Totem pole: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Monumental carvings by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest}}

'''Totem poles''' are monumental [[sculpture]]s carved from great [[tree]]s, typically [[Western Redcedar]], by a number of [[Native American]] cultures along the [[Pacific]] northwest coast of [[North America]] featuring [[pictography]].

{{Other uses}}

[[Image:Totem Pole Thunderbird Park Victoria.jpg|thumb|Southern style totem pole in Victoria, British Columbia]]

[[Image:Totem RMBC 1.jpg|thumb|A [[Gitxsan]] pole (left) and [[Kwakwaka'wakw]] pole (right) at [[Thunderbird Park (Victoria, British Columbia)|Thunderbird Park]] in [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria, Canada]].]]

'''Totem poles''' ({{langx|hai|gyáaʼaang}})<ref name="Wright">{{cite web |url=https://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/wright.html |title= Totem Poles: Heraldic Columns of the Northwest Coast |last= Wright |first= Robin K. |date=n.d. |website= University of Washington, University Libraries, Native American of the Pacific Northwest Collection|access-date= 21 January 2018}}</ref> are monumental carvings found in [[western Canada]] and the [[northwestern United States]]. They are a type of Indigenous [[Northwest Coast art]], consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large trees, mostly [[Western Red Cedar|western red cedar]], by [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]] including northern Northwest Coast [[Haida people|Haida]], [[Tlingit]], and [[Tsimshian]] communities in Southeast [[Alaska]] and [[British Columbia]], [[Kwakwaka'wakw]] and [[Nuu-chah-nulth]] communities in southern British Columbia, and the [[Coast Salish]] communities in [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and British Columbia.<ref name="Wright"/>

== History ==

The word ''totem'' derives from the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] word ''[[Anishinaabe clan system|odoodem]]'' [{{IPA|oˈtuːtɛm|}}] meaning "(his) kinship group". The carvings may symbolize or commemorate ancestors, cultural beliefs that recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events. The poles may also serve as functional architectural features, welcome signs for village visitors, mortuary vessels for the remains of deceased ancestors, or as a means to publicly ridicule someone. They may embody a historical narrative of significance to the people carving and installing the pole. Given the complexity and symbolic meanings of these various carvings, their placement and importance lies in the observer's knowledge and connection to the meanings of the figures and the culture in which they are embedded. Contrary to [[List of common misconceptions|common misconception]], they are not [[Idolatry|worshipped]] or the subject of spiritual practice.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Huang |first=Alice |title=Totem Poles |url=https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/totem_poles/ |access-date=June 25, 2024 |website=[[University of British Columbia]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ramsay |first=Heather |date=March 31, 2011 |title=Totem Poles: Myth and Fact |url=https://thetyee.ca/Books/2011/03/31/TotemPoles/ |access-date=June 25, 2024 |work=[[The Tyee]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Stromberg |first=Joseph |date=January 5, 2012 |title=The Art of the Totem Pole |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-art-of-the-totem-pole-15380874/ |access-date=June 25, 2024 |work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]}}</ref>

The beginnings of totem pole construction are not known though recent DNA evidence suggests Tlingit literature may date from thirty thousand years ago when the [[Bering Strait]] was still the [[Bering land bridge]] (Reed 2003, p.XX). Being made of wood they decay easily in the rainforest environment of the Northwest Coast, so no examples of poles carved before 1800 exist. However [[18th century|eighteenth century]] accounts of European explorers along the coast indicate that poles certainly existed at that time, although small and few in number. In all likelihood, the freestanding poles seen by the first European explorers were preceded by a long history of monumental carving, particularly interior houseposts. Edward Malin (1986) has proposed a theory of totem pole development which describes totem poles as progressing from houseposts, funerary containers, and memorial markers into symbols of clan and family wealth and prestige. He argues that the epicenter of pole construction was centered around the [[Haida]] people of the [[Queen Charlotte Islands]], from whence it spread outward to the [[Tsimshian]] and [[Tlingit]] and then down the coast to the tribes of [[British Columbia]] and northern [[Washington]]. The regional stylistic differences between poles would then be due not to a change in style over time, but instead to application of existing regional artistic styles to a new medium.

==History==

The disruptions following Euro-American trade and settlement first led to a florescence and then to a decline in the cultures and totem pole carving. The widespread importation of Euro-American iron and steel tools led to much more rapid and accurate production of carved wooden goods, including poles. It is not certain whether iron tools were actually introduced by Europeans, or whether iron tools were already produced aboriginally from drift iron recovered from Oriental shipwrecks; nevertheless Europeans simplified the acquisition of iron tools whose use greatly enhanced totem pole construction. The fur trade gave rise to a tremendous accumulation of wealth among the coastal peoples, and much of this wealth was spent and distributed in lavish [[potlatch]]es frequently associated with the construction and erection of totem poles. Poles were commissioned by many wealthy leaders to represent their social status and the importance of their families and clans. As the fur trade declined the incidence of poverty on the coast increased. Christian missionaries reviled the totem pole as an object of heathen worship&mdash;which it was not&mdash;and urged converts to cease production and destroy existing poles.

[[Image:'Ksan Historical Village 2010.jpg|thumb|right|Totem poles and houses at [[ʼKsan]], near [[Hazelton, British Columbia]].]]

Totem poles serve as important illustrations of family lineage and the cultural heritage of the Indigenous peoples in the islands and coastal areas of North America's Pacific Northwest, especially British Columbia, Canada, and coastal areas of Washington and southeastern Alaska in the United States. Families of traditional carvers come from the [[Haida people|Haida]], [[Tlingit]], [[Tsimshian]], [[Kwakwaka'wakw|Kwakwaka’wakw]] (Kwakiutl), [[Nuxalk]] (Bella Coola), and [[Nuu-chah-nulth]] (Nootka), among others.<ref>{{cite book | author=Richard D. Feldman| title =Home Before the Raven Caws: The Mystery of a Totem Pole | publisher =[[Indiana Historical Society]] in association with The [[Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art]] | edition =Rev. 2012| year =2012 | ___location =Indianapolis | page =4 | isbn =978-0-87195-306-3}}</ref><ref name=G-F1>{{cite book|author=Viola E. Garfield and Linn A. Forrest|year=1961|title=The Wolf and the Raven: Totem Poles of Southeastern Alaska|page=[https://archive.org/details/wolfraven00garf/page/1 1]|___location=Seattle|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=0-295-73998-3|url=https://archive.org/details/wolfraven00garf/page/1}}</ref> The poles are typically carved from the highly rot-resistant trunks of ''[[Thuja plicata]]'' trees (popularly known as giant cedar or western red cedar), which eventually decay in the moist, rainy climate of the coastal Pacific Northwest. Because of the region's climate and the nature of the materials used to make the poles, few examples carved before 1900 remain. Noteworthy examples, some dating as far back as 1880, include those at the [[Royal British Columbia Museum]] in [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]], the Museum of Anthropology at [[University of British Columbia|UBC]] in [[Vancouver]], the [[Canadian Museum of History]] in [[Gatineau]], and the [[Totem Heritage Center]] in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Totem poles are the largest, but not the only, objects that coastal Pacific Northwest natives use to depict spiritual reverence, family legends, sacred beings and culturally important animals, people, or historical events. The freestanding poles seen by the region's first European explorers were likely preceded by a long history of decorative carving. Stylistic features of these poles were borrowed from earlier, smaller prototypes, or from the interior support posts of house beams.<ref name=GF1-2/><ref>{{cite journal | author= Marius Barbeau| title =Totem Poles: According to Crests and Topics | journal = National Museum of Canada Bulletin | volume =119 | issue =1 | page =9 | publisher = Dept. of Resources and Development, National Museum of Canada | ___location = Ottawa | date =1950 | url = http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/barbeau/mbp0502e.shtml| access-date =24 November 2014}}</ref>

Totem pole construction underwent a dramatic decline at the end of the [[19th century|nineteenth century]] due to American and Canadian urges towards Euro-American enculturation and assimilation. Fortunately, in the mid-twentieth century a combination of cultural, [[Linguistics|linguistic]], and artistic revival along with intense scholarly scrutiny and the continuing fascination and support of an educated and empathetic public led to a renewal and extension of this moribund artistic tradition. Freshly-carved totem poles are being erected up and down the coast. Related artistic production is pouring forth in many new and traditional media, ranging from tourist trinkets to masterful works in wood, stone, [[Glassblowing|blown]] and etched glass, and many other traditional and nontraditional media.

