Tlingit Ensemble

The Traditional Tlingit Ensemble will strive to reflect the everyday attire of Tlingit women from Southeast Alaska during the late eighteenth century. In museums and cultural institutions throughout the world, regalia such as Raven’s tail and Chilkat robes stand as an iconic symbols of the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska. Yet, traditionally, only the wealthy noble class could afford these types of clothing items, they were more commonly worn by male members of society, and they often only wore them for important events and ceremonial gatherings.

By the late eighteenth century, explorers from many nations began to sail into Southeast Alaska, bringing goods to trade with Alaska Native populations in exchange for furs and other valuable materials. Clothing, blankets, beads and trade cloth from the Spanish, British, French, American, and Russian ships became popular among the Tlingit of Southeast Alaska. This trade caused the proliferation of Western-style dress, which integrated with and altered the everyday clothing of the Tlingit. By the turn of the nineteenth century, reports indicate that the traditional daily dress of the Tlingit had all but disappeared.

Tlingit regalia persevered, in large because of its strong ties to Tlingit cultural heritage and clan identity. The significance of at.óow [scared clan property], which may be regalia when in clothing form, cannot be overstated. Regalia does not, however, reflect the clothing that would have been worn by the majority of the population on a daily basis. Through the research, fabrication, and exhibition of a late-eighteenth-century Tlingit woman’s ensemble, the Museum hopes to highlight the important role of women in Tlingit society and explore the significance, beauty, and ingenuity embodied in the material culture of everyday life. Tlingit Ensemble

Accounts of explorers in the late 1700s provide a picture of Tlingit attire during the early contact period, as does extant examples of Pacific Northwest Coast clothing and accessories held in museums and private collections. For the purpose of this ensemble, everyday wear will be the focus.

Female Tlingit Figure clothed in late eighteenth-century attire:

• A woven cedar bark skirt/apron • An animal hide cape secured with leather strings • A labret • No shoes (barefoot) Tlingit Woven Cedar Bark Skirt/Apron

For everyday wear, Southeast Tlingit women wore skirts or aprons of woven cedar bark. Northern Tlingit groups reportedly favored clothing made of animal skin, such as deer or seal, but cedar bark clothing offered more protection from frequent rains in Southeast Alaska.

Cedar bark skirts/aprons were conical in shape with woven lengths of bark tied at the back of the waistband. The inner bark of the cedar tree was dried, softened in salt water, split in either length or width, and shredded with a bark shredder. Lengths were laid over a sharp edge (like an old canoe paddle) and pounded with a shredder until separated into fine strands.

The Tlingit used a twining technique on a two-bar loom to weave the garment. Tlingit women living in Southeast Alaska also wore woven cedar capes of similar design and construction.

Tlingit Woven Cedar Bark Skirt/Apron Example

https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/7775784_tlingit-wool-tunic-with-cedar-bark-skirt, accessed June 2017. Illustrations from Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians by Hilary Stewart Extant Examples of Pacific Northwest Coast Woven Cedar Bark Capes

Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Cedar Cape Kwakwaka'wakw NE Vancouver Island, Victoria, and Mainland BC 1961.9.1

Dimensions: 58 cm long, folded http://objects.prm.ox.ac.uk/pages/PRMUID5119. html Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Cedar Cape Nuu-chah-nulth Vancouver Island, B.C. Collected ca. 1862-1870. 1884.140.1047

Dimensions: Max L = 885 mm Max W = 450 mm Max H = 420 mm

Cataloger Notes: The cape is made in a continuous round of twined cedar bark. The cape would have been woven on an A-frame. The strips of shredded bark are hung over a circular cord and twined in place. The cape has a continuous length of single twining with rows every 10 to 15 mm. http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/rpr/index.php/ob ject-biography-index/1-prmcollection/297- cedar-bark-cape-18841401047/ British Museum

Child’s Cedar Cape Koskimo Vancouver Island, BC Am1961,04.17

Dimensions: Height: 48.6 centimetres Width: 98 centimetres

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx ?objectId=525749&partId=1&searchText=cedar+bark+rain- cape++Northwest+Coast+peoples&page=1 Tlingit Animal Skin Capes

The reports of early non-Native explorers note that Tlingit women in Southeast Alaska often wore capes. As previously noted, some capes were made of cedar bark, similar to the woven cedar bark skirts. Other’s wore capes made of undecorated animal pelts. These capes reflected the wide variety of animal species available both locally in Southeast Alaska and through trade with inland groups. Some common types include sea otter, seal, fox, bird skins (eg. swan and eagle), wolf, marten, and bear. Tlingit women reportedly wore capes draped over the shoulders and secured with leather strings tied under the chin.

Fur capes quickly became scarce after the arrival of Russian and European traders, as they were highly sought after for trade. As with woven cedar bark clothing, fur capes were replaced with blankets and garments received in trade with Russians, Boston Men (traders from the United States), the Hudson’s Bay Company, and other traders active along the Alaskan coast.

