Girl looking at Tlingit raven totem carving near entrance at Saxman Totem Park, Alaska, between 1960 and 1969

Caption from "Much About Totems (Pacific Northern Airlines)": Raven carving at the entrance to Saxman Park with the base of Eagle and Beaver Pole in the background. Raven symbolizes one of the two phratries of the Tlingit. Clifford 357 The village of Saxman is located about 3 miles south o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Clifford, Howard
Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division.
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:unknown
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Online Access:http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/alaskawcanada/id/4450
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Summary:Caption from "Much About Totems (Pacific Northern Airlines)": Raven carving at the entrance to Saxman Park with the base of Eagle and Beaver Pole in the background. Raven symbolizes one of the two phratries of the Tlingit. Clifford 357 The village of Saxman is located about 3 miles south of Ketchikan, Alaska. Saxman was a Tlingit village that was founded in 1894 and named for Samuel Saxman, a school teacher. During the 1930s, many totem poles in Southeast Alaska were physically deteriorating. In 1938, the Civilian Conservation Corps worked with the U.S. Forest Service to organize Tlingit and Haida men into teams to relocate, restore, and replicate totem poles. The U.S. Forest Service desired that the totem poles be more centrally located in order to allow tourists in Alaska to easily access them. Many of these restored totem poles were sent to the Ketchikan area, particularly to Saxman Village and Totem Bight. The totem poles included at Saxman Village are Tlingit carvings collected from the abandoned towns and cemeteries of Tongass, Cat Village, Pennock Islands, and Cape Fox Village. The totem poles remain a popular cultural attraction. (Source: Discovering Totem Poles: A Traveler's Guide by Aldona Jonaitis; The Wolf and the Raven: Totem Poles of Southeastern Alaska by Viola E. Garfield and Linn A. Forrest; and Dictionary of Alaska Place Names by Donald J. Orth)