Although 18th-century accounts of European explorers traveling along the coast indicate that decorated interior and exterior house posts existed prior to 1800, the posts were smaller and fewer in number than in subsequent decades. Prior to the 19th century, the lack of efficient carving tools, along with sufficient wealth and leisure time to devote to the craft, delayed the development of elaborately carved, freestanding poles.<ref name=Barbeau5>Barbeau, "Totem Poles: According to Crests and Topics", p. 5.</ref> Before iron and steel arrived in the area, artists used tools made of stone, shells, or beaver teeth for carving. The process was slow and laborious; axes were unknown. By the late 18th century, the use of metal cutting tools enabled more complex carvings and increased production of totem poles.<ref name=GF1-2>Garfield and Forrest, pp. 1&ndash;2.</ref> The tall monumental poles appearing in front of homes in coastal villages probably did not appear until after the beginning of the 19th century.<ref name=Barbeau5/>

Today a number of successful native artists carve totem poles on commission, usually taking the opportunity to educate apprentices in the demanding art of traditional carving and its concomitant joinery. Such modern poles are almost always executed in traditional styles, although some artists have felt free to include modern subject matter or use nontraditional styles in their execution. The commission for a modern pole ranges in the tens of thousands of dollars; the time spent carving after initial designs are completed usually lasts about a year, so the commission essentially functions as the artist's primary means of income during the period.

Eddie Malin has proposed that totem poles progressed from house posts, funerary containers, and memorial markers into symbols of [[clan]] and family wealth and prestige. He argues that the [[Haida people|Haida]] people of the islands of [[Haida Gwaii]] originated carving of the poles, and that the practice spread outward to the [[Tsimshian]] and [[Tlingit people|Tlingit]], and then down the coast to the Indigenous people of British Columbia and northern [[Washington (state)|Washington]].<ref name=Malin>{{Cite book | author = Edward Malin | title = Totem Poles of the Pacific Northwest Coast | publisher = Timber Press | year = 1986 | ___location = Portland, Oregon | isbn = 0-88192-295-1}}</ref> Malin's theory is supported by the photographic documentation of the Pacific Northwest coast's cultural history and the more sophisticated designs of the Haida poles.

== Style ==

[[Image:Totems.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Southern style totem poles in Vancouver, BC]]

Poles of all types share a common graphic style with carved and painted containers, housefronts, [[canoe]]s, masks, intricately-woven blankets, ceremonial dress, weapons, [[armor]], and many other tools and implements. Two distinct systems of art were developed for two-dimensional and three-dimensional figures, but both were maintained within a complex design system. This artistic system was developed by Northwest Coast Native Peoples (see [[Native Americans]]) over many thousands of years, as evinced by stone and bone artifacts uncovered in archeological studies which display clear examples of the same design.

Accounts from the 1700s describe and illustrate carved poles and timber homes along the coast of the Pacific Northwest.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph H. Wherry|title=The Totem Pole Indians |pages=23&ndash;24 |year=1964|___location= New York|publisher=W. Funk}}</ref><ref>Kramer, ''Alaska's Totem Poles'', p. 18.</ref> By the early 19th century, widespread importation of iron and steel tools from Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere led to easier and more rapid production of carved wooden goods, including poles.<ref>Kramer, ''Alaska's Totem Poles'', p. 13.</ref>

Today totem poles are usually divided into two distinct styles. The "Northern" style is said to belong to the [[Tlingit]], [[Haida]], and [[Tsimshian]] peoples of Southeast [[Alaska]] and Northwestern British Columbia, Canada. In the Northern style the most obvious feature is that the use of colors is almost entirely restricted to black, red, and turquoise.

[[File:Houses And Totem Poles Of Alaskan Indians — Official Views Of The World's Columbian Exposition — 89.jpg|thumb|left|Alaskan Totem Poles at 1893 Chicago World Columbian Exposition]]

[[Image:Alert Bay Totems.jpg|thumb|left|Totem poles in front of houses in [[Alert Bay]], British Columbia, in the 1900s]]

In the 19th century, American and European trade and settlement initially led to the growth of totem-pole carving, but United States and Canadian policies and practices of acculturation and assimilation caused a decline in the development of [[Alaska Native]] and [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] cultures and their crafts, and sharply reduced totem-pole production by the end of the century. Between 1830 and 1880, the [[maritime fur trade]], mining, and fisheries gave rise to an accumulation of wealth among the coastal peoples.<ref>Garfield and Forrest, pp. 2, 7.</ref><ref>Kramer, ''Alaska's Totem Poles'', p. 21.</ref> Much of it was spent and distributed in lavish [[potlatch]] celebrations, frequently associated with the construction and erection of totem poles.<ref>Garfield and Forrest, p. 7.</ref> The monumental poles commissioned by wealthy family leaders to represent their social status and the importance of their families and clans.<ref>Feldman, p. 4.</ref> In the 1880s and 1890s, tourists, collectors, scientists and naturalist interested in Indigenous culture collected and photographed totem poles and other artifacts, many of which were put on display at expositions such as the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the 1893 World's Columbia Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.<ref name=Kramer25>Kramer, ''Alaska's Totem Poles'', p. 25.</ref>

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, before the passage of the [[American Indian Religious Freedom Act]] in 1978, the practice of Indigenous religion was outlawed, and traditional Indigenous cultural practices were also strongly discouraged by Christian [[missionaries]]. This included the carving of totem poles. Missionaries urged converts to cease production and destroy existing poles. Nearly all totem-pole-making had ceased by 1901.<ref>{{cite book|author=Pat Kramer| title=Totem Poles| page=22| publisher=Heritage House| year=2008| ___location=Vancouver, British Columbia|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UmjSngEACAAJ&q=Totem+Poles+Kramer| isbn=978-1-89497-444-8}}</ref> Carving of monumental and mortuary poles continued in some, more remote villages as late as 1905; however, as the original sites were abandoned, the poles and timber homes were left to decay and vandalism.<ref name=G-F8>Garfield and Forrest, p. 8.</ref>

The Haida are widely regarded as the best carvers, even by their neighbors, and they take extensive pride in being considered the finest totem pole artists on the coast. Many if not most of the poles found in museums across the world are of Haida make, and most poles designed today show significant influence of classical Haida style. Historically Haida carvers were frequently imported to produce poles for wealthy aristocrats in other regions, despite the existence of local talent. Haida poles are characterized by extremely complex designs with many intertwined, space-filling figures and elaborate surface decoration. The Haida style shows a fluidity of curve movement from one figure to another such that it is difficult to focus on a particular figure without following its curves down or up the pole to other figures. A notable character found on many Haida poles but not found elsewhere is the "watchman", a small human wearing a conical rain hat, and usually found in groups of two or three at the top of the pole. They are said to guard the village and give warning when unwelcome people or spirits approach.

Beginning in the late 1930s, a combination of cultural, [[linguistic]], and artistic revivals, along with scholarly interest and the continuing fascination and support of an educated and empathetic public, led to a renewal and extension of this artistic tradition.<ref name=Kramer25/> In 1938 the United States Forest Service began a program to reconstruct and preserve the old poles, salvaging about 200, roughly one-third of those known to be standing at the end of the 19th century.<ref name=G-F8/> With renewed interest in Indigenous arts and traditions in the 1960s and 1970s, freshly carved totem poles were erected up and down the coast, while related artistic production was introduced in many new and traditional media, ranging from tourist trinkets to masterful works in wood, stone, [[Glassblowing|blown]] and etched glass, and other traditional and non-traditional media.<ref name=Kramer25/>

Tsimshian poles are typically less exuberant than Haida examples, and are notable for very little or no paint. The expressions of figures on Tsimshian poles are felt by viewers to be somehow more "gentle" in comparison to Tlingit and Haida types, and surface lines and curve transitions are less sharply defined. Also, many Tsimshian poles have a more shallow relief, and as such seem to be more solid and treelike. Neighbors of the Tsimshian on the Northern B.C. mainland, the [[Haisla]] and [[Nuxálk]] (Bella Coola) also share in and contribute to the Northern style, although examples of their works are limited and difficult to distinguish from Tsimshian models.

