| Summary: | Colour slides collected and donated by A. de Menil. Slide jacket's contain numbers and some descriptions, which have been copied to the titles. all slides read: Schallerer's Photo Shop, 212 Front Street, Ketchikan, Alaska. On the right: Raven/Shark Pole The original Raven/Shark Pole was donated to the people of Alaska in 1903 by Chief Tom from a village ""six miles from Klawock"". In 1964 the original pole was part of the Alaska Exhibit at the New York World's Fair. By 1978 it had seriously decayed and was rplaced with a replica carved by Tommie Jimmy. Different interpretations of this pole exist. At teh top is the Raven, then a shark or dogfish, a wolf or fox, and a bear or stump. In some instances, a bear used as the base figure on the totem pole symbolizes that the story has its origins at the beginning of time. An explanaiton from Tlingit legend follows: In ancient times all animals understood each other and used a common language. Raven was on a beach and he travelled underwater until he came to a large village. In the middle of the village was a large house with mostly women and children. On the upper level of one of the other large houses in the village was a beautiful woman. Raven then told a young boy, the woman's brother, to tell the woman that he liked her and would like to marry her. The lady cried and told the boy that she would like to marry Raven but she was ashamed of her body and that her face was her only beautiful feature. Raven replied that man looks for inner beauty that radiates from the face. The boy relayed the message and she and Raven married.
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