Women of the Port of the France {Lituya Bay} ca. 1786, from A voyage round the world, in the years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788. Jean-Francois de Galaup La Perouse.

NOTE: Labret (lip piercing) in both women.

NOTE fur cape on woman to far right.

Costume of the inhabitants of the Port of France {Lituya Bay} on the coast of Northwestern America, ca. 1786, from A voyage round the world, in the years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788. Jean-Francois de Galaup La Perouse.

Tlingit Labrets

Traditionally, Tlingit women wore a labret, a body piercing worn just below the lip. Labrets were commonly made of wood, bone, shell, and stone.

Labret size was an indicator of social status, with labret size increasing with age, number of children, and hierarchical status of kin group.

LaPerouse at Lituya Bay (1786)- Women have a “custom of wearing in the lower lip an elliptical piece of wood, lightly grooved on its circumference and both its sides, and which is commonly half an inch thick, two in diameter, and three in length. They “have a slit close to the gum the whole width of the mouth, and wear in it a kind of wooden bowl without handles, which rests against the gum, and which the slit lip serves as a collar to confine, so that the lower part of the mouth projects two or three inches.” Labret from Sitka History Museum collection, 89.49.2

Material: Wood Height 0.375” Width 0.750” Length 1.750” Pitt Rivers Museum Left: Mask depicting the carver’s wife wearing a labret. Collected by Frederick Dally 1862–1870. Founding collection; 1884.84.76–.78 Right: Labrets collected and donated by Charles Harrison in 1924; 1924.33.17

Tlingit Woman with Labret Port Mulgrave, Yakutat Bay, Alaska Engraving, 1837. Tlingit Hair Styles Tlingit women often wore their hair loose, but groomed. Hair was often parted in the center, and was typically of shoulder length or longer.

Tlingit women eating berries from a basket. Sitka, circa 1828. Illustration by F.H. Kittlitz from Voyage autour du monde, 1826-1829 by Fedor P. Litke, 1835, pl. 5b. Additional Assorted Reference Images A. Postels. Interior of a Kolosh house, Atlas lithographié d'après les dessins originaux d'Alexandre Postels et du baron Kittlitz, 1835, Plate 4, image courtesy Alaska State Library. A. Postels. Coloshes, the Inhabitants of Sitka Island, Atlas lithographié d'après les dessins originaux d'Alexandre Postels et du baron Kittlitz, Plate 6, 1835, image courtesy Alaska State Library. M. Tikhanov, “Kolosh woman from Baranov Island named Kakuas-Geti,” Baranov Island, 1818, КП-610-Р-2124, Russian Academy of Arts Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. M. Tikhanov, Sitka Island Toen Katlian with his wife, 1818, Sitka, КП-610-Р- 2116, Russian Academy of Arts Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. I. Voznesensky. Sitka, Small and Big Yablochnyi Islands, 1843-45, MAE 1142-15. Canoe found at the French Port [Lituya Bay], 1786 from A voyage round the world, in the years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788. La Perouse.

Port des Francais [Lituya Bay] fish camp, ca. 1786, from A voyage round the world, in the years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, La Perouse. Courtesy of Alaska State Library, Alaska Purchase Centennial Collection, Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, ASL-P20-054. G.T. Pauly, "Coloches," Description Ethnographiques des Peuples de la Russie, Paris, 1862. F. Kittlitz. Novo-Arkhangelsk, Establishment on Sitka Island, Atlas lithographié d'après les dessins originaux d'Alexandre Postels et du baron Kittlitz, 1835, Plate 3, image courtesy Alaska State Library. F. Kittlitz. Inhabitants of Sitka Island, Atlas lithographié d'après les dessins originaux d'Alexandre Postels et du baron Kittlitz, 1835, Plate 5, image courtesy Alaska State Library. 20th June 1802: A group of Kolosh [Tlingit], Native Americans of Sitka, Alaska, performing a war dance. Illustrations from Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians by Hilary Stewart Selected Sources

De Laguna, Frederica 1972 Under Mount Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit, Part I. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Emmons, George Thornton 1991 The Tlingit Indians, edited by Frederica de Laguna, with Jean Low. University of Washington Press, Seattle, Washington.

Gerber, Peter R. and Maximilien Bruggmann 1989 Indians of the Northwest Coast. Translated by Barbara Fritzemeier. Facts on file, New York.

La Pérouse, Jean-François de Galaup, comte de, Louis Antoine Milet-Mureau, and Francisco Antonio Mourelle de la Rúa. 1798 A voyage round the world, in the years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788. J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard, London.

Stewart, Hilary 1984 Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians. University of Washington Press, Seattle, Washington.

Paterek, Josephine 1996 Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume. W.W. Norton & Company, New York.