In June 2022 during the biennial [[Celebration (Alaska festival)|Celebration festival]] in Juneau, Alaska, the [[Sealaska Heritage Institute]] unveiled the first 360-degree totem pole in Alaska: the {{convert|22|ft||adj=mid|-tall|order=flip}} ''Sealaska Cultural Values Totem Pole''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Media |first1=Alaska Public |last2=Media |first2=Adelyn Baxter, Alaska Public |last3=Media |first3=Alaska Public |date=2022-06-08 |title=Celebration set to kick off in Juneau |url=http://www.ktoo.org/2022/06/07/celebration-2022-sealaska-heritage-institute-juneau/ |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=KTOO |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Unique 360-degree totem goes up at Sealaska Heritage in Juneau |url=https://www.wrangellsentinel.com/story/2022/06/08/news/unique-360-degree-totem-goes-up-at-sealaska-heritage-in-juneau/10420.html |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=Wrangell Sentinel |language=en}}</ref> The structure, carved out of a 600-year-old cedar tree, "represents all three tribes of Southeast Alaska — [[Tlingit|Lingít]], [[Haida people|Haida]] and [[Tsimshian]]."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Beacon |first1=Alaska |last2=Beacon |first2=Lisa Phu, Alaska |last3=Beacon |first3=Alaska |date=2022-06-01 |title=First 360-degree totem pole in Alaska was recently installed in Juneau |url=http://www.ktoo.org/2022/06/01/first-360-degree-totem-pole-in-alaska-was-recently-installed-in-juneau/ |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=KTOO |language=en-US}}</ref>

The northern neighbors of the Tsimshian, the Tlingit, produce poles similar in style to Haida work, but the tendency is towards less intertwining of figures, replaced instead by distinct boundaries between each subject. Surface decorations are less prominent on Tlingit poles, and they tend to be shorter and show fewer characters. Also, certain Tlingit poles, particularly those found on the western coast of [[Prince of Wales Island, Alaska|Prince of Wales Island]], are notable for having their undecorated portion squared off like lumber instead of being left in the round. Eye forms also tend to be larger and more rounded, although not as softly as Tsimshian examples.

== Meaning and purpose ==

The Northern style of totem pole carving never historically extended further north than [[Haines, Alaska]], despite the Tlingit occupying territory as far north as the mouth of the [[Copper River (Alaska)|Copper River]]. This was mostly due to the near total lack of Western Redcedar trees north of [[Frederick Sound]] in Southeast Alaska. The most common trees in Southeast Alaska are [[Sitka Spruce]] and [[Western Hemlock]], neither of which are as easily worked in large forms, and both of which lack the inherent decay resistance of Western Redcedar. Although [[Nootka Cypress|Yellow-cedar]] is available in the region and is almost as easily worked and decay resistant as Western Redcedar, it is not very common and does not typically grow to sizes large enough for adequate totem pole construction. With the aid of modern forestry and transportation however, totem poles are today found at least as far north as [[Anchorage, Alaska]], and can be found in nearly all major Tlingit communities.

[[Image:Wrangell totem poles.JPG|thumb|From left to right, the ''One-Legged Fisherman'' pole, the ''Raven'' pole, and the ''Killer Whale'' pole in [[Wrangell, Alaska]]]]

Totem poles can symbolize characters and events in mythology, or convey the experiences of recent ancestors and living people.<ref name="G-F1" /> Some of these characters may appear as stylistic representations of objects in nature, while others are more realistically carved. Pole carvings may include animals, fish, plants, insects, and humans, or they may represent supernatural beings such as the [[Thunderbird (mythology)|Thunderbird]]. Some symbolize beings that can transform themselves into another form, appearing as combinations of animals or part-animal/part-human forms. Consistent use of a specific character over time, with some slight variations in carving style, helped develop similarities among these shared symbols that allowed people to recognize one from another. For example, the raven is symbolized by a long, straight beak, while the eagle's beak is curved, and a beaver is depicted with two large front teeth, a piece of wood held in his front paws, and a paddle-shaped tail.<ref name="Feldman, p. 6">Feldman, p. 6.</ref><ref>Garfield and Forrest, p. 3.</ref> [[File:82296943-SLD-001-050.jpg|thumb|right|Totem pole in [[Vancouver]], British Columbia]]

[[Image:Moa-2.jpg|thumb|right|Totem poles at the [[Museum of Anthropology at UBC|Museum of Anthropology]] at the [[University of British Columbia]]]]

The meanings of the designs on totem poles are as varied as the cultures that make them. Some poles celebrate cultural beliefs that may recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events, while others are mostly artistic. Animals and other characters carved on the pole are typically used as symbols to represent characters or events in a story; however, some may reference the [[Moiety (kinship)|moiety]] of the pole's owner,<ref>The Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian people separate themselves into two or more major divisions called moieties, which are further divided into small family groups called clans. Traditionally, several families within the same a clan lived together in a large communal house. See Feldman, p. 4.</ref> or simply fill up empty space on the pole.<ref name=Feldman1-5>Feldman, pp. 1, 5.</ref> Depictions of thrusting tongues and linked tongues may symbolize [[socio-political power]].<ref>

The Wakashan and Coast Salish-speaking peoples of Southern British Columbia (Vancouver Island and the nearby mainland) and of Northwestern Washington State shared a "Southern" painting and carving style. The dramatic [[Thunderbird (mythology)|thunderbirds]] and similar crest figures on totem poles and housefront paintings of the Wakashan-speaking [[Kwakiutl]] (Kwakwaka'wakw) peoples are the best known examples of this style, characterized by much more elaborate use of colors, particularly black, red, white, turquoise, green, and yellow.

{{cite book

|last1 = Kramer

|first1 = Pat

|year = 2008

|orig-date = 1998

|chapter = Totem Pole Symbols and ceremonies

|title = Totem Poles

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=M637k7_TkMAC

|edition = revised

|publication-place = Vancouver

|publisher = Heritage House Publishing Co

|page = 50

|isbn = 9781894974448

|access-date = 23 April 2024

|quote = The origin of tongue linking and tongue thrusting on totem figures and in other native art is obscure. Particularly well-represented in the Haida tradition, the meaning is bound up with a transfer of power between two entities. [...] It could also be a variation on [[lip plug]]s (''[[labret]]s'') once worn by upper-class persons to show their rank.

}}

</ref>

The carved figures interlock one above the other to create the overall design, which may rise to a height of {{convert|60|ft|m|abbr=on}} or more. Smaller carvings may be positioned in vacant spaces, or they may be tucked inside the ears or hang out of the mouths of the pole's larger figures.<ref>Feldman, p. 1.</ref><ref>Garfield and Forrest, p. 4.</ref>

The original territory of the Southern style of totem pole carving did not historically extend south beyond the coast of the Olympic peninsula, however today other more southern tribes have imported the practice of carving totem poles from their northern neighbors. Although they did not historically carve totem poles, the southern tribes along the Washington and Oregon coasts, Puget Sound, and the Columbia River did produce art within the same basic stylistic parameters of Northwest coast art, and carved houseposts and greeting figures of moderate size.

<blockquote>Some of the figures on the poles constitute symbolic reminders of quarrels, murders, debts, and other unpleasant occurrences about which the Native Americans prefer to remain silent... The most widely known tales, like those of the exploits of Raven and of Kats who married the bear woman, are familiar to almost every native of the area. Carvings which symbolize these tales are sufficiently conventionalized to be readily recognizable even by persons whose lineage did not recount them as their own legendary history.<ref>{{cite book| editor-last1 = Reed | editor-first1 = Ishmael | editor-link1 = Ishmael Reed |year=2003|title= From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry across the Americas, 1900–2002|isbn=1-56025-458-0 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Hd5OuAEACAAJ}}</ref></blockquote>

{{anchor|Low on the totem pole}}People from cultures that do not carve totem poles often assume that the linear representation of the figures places the most importance on the highest figure, an idea that became pervasive in the dominant culture after it entered into mainstream parlance by the 1930s with the phrase "low man on the totem pole"<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/491446/ |work=The Morning Herald |___location= Hagerstown, Maryland |date= April 18, 1939 |title= Around the Clock |quote= Bob started a few months ago as low man on the totem pole. . . . Today he's the boss.}}</ref> (and as the title of a bestselling 1941 humor book by [[H. Allen Smith]]). However, Native sources either reject the linear component altogether, or reverse the hierarchy, with the most important representations on the bottom, bearing the weight of all the other figures, or at eye-level with the viewer to heighten their significance.<ref>{{cite book | author=Oscar Newman | title = Secret Stories in the Art of the Northwest Indian | publisher = Catskill Press | year = 2004 | ___location = New York | page = 19 | isbn = 097201196X}}</ref> Many poles have no vertical arrangement at all, consisting of a lone figure atop an undecorated column.

Although recognizably different, the Northern and Southern styles share a close enough resemblance that scholars assume a common origin, as well as a substantial amount of mutual influence over the centuries preceding European contact. Indeed, to the unknowledgeable it can be difficult at first brush to differentiate between the two major styles. However, most residents along the coast accustomed with totem poles from their own region can intuitively tell the major styles apart despite not having been taught about the precise differences between them.

