Wrangell Totem Project Photograph Collection | Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives

Wrangell Totem Project restores and replicates totems

By Patricia A. Neal

The post-1940 Wrangell Totem Project was conducted by the Wrangell Cultural Heritage Committee, a committee comprised of representatives of Wrangell Cooperative Association (IRA Council), Tlingit and Haida Community Council, and the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood.

After three years of hard work and planning, the committee put together a state legislative grant for $178,000, a federal historic preservation grant for $80,000 and an Alaska Division of Tourism grant for $2,000 known as the Wrangell Totem Project. The project included restoring seven totem poles on Shakes Island, restoration of the tribal house, replicating four totems and four house posts.

Regarding how the project was undertaking, carvers for the project were Steve Brown, head carver, along with Will Burkhart and Wayne Price. Carver Nathan Jackson assisted as a consultant and did some carving during the project. Israel Shotridge also assisted as carver. The project was to be a replication and restoration project but it was also designed to be a training program for carves in the art of replicating works of the master carvers. Burkhart and Price were selected to work on the project as apprentices based on previous work. The challenge of the work was to match the work of the master carvers exactly; to make exact duplicates. Old photographs and the original totems were used in the reproduction of copies. Lying side-by-side, it was an exacting job of matching the new totem to the old.

The Chief Shakes house posts were replicated and installed in the tribal house on Shakes Island in 1985. Hair on two of the figures of the house posts came from carver Wayne Price. The figures on the house posts remained unpainted; a decision made by the heritage committee. The old posts showed signs of possible paint and a possible design, but even after special photography techniques by the staff person from the Vancouver, B.C. museum, it was impossible to tell what color, where the paint was applied or what the design might have been. Rather than use the wrong color or paint the wrong portion of the post, the committee agreed with the carvers to leave the totems unpainted until such time it could be determined just what had been done by the master carver. Even without the paint, the house posts are magnificent with their abalone eyes, dentalia teeth and dark human hair.

The project concluded in 1987 with the dedication of the Kiks.ádi Totem Park. The park was a bonus to the project. When the project first began, the plans called for placing the replicated totems at their original site. However, that proved to be problem as the owners of two of the sites did not want the totems going back there, another location was an industrial site and would not be seen by many visitors and the fourth site was at Cemetery Point and there was concern of continued vandalism. That meant four totems without a home.

The property on which the Kiks.ádi Totem had once stood was vacant. When the original totem had been taken down in 1981, the committee made sure to leave the portion in the ground intact so that the exact location of the totem would be known later. The owners were not willing to donate the small piece of property and the committee certainly did not have the funds to purchase it themselves. In response, the Sealaska Corporation was approached about the possibility purchasing the property for the use of a totem park for the community. The Corporation not only agreed to purchase the property, but generously paid for the preparation of the site and the landscaping. To complete all events, the Kiks.ádi Totem Park was dedicated July 2, 1987 amidst a great celebration and a traditional totem raising ceremony.

Source: Patricia A. Neal, http://www.designsbytrisha.com/totem_restoration.htm, accessed December 16, 2008.