Snapshots of the Past

Totem poles, Kake, Alaska – Antique Wall Art

Totem poles, Kake, Alaska, c1895. — historic photograph
Totem poles, Kake, Alaska, c1895.. Historic photograph from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Step back in time with Totem poles, Kake, Alaska, a historic photograph rich in period detail. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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Totem poles, Kake, Alaska

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Kake, a Tlingit village on Kupreanof Island in southeast Alaska, is the place this view records, with its carved totem poles standing in the village. Poles like these served as crest, memorial and house posts, recording family lineages and clan histories through figures of animals and ancestors. The print carries the number 287 and a copyright line from Winter & Pond, a commercial photography firm that sold scenic and ethnographic views of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest to a wide public. The catalog data is unverified, so the exact date and photographer are uncertain, but the image reflects how outside visitors in the 1890s documented Native carving traditions.

Created / publishedc1895.
Medium1 photographic print.
SubjectsPhotoprint copyrighted by Winter & Pond. No. 287. This record contains unverified data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Geogr.; Indians--Totem poles.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan930 × 1,536 px · prints to 3 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-157995

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