== Types ==

One of the most important features of totem poles, and one which they share in common with all other forms of woodworking on the coast, is also one of the most easily overlooked. This is the surface finish of exposed wood on the carving, which is the last thing worked during production and is one of the most demanding parts of creating a quality pole. The surface finish consists of thousands of fine [[adze]] cuts incised in parallel lines that cover all the unpainted surfaces of the pole and follow the contours of the sculpture. An experienced carver will judge the work of another mostly by the quality of their surface finish, by its regularity and smoothness, by the ways the carver worked with imperfections in the wood, and by how cleanly the adzing follows the contour of the forms. This surface finishing is universal along the entire coast no matter what style the pole is executed in, and is a quick way to gauge the authenticity of a particular example and the practical experience of the person who carved it.

There are six basic types of upright, pole carvings that are commonly referred to as "totem poles"; not all involve the carving of what may be considered "totem" figures: house frontal poles, interior house posts, mortuary poles, memorial poles, welcome poles, and the ridicule or shame pole.<ref>Feldman, pp. 12–13.</ref>

===House frontal poles===

== Meaning and purpose ==

This type of pole, usually {{convert|20|to|40|ft|m|abbr=on|0}} tall<ref name=Newman16>Newman, p. 16.</ref> is the most decorative. Its carvings tell the story of the family, clan or village who own them. These poles are also known as heraldic, crest, or family poles. Poles of this type are placed outside the clan house of the most important village leaders. Often, watchman figures are carved at the top of the pole to protect the pole owner's family and the village. Another type of house frontal pole is the entrance or doorway pole, which is attached to the center front of the home and includes an oval-shaped opening through the base that serves as the entrance to the clan house.<ref name=Feldman12>Feldman, p. 12.</ref>

===House posts===

These interior poles, typically {{convert|7|to|10|ft|m|abbr=on|0}} in height, are usually shorter than exterior poles.<ref name=Newman16/> The interior posts support the roof beam of a clan house and include a large notch at the top, where the beam can rest.<ref name=Feldman12/> A clan house may have two to four or more house posts, depending on the cultural group who built it. Carvings on these poles, like those of the house frontal poles, are often used as a storytelling device and help tell the story of the owners' family history.<ref name=Newman19>Newman, p. 19.</ref><ref name=Feldman13>Feldman, p. 13.</ref> House posts were carved by the [[Coast Salish]] and were more common than the free-standing totem poles seen in Northern cultural groups.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barbeau |first=Marius |date=1950 |title=Totem Poles |___location=National Museum of Canada |publisher=Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery, Ottawa, Canada |pages=759–61 }}</ref>

===Mortuary pole===

The rarest type of pole carving is a mortuary structure that incorporates grave boxes with carved supporting poles. It may include a recessed back to hold the grave box. These are among the tallest and most prominent poles, reaching {{convert|50|to|70|ft|m|abbr=on}} in height.<ref name=Newman19/> The Haida and Tlingit people erect mortuary poles at the death of important individuals in the community. These poles may have a single figure carved at the top, which may depict the clan's crest, but carvings usually cover its entire length. Ashes or the body of the deceased person are placed in the upper portion of the pole.<ref name=Feldman13/>

===Memorial pole===

This type of pole, which usually stands in front of a clan house, is erected about a year after a person has died. The clan chief's memorial pole may be raised at the center of the village.<ref name=Newman19/> The pole's purpose is to honor the deceased person and identify the relative who is taking over as his successor within the clan and the community. Traditionally, the memorial pole has one carved figure at the top, but an additional figure may also be added at the bottom of the pole.<ref name=Feldman13/>

Memorial poles may also commemorate an event. For example, several memorial totem poles were erected by the [[Tlingit]]s in honor of Abraham Lincoln, one of which was [[Saxman Totem Park|relocated to Saxman]], Alaska, in 1938.<ref>Garfield and Forrest, p. 55.</ref> The Lincoln pole at Saxman commemorates the end of hostilities between two rival Tlingit clans and symbolizes the hope for peace and prosperity following the American occupation of the Alaskan territory.<ref>Garfield and Forrest, p. 54.</ref> The story begins in 1868, when the United States government built a customs house and fort on [[Tongass Island]] and left the US revenue cutter ''Lincoln'' to patrol the area. After American soldiers at the fort and aboard the ''Lincoln'' provided protection to the Tongass group against its rival, the Kagwantans, the Tongass group commissioned the Lincoln pole to commemorate the event.<ref>Barbeau, "Totem Poles: According to Crests and Topics", pp. 402–405.</ref><ref>Garfield and Forrest, pp. 54–55.</ref>

===Welcome pole===

Carved by the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl), Salish and Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) people, most of the poles include large carvings of human figures, some as tall as {{convert|40|ft|m|abbr=on}}.<ref>Newman, p. 21.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yvr.ca/en/about-yvr/art/musqueam-welcome-area|title=Musqueam Welcome Area}}</ref> Welcome poles are placed at the edge of a stream or saltwater beach to welcome guests to the community, or possibly to intimidate strangers.<ref name=Feldman13/><ref>Wherry, p. 104.</ref><ref>Newman, p. 22.</ref>

===Shame/ridicule pole===

Poles used for public ridicule are usually called shame poles, and were created to embarrass individuals or groups for their unpaid debts or when they did something wrong.<ref name=Feldman13/><ref name=Keithahn>{{Cite book | author=Edward Keithahn | title = Monuments in Cedar | publisher = Superior Publishing Co. | year = 1963 | ___location =Seattle, Washington | page= 56 | url = http://www.alaskool.org/projects/traditionalife/monumentsincedar/MIC_three.htm }}</ref> The poles are often placed in prominent locations and removed after the debt is paid or the wrong is corrected. Shame pole carvings represent the person being shamed.<ref name=Feldman13/><ref>Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka, AK. Accessed 23 August 2011</ref>

[[File:Top of Seward Pole.jpg|right|thumb|The original Seward Pole, carved {{Circa|1885}}, shamed [[William H. Seward]]]]

One famous shame pole is the Seward Pole at the [[Saxman Totem Park]] in [[Saxman, Alaska]]. Originally carved in the {{Circa|1885}}, the pole shamed former U.S. Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]] for his "lack of recognition of Indigenous peoples at an early point in Alaska’s U.S. history," as well as not reciprocating the generosity of his Tlingit hosts following an 1869 [[potlatch]] given in his honor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2018-02-13 |title=The Seward Shame Pole: Countering Alaska’s Sesquicentennial - Alaska Historical Society |url=https://alaskahistoricalsociety.org/about-ahs/special-projects/150treaty/150th-resource-library/new-articles/the-seward-shame-pole-countering-alaskas-sesquicentennial/ |access-date=2023-08-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> The figure's red-painted nose and ears may symbolize drunkenness or Seward's stinginess.<ref>Garfield and Forrest, pp. 55–56.</ref><ref>Kramer, ''Alaska’s Totem Poles'', p. 10.</ref> In the 1940s, a second iteration of the pole was built by Tlingit men enrolled in the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]]; according to the [[Alaska Historical Society]], the United States government was unaware that the pole's intent was to shame Seward until after the completion of the project.<ref name=":0" /> In 2014, this second pole began to fall apart; a renewed version was carved in 2017 by local Tlingit artist Stephen Jackson, who combined [[Political cartoon|political caricature]] with [[Northwest Coast art|Northwest Coast]] style.<ref name=":0" />

Another example of the shame pole is the Three Frogs pole on [[Chief Shakes]] Island, at [[Wrangell, Alaska]]. This pole was erected by Chief Shakes to shame the Kiks.ádi [[clan]] into repaying a debt incurred for the support of three Kiks.ádi women who were allegedly cohabiting with three slaves in Shakes's household. When the Kiks.ádi leaders refused to pay support for the women, Shakes commissioned a pole with carvings of three frogs, which represented the crest of the Kiks.ádi clan. It is not known if the debt was ever repaid.<ref>Barbeau, "Totem Poles: According to Crests and Topics", p. 401.</ref> The pole stands next to the Chief Shakes Tribal House in Wrangell. The pole's unique crossbar shape has become popularly associated with the town of Wrangell, and continues to be used as part of the ''Wrangell Sentinel'' newspaper's masthead.<ref>{{cite web| title=Wrangell Sentinel|publisher =Wrangell Sentinel | date =21 November 2014 |url=http://www.wrangellsentinel.com/|access-date=21 November 2014}}</ref>

