Jennie Thlunaut Recordings Collection, 1972-2011 | Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives

This collection contains audio recordings concerning Tlingit weaver Jennie Thlunaut, some including the production of the Sealaska Heritage Institute film In Memory of Jennie Thlunaut, 1890-1896, first released in 1988.

In 1988 Sealaska released this film on VHS which discussed the life and works of Thlunaut, a renowned Tlingit Chilkat weaver who weaved over fifty robes and tunics and received numerous awards, including the Governor's Award for the Arts and the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship Award. In 1986 Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Suzanne Scollon recorded Thlunaut on home video, interviewing her about her life and work. This recording footage was eventually used to create the 1988 film. While his is not a professional production, it is on the contrary, a loving and personal homage to Thlunaut. In 2011 Sealaska reissued the film in DVD format.

This collection contains the original 1986 footage captured by Dauenhauer and Scollon (on Umatic cassettes) and copies of the 1988 film on VHS and DVD. It also contains other recordings of Thlunaut speaking about history and weaving, captured on VHS, DVD, and cassette. Additional recordings captured on cassette appear to contain Thlunaut looking at historic photographs and speaking about their content, recorded between 1972/74.

Researcher Note: SHI contains additional recordings of Thlunaut in other collections. Consult the archival catalog.