Businessman in Native American costume, Golden Potlatch, Seattle, ca. 1913

• Main Author: Nowell, Frank H.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Costumes; Headdresses; Potlatch (Festival) (Seattle; Wash.); Staffs (Sticks); Yukon; Pacific; Tyee; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/imlsmohai/id/5645

The Golden Potlatch was a city-wide festival held in July organized by civic boosters hoping to capitalize on the success of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The first Golden Potlatch opened in July 1911; the event continued for each of the next three summers before being suspended during wartime. The name reflects the importance of the Klondike gold rush to Seattle and borrows a Chinook jargon term for gift-giving ceremony. The boosters also used Chinook jargon to call themselves the Tillikums (friend) of Elttaes, (Seattle spelled backward). Thousands of people enjoyed the week-long carnival of parades, aircraft demonstrations and concerts. Here, one of the organizers dressed as a Native American Tyee, or chief, poses in a formal stance. He holds a ceremonial staff and is wearing a headdress and fringed jacket. Embossed on front of print: Frank H. Nowell, U.S.A. Photo from album with "Tillikums of Elttaes" embossed on the cover. 1 photographic print: b&w; 7 5/8 x 9 5/8 in.