In 1942, the U.S. Forest Service commissioned a pole to commemorate [[Alexander Andreyevich Baranov|Alexander Baranof]], the Russian governor and Russian American Company manager, as a civilian works project. The pole's original intent was to commemorate a peace treaty between the Russians and Tlingits that the governor helped broker in 1805. George Benson, a Sitka carver and craftsman, created the original design. The completed version originally stood in Totem Square in downtown [[Sitka, Alaska]].<ref name=Haugland>{{Citation | author =Shannon Haugland | title = Totem Square, Pole to get Safety Upgrades | newspaper = [[Sitka Sentinel]] | date = 21 September 2010 }} {{subscription required}}</ref><ref name=Sutton-USA>{{cite journal | author=Anne Sutton | title = Top man on totem pole could get his clothes back | journal =USA Today | publisher =Gannett Co. | date =7 June 2008| url =http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-07-3923207711_x.htm| access-date =3 December 2014}}</ref> When Benson and other Sitka carvers were not available to do the work, the U.S. Forest Service had [[Civilian Conservation Corps|CCC]] workers carve the pole in Wrangell, Alaska. Because Sitka and Wrangell native groups were rivals, it has been argued that the Wrangell carvers may have altered Benson's original design.<ref name=Sutton-USA/><ref name=JPoulsen>{{Citation | title = 'Going Down' photo caption | newspaper = [[Sitka Sentinel]] | date = 20 October 2010

}}. {{subscription required}}</ref> For unknown reasons, the Wrangell carvers depicted the Baranov figure without clothes.<ref name=Sutton>{{Citation| author =Anne Sutton| title =Top man on totem pole could get his clothes back| newspaper =[[Anchorage Daily News]]| date =8 June 2008| url =http://www.adn.com/life/native_culture/story/430035.html| access-date =8 December 2009| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090428182322/http://www.adn.com/life/native_culture/story/430035.html| archive-date =28 April 2009}}</ref> Following a [[Sitka Tribe of Alaska]]-sponsored removal ceremony, the pole was lowered due to safety concerns on October 20, 2010, using funds from the Alaska Dept. of Health and Social Services. The ''Sitka Sentinel'' reported that while standing, it was "said to be the most photographed totem [pole] in Alaska".<ref name=Haugland/> The pole was re-erected in Totem Square in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alaskapublic.org/2011/11/30/controversial-totem-pole-returns-to-sitka-square/ |title=Controversial Totem Pole Returns to Sitka Square |last=Ronco |first=Ed |date=November 30, 2011 |website=Alaska Public Media }}</ref>

On March 24, 2007, a shame pole was erected in [[Cordova, Alaska]], that includes the inverted and distorted face of former [[Exxon]] CEO [[Lee Raymond]]. The pole represents the unpaid debt of $5 billion in punitive damages that a federal court in [[Anchorage, Alaska]], determined Exxon owes for its role in causing the [[Exxon Valdez oil spill]] in [[Prince William Sound]].<ref>{{Citation | title = Shame Pole Mocking Exxon is Planted in Cordova | newspaper = [[Anchorage Daily News]] | date = 25 March 2007 }}</ref><ref name=Rothberg>{{Citation | author =Peter Rothberg | title = Exxon's Shame | newspaper = [[The Nation]] | date = 27 March 2007 | url = http://www.thenation.com/blogs/exxons-shame | access-date =21 November 2014}}</ref>

==Totem poles outside of original context==

[[Image:Totem Pole - Pioneer Square - 1907.jpg|upright|thumb|right|[[Pioneer Square totem pole|Tlingit totem pole brought from Alaska]] to [[Pioneer Square, Seattle|Pioneer Square]] in Seattle; it continues to stand as of 2023.]]

Some poles from the Pacific Northwest have been moved to other locations for display out of their original context.<ref>Feldman, p. 25.</ref>

In 1903, Alaska's district governor, [[John Green Brady]], collected 15 Tlingit and Haida totem poles for public displays from villages in southeastern Alaska.<ref>Feldman, p. 26.</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Carved History| work=Sitka National Park archived website content| publisher=U.S. National Park Service| url=http://www.nps.gov/sitk/Cultural%20Resources/Totems/Main.htm| archive-url=https://www.webharvest.gov/peth04/20041110094917/http://www.nps.gov/sitk/Cultural%20Resources/Totems/Main.htm| url-status=dead| archive-date=10 November 2004| access-date=3 December 2014}}</ref> At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (the world's fair held in [[St. Louis|Saint Louis, Missouri]], in 1904), 14 of them were initially installed outside the Alaska pavilion at the fair; the other one, which had broken in transit, was repaired and installed at the fair's Esquimau Village.<ref>Feldman, p. 27.</ref> Thirteen of these poles were returned to Alaska, where they were eventually installed in the Sitka National Historical Park. The other two poles were sold; one pole from the Alaska pavilion went to the [[Milwaukee Public Museum]] and the pole from the Esquimau Village was sold and then given to industrialist [[David M. Parry]], who installed it on his estate in what became known as the [[Golden Hill Historic District (Indianapolis, Indiana)|Golden Hill]] neighborhood of [[Indianapolis]], Indiana.<ref>Feldman, pp. 25&ndash;27.</ref> Although the remains of the original pole at Golden Hill no longer exist, a replica was raised on April 13, 1996, on the front lawn of The [[Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art]] in Indianapolis.<ref>Feldman, pp. 43, 52.</ref> Approximately two years later, the replica was moved inside the museum, and in 2005, it was installed in a new atrium after completion of a museum expansion project.<ref>Feldman, p. 70.</ref>

===Indian New Deal===

The [[Indian New Deal]] of the 1930s strongly promoted native arts and crafts in the United States, and in the totem pole they discovered an art that was widely appreciated by white society. In Alaska the Indian Division of the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] restored old totem poles, copied those beyond repair, and carved new ones. The Indian Arts and Crafts Board, a U.S. federal government agency, facilitated their sale to the general public. The project was lucrative, but anthropologists complained that it stripped the natives of their traditional culture and stripped away the meaning of the totem poles.<ref>Aldona Jonaitis, "Totem Poles And The Indian New Deal," ''European Contributions to American Studies'' (1990) Vol. 18, pp. 267–77.</ref><ref>Robert Fay Schrader, ''The Indian Arts & Crafts Board: An Aspect of New Deal Indian Policy'' (University of New Mexico Press, 1983.)</ref>

Another example occurred in 1938, when the [[U.S. Forest Service]] began a totem pole restoration program in Alaska.<ref>Garfield and Forrest, p. v.</ref> Poles were removed from their original places as funerary and crest poles to be copied or repaired and then placed in parks based on English and French garden designs to demystify their meaning for tourists.<ref name=Moore>{{cite speech |title=Decoding Totems in the New Deal |author=Emily Moore |event=Wooshteen Kana<u>x</u>tulaneegí Haa At Wuskóowu / Sharing Our Knowledge, A conference of Tlingit Tribes and Clans: Haa eetí ḵáa yís / For Those Who Come After Us |___location=Sitka, Alaska |date=31 March 2012|url=http://ankn.uaf.edu/ClanConference2/course/view.php?id=4 |access-date=31 March 2012}}</ref>

The meanings of the designs on totem poles are as varied as the cultures which produce them, though they are all [[pictography]] or writing with pictures. Totem poles may recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events. Some poles are erected to celebrate cultural beliefs, but others are intended mostly as artistic presentations. Certain types of totem pole are part of mortuary structures incorporating grave boxes with carved supporting poles, or recessed backs in which grave boxes were placed. Poles are also carved to illustrate stories, to commemorate historic persons, to represent shamanic powers, and to provide objects of public ridicule. "Some of the figures on the poles constitute symbolic reminders of quarrels, murders, debts, and other unpleasant occurances about which the Indians prefer to remain silent... The most widely known tales, like those of the exploits of Raven and of Kats who married the bear woman, are familiar to almost every native of the area. Carvings which symbolize these tales are sufficiently conventionalized to be readily recognizable even by persons whose lineage did not recount them as their own legendary history." (Reed 2003).

