While highlights from the Museum's collection of artifacts from the Pacific Northwest Coast are on display in the Hall of Northwest Coast Indians, more than 13,000 objects are kept in storage in the Division of Anthropology. Join Curator of North American Ethnology Peter Whitely as he leads a tour of the collections, which includes a giant Kwakwka'wakw whale mask, a Chilkat blanket with three different interpretations of its abstract symbolism, and a Haida/Tsimshian raven rattle. Many of the artifacts in the Division of Anthropology's Pacific Northwest Coast Collection were amassed during a series of expeditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The most scientifically important of these expeditions, the Jesup North Pacific Expedition led by anthropologist Franz Boas between 1897 and 1902, collected more than 4,000 objects. Visitors can also find a number of whale-related artifacts from the Anthropology collections in the Museum's special exhibition, "Whales: Giants of the Deep," now open through January 5, 2014. For more information, visit http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/whales-giants-of-the-deep. CREDITS: MUSIC: "Certain Death (Still Alive Remix)" by Blackberry "lenox" and "sunspot" by Moby Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music, 54-121-F, Kwakiutl Indians recorded by Franz Boas and John Comfort Fillmore at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893 PHOTOGRAPHY: AMNH/E. Labenski AMNH/R. Mickens AMNH Library Archives/T. Bierwert AMNH Library Archives/411184 AMNH Library Archives/338431/Group of Sitka Indians at Klukwan Potlach, J. M. Blankenberg, 1910 MAPS: AMNH/Division of Anthropology, Distribution Map by Franz Boas, 1896 Traditional Tlingit Map by Andrew Hope III, copyright Tlingit Readers Inc. VIDEO: AMNH/J. Bauerle

• published: 09 May 2013
• views: 13223