe was painted black and boasting a prominent Raven design on the sides as well as a carved Raven figurehead holding a copper sun in its beak.

Doug Chilton, the carver of the Raven Spirit Canoe stands beside the figurehead of the Bear Watchman. Photo: Courtesy of Ellen Tynan.

At the NMNH the pending arrival of the canoe precipitated a flurry of activities as plans were made to celebrate it’s debute. The exhibition design team and the curatorial staff of the Sant Ocean Hall exhibition-including Jill Johnson (Ocean Hall Project manager), Sarah Grusin (exhibition writer) and David Wily (exhibition design)-were united in their desire to acknowledge the arrival of the canoe with a formal launch and paddle on the Potomac.

The launch, followed by a luncheon and afternoon program at the NMNH seemed an appropriate way to express the museums appreciation for all the support and enthusiasm the project had generated. A quick scout along the Potomac River shoreline revealed that the best place for such festivities would be the Thompson’s Boat House and docks, a facility managed by the U.S. Parks Service.

Thompson’s Boat Center was a fitting venue for the celebration as it is situated on a significant ancient camp site where for many thousands of years, Indian people had gathered to look out on the river for the canoes that would signal the arrival of friends, family members, traders and visitors from distant places. It provided an opportunity to recognize the duration and tenure of Native American cultures and the abiding interest that they shared with the American Nation in distant trade and commerce. Both are themes that resonate with the Haida, Tshimsian and Tlingit of southeast Alaska and symbolized the enduring legacy of Native Americans and the intricacy of the social, economic and philosophical contributions they continue to make to life in America.

In contemplating just how to get a 26 foot log canoe from the Natural History Museum basement, where it was being stored prior to its installation in the exhibit hall, to the water and back proved a justifiably “interesting” problem. A conspicuous debt of gratitude is due Joe Youcha, executive director of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, who is the Smithsonian’s go-to man in all matters pertaining to the launching of traditional watercraft. Joe had a solution to every problem we could come up with. He and his staff of volunteers worked seamlessly with Gary Weeden, the manager of the Thompson facility, and his people to pull off a fabulously successful launch.

The Launch. June 19^th proved to be a lovely gentle spring morning allying our last concerns that winds might interfere with the planned morning launch. As the affair had received some notice in the press, and the project had many inroads throughout the museum, a nice crowd of several hundred people including a prominent contingent of Tlingit and Haida students, well-wishers and dignitaries had gathered on the shores of the Potomac to witness the launch and canoe-naming ceremony. In her opening remarks Elizabeth Duggal, Associate Director at the NMNH, acknowledged the unflagging support and interest of Sealaska Corporation and the Sealaska Heritage Institute, in bringing the canoe to Washington. We were honored that Albert Kookesh, Chair of Sealaska Corporation, Chris McNeil, CEO & President of Sealaska Corporation and Rosita Worl, President of Sealaska Heritage Institute had journeyed to Washington to participate in the launch. Mr. Clarence Jackson,Chairman of the Council of Traditional Scholars, made a deeply moving speech about the significance of canoes for the Haida, Tshimsian and Tlingit peoples and about the importance cultural heritage and language preservation. He spoke with pride about the gift of the canoe whose presence in Washington would further symbolically demonstrate the link between the Native People of Alaska and the United States.

The Raven Spirit Canoe is launched into the Potomac. Smithsonian Institution NMNH Imaging: J.DiLoreto, D. Hurlbert, J. Talman

The canoe was brought forth from the boathouse carried by a score of paddlers and young-people who had come to Washington for the celebration. Down feathers were loosened on the wind as the boat was gently lowered in the water. With great fan-fare and to the beat of a drum, the canoe crew was assembled, many wearing festive clothing depicting the Raven clan, the canoe was launched and began its inaugural voyage on Atlantic waters. Everyone watched entranced as a great Northwest Coast log canoe made a stately tour about Jefferson Island and down to the Kennedy Center before returning to the dock where it was greeted by song and a short naming ceremony. The canoe received the name Yéil Yeik-the Raven Spirit.

The Raven Spirit Canoe navigates the Potomac. Photo: Smithsonian Institution NMNH Imaging: J.DiLoreto, D. Hurlbert, J. Talman

The Smithsonian-Sealaska “Raven Canoe” carries a heavy load: while it celebrates the extraordinary skills and maritime heritage of the peoples of the Northwest Coast it serves to remind us always of the intimate relations that Native Americans as a whole share with Mother Earth; furthermore, its heritage acknowledges the profound dependence that Northwest Coast peoples had on subsistence strategies dependent on maritime resources, especially the salmon, and challenges us to be aware of the threats to the world’s fisheries on which so many lives depend; and finally it is a vehicle to facilitate celebration and potlatch, the means by which families, clans, communities and distant peoples are brought together to renew and strengthen the web of social obligations that bind us a people.

It was Raven, as everyone from Alaska knows, that stole the sun to illuminate the world for human beings. The Smithsonian also uses the sun, and its power of illumination as a metaphor for the transition from dark ignorance to enlightened knowledge. Imagine how delighted we are to find the raven figurehead of the new canoe holding a copper sun in its beak a symbol transcending cultures and centuries!