In England at the side of [[Virginia Water Lake]], in the south of [[Windsor Great Park]], there is a {{convert|100|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} Canadian totem pole that was given to [[Queen Elizabeth II]] to commemorate the centenary of [[British Columbia]]. In Seattle, Washington, a Tlingit funerary [[Pioneer Square totem pole|totem pole was raised in Pioneer Square]] in 1899, after being taken from an Alaskan village.<ref name=Graves>{{cite news | author=Jen Graves | title = A Totem Pole Made of Christmas Lights: Bringing Superwrongness to Life | newspaper = The Stranger | ___location = Seattle, Washington | date = 10 January 2012 | url = http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/a-totem-pole-made-of-christmas-lights/Content?oid=11587201 | access-date = 12 January 2012}}</ref> In addition, the totem pole collections in Vancouver's [[Stanley Park]], Victoria's [[Thunderbird Park (Victoria, British Columbia)|Thunderbird Park]], and the [[Museum of Anthropology at UBC|Museum of Anthropology]] at the [[University of British Columbia]] were removed from their original locations around British Columbia.<ref name="library.ubc.ca">{{cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/aboriginal/|title=UBC Archives – Celebrating Aboriginal Heritage Month: Mungo Martin and UBC's Early Totem Pole Collection|website=www.library.ubc.ca|access-date=2020-01-27}}</ref> In Stanley Park, the original Skedans Mortuary Pole has been returned to Haida Gwaii and is now replaced by a replica. In the late 1980s, the remaining carved poles were sent to various museums for preservation, with the park board commissioning and loaning replacement carvings.<ref name="library.ubc.ca"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSueEr81v0IC|title=Looking at Totem Poles|last=Stewart|first=Hilary|date=2009|publisher=D & M Publishers|isbn=978-1-926706-35-1|language=en}} Includes a history of the poles in Thunderbird Park and their restoration.</ref>

It should be noted that totem poles were never objects of worship. The association of totem poles with "idol worship" was an idea promulgated by Christian missionaries in the region through the latter half of the nineteenth and the early half of the twentieth centuries. The same assumption was made by certain early European explorers, but the more observant later explorers such as [[Jean-François de La Pérouse]] noted that totem poles were never treated reverently, and that people seemed to pay no particular attention to them other than to occasionally illustrate stories. Indeed, the fact that they were usually left to rot in place when people abandoned a village is a significant sign of their relative lack of religious import.

==Construction and maintenance==

The poles used for public ridicule are usually called "shame poles", and were erected to shame individuals or groups for unpaid debts. One instance of this is the Lincoln Pole in [[Saxman, Alaska]]; it was apparently created to shame the U.S. government into repaying the [[Tlingit]] people for the value of slaves which were freed after the [[Emancipation Proclamation]]. Other explanations for it have arisen as the original reason was forgotten or suppressed, however this meaning is still recounted by a number of Tlingit elders.

[[Image:Incomplete haida pole.jpg|thumb|right|Incomplete [[Haida people|Haida]] pole in [[Skidegate]], British Columbia]]

After the tree to be used for the totem pole is selected, it is cut down and moved to the carving site, where the bark and outer layer of wood (sapwood) is removed. Next, the side of the tree to be carved is chosen and the back half of the tree is removed. The center of the log is hollowed out to make it lighter and to keep it from cracking.<ref name=Feldman21-22>Feldman, pp. 21&ndash;22.</ref> Early tools used to carve totem poles were made of stone, shell, or bone, but beginning in the late 1700s, the use of iron tools made the carving work faster and easier. In the early days, the basic design for figures may have been painted on the wood to guide the carvers, but today's carvers use paper patterns as outlines for their designs. Carvers use chain saws to make the rough shapes and cuts, while adzes and chisels are used to chop the wood. Carvers use knives and other woodworking tools to add the finer details. When the carving is complete, paint is added to enhance specific details of the figures.<ref name=Feldman21-22/>

Raising a totem pole is rarely done using modern methods, even for poles installed in modern settings. Most artists use a traditional method followed by a pole-raising ceremony. The traditional method calls for a deep trench to be dug. One end of the pole is placed at the bottom of the trench; the other end is supported at an upward angle by a wooden scaffold. Hundreds of strong men haul the pole upright into its footing, while others steady the pole from side ropes and brace it with cross beams. Once the pole is upright, the trench is filled with rocks and dirt. After the raising is completed, the carver, the carver's assistants, and others invited to attend the event perform a celebratory dance next to the pole. A community [[potlatch]] celebration typically follows the pole raising to commemorate the event.<ref name=Feldman22-23>Feldman, pp. 22&ndash;23.</ref>

Another example of the shame pole is the Three Frogs Pole in [[Wrangell, Alaska]]. This pole was erected by [[Chief Shakes]] to shame the Kiks.ádi [[clan]] into repaying a debt incurred by three of their slaves who impregnated some young women in Shakes's clan. When the Kiks.ádi leaders refused to pay support for the illegitimate children Shakes had the pole commissioned to represent the three slaves as frogs, the frog being the primary crest of the Kiks.ádi clan. This debt was never repaid, and thus the pole still stands next to the Chief Shakes Tribal House in Wrangell. This particular pole's unique crossbar shape has become popularly associated with the town of Wrangell. It was thus used, without recognizing the meaning of the pole, as part of the title design of the Wrangell Sentinel newspaper, where it is still seen today.

[[Image:Klawock-dancing.jpg|thumb|right|Dancing at a pole-raising celebration in [[Klawock, Alaska]]]]

Totem poles are typically not well maintained after their installation and the potlatch celebration. The poles usually last from 60 to 80 years; only a few have stood longer than 75 years, and even fewer have reached 100 years of age.<ref name="G-F8"/> Once the wood rots so badly that the pole begins to lean and pose a threat to passersby, it is either destroyed or pushed over and removed. Older poles typically fall over during the winter storms that batter the coast. The owners of a collapsed pole may commission a new one to replace it.<ref name="Feldman, p. 6"/>

The construction of shame poles has essentially ceased within the last century. This is attributable to a decline in interclan rivalries and clan relationships in general, and to a desire for solidarity among most native tribes. However, as feelings of independence and nationalism increase among Northwest coast people, erecting shame poles against the American and Canadian governments has been occasionally proposed, though in a joking manner. If outrage against some political decision is strong enough among the people of a particular Northwest coast tribe the erection of a new shame pole may again become a possibility, although the cost of construction will likely be a major inhibition.

==Cultural property==

== Construction and maintenance ==

Each culture typically has complex rules and customs regarding the traditional designs represented on poles. The designs are generally considered the property of a particular clan or family group of traditional carvers, and this ownership of the designs may not be transferred to the person who has commissioned the carvings. There have been protests when those who have not been trained in the traditional carving methods, cultural meanings and protocol, have made "fake totem poles" for what could be considered crass public display and commercial purposes.<ref name=ICTMN>{{cite web|title=Oregon Country Fair Cancels Fake Native Totem Pole Raising – Ritz Sauna story pole 'worst appropriation I've ever seen' says descendant of carving family|last=Hopper|first=Frank|publisher =[[Indian Country Media Network]] | date=25 May 2017 |url=https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/native-news/oregon-country-fair-cancels-fake-native-totem-pole-raising|access-date=12 September 2017}}</ref> The [[cultural appropriation|misappropriation]] of coastal Pacific Northwest culture by the art and tourist trinket market has resulted in production of cheap imitations of totem poles executed with little or no knowledge of their complex stylistic conventions or cultural significance. These include imitations made for commercial and even comedic use in venues that serve alcohol, and in other settings that are insensitive or outright offensive to the sacred nature of some of the carvings.<ref name=ICTMN/>

In the early 1990s, the [[Haisla people|Haisla]] First Nation of the Pacific Northwest began a lengthy struggle to repatriate the [[G'psgolox totem pole|Gʼpsgolox totem pole]] from [[Museum of Ethnography, Sweden|Sweden's Museum of Ethnography]].<ref name=Sun>{{Citation| title =Back in Pole Position| newspaper =Vancouver Sun| date =27 April 2006| url =http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1c06837d-416d-4eff-87b3-d83a62596924&k=48109&p=1| access-date =4 May 2010| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090228110228/http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1c06837d-416d-4eff-87b3-d83a62596924&k=48109&p=1| archive-date =28 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release | title = G'psgolox Totem returnS To British Columbia | publisher = The Na Na Kila Institute | date = 26 April 2006 | url = http://www.nanakila.ca/ | access-date = 4 May 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100913084518/http://nanakila.ca/ | archive-date = 2010-09-13 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Their successful efforts were documented in [[Gil Cardinal]]'s [[National Film Board of Canada]] documentary, ''Totem: The Return of the G'psgolox Pole''.<ref>{{cite web | title =Totem: The Return of the Gʼpsgolox Pole| publisher =National Film Board of Canada | date =8 April 2013 | url =http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=51162|access-date=3 December 2014}}</ref>

Erection of a totem pole is almost never done using modern methods, even for poles installed in modern settings on the outside of public and private buildings. Instead the traditional ceremony and process of erection is still followed scrupulously by most artists, in that a great wooden scaffold is built and hundreds of strong men haul the pole upright into its footing while others steady the pole from side ropes and brace it with cross beams. Once the pole is erected a [[potlatch]] is typically held where the carver is formally paid and other traditional activities are conducted. The carver will usually, once the pole is freestanding, perform a celebratory and propitiary dance next to the pole while wielding the tools used to carve it. Also, the base of the pole is burnt before erection to provide a sort of rot resistance, and the fire is made with chips carved from the pole.

