North West Pacific Coast of North America
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of 124 objects associated with the North American Pacific north-west which date mostly from between 1889 and 1992. This collection comprises domestic utensils, clothing, textiles and accessories, fishing and hunting equipment, jewellery, weapons, games and models, a canoe accompanied by paddles and ceremonial material relating to potlatch festivals. The majority of the collection was purchased in 1902 from Mrs EK Wilkie who acquired material from the Arctic and the Pacific north-west coast whilst on a journey to visit to her brother, the Episcopal Bishop of Alaska. The remaining material was purchased almost exclusively from William Ohly, a painter, sculptor and collector, in 1955 and 1965. Other disparate objects include eight prehistoric stone tools purchased from RB Cairns of Edinburgh in 1896. The most recent acquisition to the collection includes a full-size totem pole made of painted cedar wood by Coast Salish artist Douglas La Fortune from the Tsawout First Nation in British Columbia. The North American Pacific north-west, spanning from southern Alaska to Washington State, was home to many indigenous tribes including the Chinook, Tillamook, Coast Salish and the Tlingit. The potlatch ceremony, which involved dancing and gift-giving, was a common custom of this region.
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