In October 2015, a Tlingit totem pole was returned from Hawaii to Alaska after being taken from a village by Hollywood actor [[John Barrymore]] in 1931.<ref>{{cite web |title=Totem pole taken by Hollywood actor returned to Alaska, 84 years later |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/alaska-totem-pole-returned-1.3284649 |website=cbc.ca |access-date=22 March 2024}}</ref>

Totem poles are typically not well maintained after their erection. Traditionally once the wood rots so badly that it begins to lean and pose a threat to passersby, the pole is either destroyed or pushed over and removed. Older poles typically fall over during the winter storms that batter the coast. A collapsed pole may be replaced by a new one carved more or less the same as the original, with the same subject matter, but this requires a new payment and potlatch and is thus not always done. The beliefs behind the lack of maintenance vary among individuals, but generally it is believed that the deterioration of the pole is representative of natural processes of decay and death that occur with all living things, and attempts to prevent this are seen as somehow denying or ignoring the nature of the world. That has not however prevented many people from occasionally renewing the paint on poles or performing further restorations, mostly because the expense of a new pole is beyond feasibility for the owner. Also, owners of poles who are not familiar with cultural traditions may see upkeep as a necessary investment for property, and ignore the philosophical implications. It is best to treat the question of totem pole maintenance on a case by case basis, especially asking the artist for their opinion on the matter during or just after the production process.

== Property Gallery==

<gallery class="center">

File:Tlingit totem pole.jpg|[[Tlingit people|Tlingit]] totem pole in [[Ketchikan, Alaska]], {{Circa|1901}}

File:Alert Bay Totems.jpg|Totem poles in front of homes in [[Alert Bay, British Columbia]] in the 1900s

File:Haida Houses.jpg|Totem poles in [[Skidegate]], 26 July 1878

File:Totem Park pole 1.jpg|A totem pole in Totem Park, [[Victoria, British Columbia]]

File:Totem Park pole 2.jpg|From Totem Park, [[Victoria, British Columbia]]

File:Tlingit K'alyaan Totem Pole August 2005.jpg|The ''K'alyaan'' Totem Pole of the [[Tlingit people|Tlingit]] Kiks.ádi Clan, erected at [[Sitka National Historical Park]] to commemorate the lives lost in the 1804 [[Battle of Sitka]]

File:Totem pole (js) 2.jpg|From Saxman Totem Park, Ketchikan, Alaska

File:Totem pole (js) 1.jpg|From Saxman Totem Park, Ketchikan, Alaska

File:Totem poles.jpg|From Brockton Point, [[Stanley Park]], Vancouver, [[British Columbia]]<!--Kwakwaka'wakw style? Just guessing-->

File:Replica of G'psgolox Pole.jpg|Replica of [[G'psgolox totem pole|G'psgolox Pole]]. A gift from the Haisla First Nation to the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, Sweden.

File:50th Infantry Regiment Coat of Arms.png|US 50th Infantry Regiment Coat of arms with a totem pole arrangement of a US American eagle and a Russian Bear (signifying transfer of ownership of Alaska from Russia to United States)

File:Kwakwaka’wakw House Post.jpg|Kwakwaka'wakw House Post at the [[American Museum of Natural History]]

File:Moa-4.jpg|House post at the [[Museum of Anthropology at UBC]]

File:Haida totem pole. Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, BC.jpg|[[Haida people|Haida]] totem pole. Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, BC

File:WTMTL Organisateur Mât totémique Kwakiutl (milieu).jpg|Kwakwaka'wakw totem pole on [[Notre Dame Island]] in [[Montreal]]

File:Seattle - Curiosity Shop 04.jpg|Totem poles at [[Ye Olde Curiosity Shop]]

File:Emily Carr 1928 Kitwancool.png|1928 [[Emily Carr]] painting, ''Kitwancool''

File:Totem Pole Sculpture by Lelooska Smith displayed at Denver Museum of Nature and Science.jpg|Totem pole by Lelooska, Don Morse Smith (non-Native<ref>{{cite web |title=Pendant |url=https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_272258 |website=National Museum of the American Indian |access-date=3 September 2024}}</ref>) at [[Denver Museum of Nature and Science]]

File:Kayung Pole.jpg|The [[Kayung totem pole]] in 1884

File:British Museum Totem Pole 1.jpg|The Kayung totem pole at the [[British Museum]]

File:DSC02472 - Grand Hall.jpg|Totem poles at the [[Canadian Museum of History]]

File:Totem Canadiense DSC 0441 (33954720623).jpg|Totem pole at [[Chapultepec]]

</gallery>

==Examples==

Each culture typically has complex rules and customs regarding the designs which are represented on poles. The designs themselves are generally considered the property of a particular clan or family group, and this ownership may not be transferred to the owner of a pole. As such, pictures, paintings, and other copies of the designs may be an infringement of posessory rights of a certain family or cultural group. Thus it is important that the ownership of the artistic designs represented on a pole are respected as private property to the same extent that the pole itself is property. Public display and sale of pictures and other representations of totem pole designs should be cleared with both the owners of the pole and the cultural group or tribal government associated with the designs on the pole. It is commonly believed that totem poles were built in a "reverse hierarchy" style, with the most important representations being on the bottom, and the least important being on top. In truth, though, there was no such set of guidelines: the most revered of gods appear on the tops of many poles as well as on the bottoms.

[[Image:Tallest totem pole.jpg|thumb|upright|The world's tallest totem pole, near [[Alert Bay]], British Columbia]]

[[File:World's Tallest Totem Pole, Victoria, British Columbia.JPG|thumb|One of the world's tallest totem poles, in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, British Columbia]]

The title of "The World's Tallest Totem Pole" is or has at one time been claimed by several coastal towns of North America's Pacific Northwest.<ref name=Kramer83>Kramer, ''Alaska's Totem Poles'', p. 83.</ref> Disputes over which is genuinely the tallest depends on factors such the number of logs used in construction or the affiliation of the carver. Competitions to make the tallest pole remain prevalent, although it is becoming more difficult to procure trees of sufficient height. The tallest poles include those in:

* [[Alert Bay]], British Columbia&mdash;{{convert|173|ft|m}}, Kwakwaka'wakw. This pole is composed of two or three pieces.<ref name=Kramer83/>

* [[McKinleyville, California]]&mdash;{{convert|160|ft|m}}, carved from a single redwood tree by Ernest Pierson and John Nelson.

* [[Kalama, Washington]]&mdash;{{convert|149|ft|m}}, carved from a single pole by Lelooska.<ref name=Kramer83/>

* [[Kake, Alaska]]&mdash;{{convert|132|ft|m}}, single log carving,<ref name=Kramer83/> Tlingit

* [[Victoria, British Columbia]] ([[Beacon Hill Park]])&mdash;{{convert|127.7|ft|m}}, raised in 1956,<ref name=Kramer83/> Kwakwaka'wakw, carved by [[Mungo Martin]] with [[Henry Hunt (artist)|Henry Hunt]] and David Martin.

* [[Tacoma, Washington]] (Fireman's Park)&mdash;{{convert|105|ft|m}}, carved by Alaska Natives in 1903.<ref name=Kramer83/>

* [[Vancouver]], British Columbia (Maritime Museum) &mdash;{{convert|100|ft|m}}, Kwakwaka'wakw, carved by Mungo Martin with Henry Hunt and David Martin.

The thickest totem pole ever carved to date is in [[Duncan, British Columbia]]. Carved by [[Richard Hunt (artist)|Richard Hunt]] in 1988 in the [[Kwakwaka'wakw]] style, and measuring over {{convert|6|ft|m}} in diameter, it represents Cedar Man transforming into his human form.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M637k7_TkMAC&q=thickest+totem+pole&pg=PA54|title=Totem Poles|last=Kramer|first=Pat|date=2008|publisher=Heritage House Publishing Co|isbn=978-1-894974-44-8|language=en}}</ref>

However totem poles in general are not the exclusive cultural property of a single culture, so the designs are not easily protected. The art and tourist trinket worlds have become inundated by cheap imitations of totem poles executed with little or no knowledge of the complex stylistic conventions demanded by Northwest Coast art. This proliferation of "totem junk" has diluted the public interest and respect for the artistic skill and deep cultural knowledge required to produce a pole.

[[File:DuncanBCTotem.jpg|thumb|The world's thickest totem pole is in Duncan, British Columbia.]]

Notable collections of totem poles on display include these sites:

* [[Alaska State Museum]], [[Juneau, Alaska]]<ref>Wherry, p. 136.</ref>

* [[American Museum of Natural History]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]

* [[Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture]], [[University of Washington]], [[Seattle]]<ref>Kramer, ''Alaska's Totem Poles'', p. 90.</ref>

* [[Canadian Museum of History]], Hull area of [[Gatineau, Quebec]]

* [[Duncan, British Columbia]], the City of Totems

* [[Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site]], [[Haida Gwaii]], British Columbia

* [[Haida Heritage Centre]], [[Skidegate, British Columbia]]

* [['Ksan]], near [[Hazelton, British Columbia]]

* [[Museum of Anthropology at UBC]], Vancouver, British Columbia

* [[Nisga'a and Haida Crest Poles of the Royal Ontario Museum]], Toronto

* [[Nisga'a Museum]], in [[Laxgalts'ap]], British Columbia

* [[Royal British Columbia Museum]], Victoria, British Columbia

* [[Saxman Totem Park]], [[Saxman, Alaska]]<ref>Garfield, p. 13.</ref>

* [[Sitka National Historical Park]], [[Sitka, Alaska]]<ref>Kramer, ''Alaska's Totem Poles'', p. 92.</ref>

* [[Stanley Park]] (Brockton Point), Vancouver, British Columbia

* [[Totem Bight State Historical Park]], Ketchikan, Alaska

* [[Thunderbird Park (Victoria, British Columbia)|Thunderbird Park]], Victoria, British Columbia<ref>Wherry, p. 140.</ref>

* [[Totem Heritage Center]], [[Ketchikan, Alaska]]<ref>Kramer, ''Alaska's Totem Poles'', pp. 84&ndash;85.</ref>

==See also==

== Totem poles of note ==

*[[Huabiao]]

*[[Obelisk]]

*[[Jangseung]]

*[[Crest (heraldry)]]

*[[Stele]]

*[[Roofed pole]]

*[[Irminsul]]

*[[Tiki]]

*[[Chemamull]]

*[[Serge (religious)]]

*[[Maypole]]

*[[Conservation and restoration of totem poles]]

==Notes==

The title of "The World's Largest Totem Pole" is or has been claimed by several towns along the coast:

{{Reflist|30em}}

* [[Alert Bay, British Columbia]] &mdash; 173 feet (56.4 m), Kwakiutl

* [[Vancouver, British Columbia]] (Maritime Museum) &mdash; 100 feet (30.5 m), Kwakiutl, carved by Mungo Martin with Henry Hunt and David Martin

* [[Victoria, British Columbia]] (Beacon Hill Park) &mdash; 127.5 feet (38.9 m), Kwakiutl, carved by Mungo Martin with Henry Hunt and David Martin

* [[Kalama, Washington]] &mdash; 140 feet (42.6 m), carved by Chief Lalooska

* [[Kake, Alaska]] &mdash; 137.5 feet (41.9 m), Tlingit

There are disputes over which is genuinely the tallest, depending on constraints such as construction from a single log or the affiliation of the carver. Competition for making the tallest pole is still prevalent, although it is becoming more difficult to procure trees of such heights.

==References==

The thickest totem pole ever carved to date is in [[Duncan, British Columbia]], carved by Richard Hunt in 1988, and measures over 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter. It is carved in the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) style, and represents Cedar Man transforming into human form.

* [[Marius Barbeau|Barbeau, Marius]] (1950) [http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/barbeau/mbp0502e.shtml ''Totem Poles: According to Crests and Topics.'' Vol. 1.] (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. (PDFs)

* [[Marius Barbeau|Barbeau, Marius]] (1950) [http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/barbeau/mbp0509e.shtml ''Totem Poles: According to Location.'' Vol. 2.] (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. (PDFs)

* {{cite book | author=Feldman, Richard D.| title =Home Before the Raven Caws: The Mystery of a Totem Pole | publisher =[[Indiana Historical Society]] in association with The [[Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art]] | edition =Rev. 2012| year =2012 | ___location =Indianapolis | isbn =978-0-87195-306-3}}

* [[Viola Garfield|Garfield, Viola E.]] (1951) ''Meet the Totem.'' Sitka, Alaska: Sitka Printing Company.

* Garfield, Viola E., and Forrest, Linn A. (1961) ''The Wolf and the Raven: Totem Poles of Southeastern Alaska.'' Revised edition. Seattle: University of Washington Press. {{ISBN|0-295-73998-3}}.

* Jonaitis, Aldona. (1990) "Totem Poles And The Indian New Deal," ''European Contributions to American Studies'' Vol. 18, pp 267–277.

* [[Edward L. Keithahn|Keithahn, Edward L.]] (1963) ''Monuments in Cedar.'' Seattle, Washington: Superior Publishing Co.

* {{cite book | author =Kramer, Pat | title =Alaska's Totem Poles | publisher =Alaska Northwest Books | year =2004 | ___location =Anchorage | url =https://archive.org/details/alaskastotempole0000kram | isbn =0882405853 | url-access =registration }}

* {{cite book|author=Kramer, Pat |title=Totem Poles | publisher =Heritage House | year =2008 | ___location =Vancouver, British Columbia | page=22 and 24 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UmjSngEACAAJ&q=Totem+Poles+Kramer| isbn = 978-1-89497-444-8}}

* {{cite book | last = Malin | first = Edward | title = Totem Poles of the Pacific Northwest Coast | publisher = Timber Press | year = 1986 | ___location = Portland, Oregon | isbn = 0-88192-295-1}}

* {{cite book | author=Newman, Oscar | title =Secret Stories in the Art of the Northwest Indian | publisher =Catskill Press | year =2004 | ___location =New York | isbn =097201196X}}

* Reed, Ishmael (ed.) (2003) ''From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry across the Americas, 1900-2002.'' {{ISBN|1-56025-458-0}}.

* Wherry, Joseph H. (1964) ''The Totem Pole Indians.'' New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

==Further References reading==

* StewartAverill, HillaryLloyd J., and Daphne K. Morris (19931995). ''LookingNorthwest atCoast totemNative polesand Native-Style Art: A Guidebook for Western Washington.''. Seattle, WashingtonSeattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-97259-9.

* Brindze, Ruth (1951) ''The Story of the Totem Pole.'' New York: Vanguard Press.

* Halpin, Marjorie M. (1981) ''Totem Poles: An Illustrated Guide.'' Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.

* Hassett, Dawn, and F. W. M. Drew (1982) ''Totem Poles of Prince Rupert.'' Prince Rupert, BC: Museum of Northern British Columbia.

* Hoyt-Goldsmith, Diane (1990) ''Totem Pole.'' New York: Holiday House.

* Huteson, Pamela Rae. (2002) ''Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems.'' Tigard, Oregon: Greatland Classic Sales. {{ISBN|1-886462-51-8}}

* Macnair, Peter L., Alan L. Hoover, and Kevin Neary (1984) ''The Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Northwest Coast Indian Art.'' Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre.

* Meuli, Jonathan (2001) ''Shadow House: Interpretations of Northwest Coast Art.'' Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers.

* Smyly, John, and Carolyn Smyly (1973) ''Those Born at Koona: The Totem Poles of the Haida Village Skedans, Queen Charlotte Islands.'' Saanichton, BC: Hancock House.

* Stewart, Hilary (1979) ''Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast.'' Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre.

* Stewart, Hilary (1993). ''Looking at Totem Poles.'' Seattle: University of Washington Press. {{ISBN|0-295-97259-9}}.

==SourcesExternal links==

{{Wiktionary}}

* Garfield, Viola E. and Forrest, Linn A. (1961). ''The Wolf and the Raven: Totem poles of Southeastern Alaska''. Revised edition. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-73998-3. Cited in Reed, Ishmael (2003). From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002, Ishmael Reed, ed. ISBN 1560254580.

{{Commons category|Totem poles}}

* Malin, Edward (1986). ''Totem poles of the Pacific Northwest coast''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-295-1.

*[http://academic.reed.edu/art/faculty/rhyne/pubs.html#northwest Article related to conservation of Pacific Northwest totem poles]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060506052929/http://www.nativeonline.com/totem_poles.htm Native online.com]

*[http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/exhibits/tbird-park/main.htm?lang=eng Royal BC Museum, Thunderbird Park{{snd}}A Place of Cultural Sharing], online interpretive tour

*[http://nfb.ca/film/totem_the_return_of_the_gpsgolox_pole/ ''Totem: The Return of the Gpsgolox Pole''], a feature-length film by [[Gil Cardinal]], [[National Film Board of Canada]]

*[http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/wright.html Totem Poles: Heraldic Columns of the Northwest Coast Essay by Robin K. Wright]{{snd}}University of Washington Digital Collection

* [https://tempodeconhecer.blogs.sapo.pt/google-doodle-honors-the-storytelling-133046 Google Doodle honors the storytelling art of totem poles]

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Native American relics]]

[[Category:Culture of Canada]]

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[[Category:Heraldry]]

[[Category:Indigenous woodcarving of the Americas]]

[[Category:Indigenous culture of the Pacific Northwest]]

[[Category:Northwest Coast art]]

[[Category:Totem poles| ]]