Celebration Recordings Collection
| Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives

Celebration is a biennial festival of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian tribal members organized every two years by Sealaska Heritage Institute. The Juneau event began in 1982, born of SHI's Board of Trustees' desire to celebrate and showcase Southeast Alaska Native traditions and customs. Since that time, Celebration has become an effective and energetic vehicle for encouraging individuals, families, clans and communities to participate in traditional song and dance, arts and crafts, and the revitalization of Native languages. It is one of the largest gatherings of Southeast Alaska Native peoples and is the second largest event sponsored by Alaska Natives in the State of Alaska.
Prior to European contact, the peoples of the Northwest Coast held many traditional ceremonies in which singing, dancing, formal oratory, and feasting took place. As the economy of this region changed from one of trade and sharing to a cash-based economy, some traditions began to founder. Dance, song, traditional oratory, and knowledge of clan protocol were among these threatened traditions, as our Elders recognized a generation ago.
Celebration is a new tradition. During earlier times, a clan from one moiety would always host a clan from the other moiety. An Eagle clan, for example, might host a Raven clan and, then, the reverse would occur in order that balance, reciprocity, and respect be maintained. Those who danced together as either hosts or guests were from one clan, one side. Now, clan members have scattered in order to pursue careers and personal interests, and the formal system of reciprocal obligation has become more difficult to maintain although parties and potlatches are still a vital part of Northwest Coast culture. At Celebration, some clan members still gather as single-clan Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian dance groups but most groups at Celebration represent combinations of many clans. As times have changed, the peoples of the Northwest Coast have adopted revitalized festival traditions while continuing to maintain the old. Although Celebration follows the pattern of a traditional ceremonial it is not a potlatch or memorial party. Adoptions, name giving, memorial services, and other events that are a proper part of those traditional gatherings are not part of Celebration and are observed at other times.
Today, Celebration has grown into a renowned festival of the performing, visual, and verbal arts. Celebration has also fostered the growing involvement of young Native people who are now producing new generations of song leaders, dancers, drummers, and artists. The first Celebration, in 1982, featured twelve dance groups and a total of 150 participants excluding the audience. In 1990, 34 dance groups were featured with over 500 participants. At Celebration 2002, 42 dance groups performed with more than 1,600 participants. Thousands of people flock to Juneau, a city of 30,000, in early June every other year to participate in and view Celebration activities.
Source: SHI Website, Jan. 16, 2007.

The material in the collection was created by SHI and via contract with recording companies. This collection began in 1982 and continues to grow each two years as more Celebration recordings are produced and added to the collection.
This collection consists of audio and audiovisual recordings of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s biennial Celebration festivals from 1982 to the present. The collection contains recordings primarily of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian dance performances, with accompanying events.
The collection has been organized chronologically and is open to the public. Patrons should, however, know that most of the recordings created before 1994 were captured on pre-standard half-inch VHS tapes, and SHI does not have the capacity to allow patrons to view these pre-1994 recordings, unless migrated to modern format. Some pre-1994 recordings are available on CD and DVD, but the bulk remained on the original tapes and reels as of 2014. For more recent Celebration events, DVD copies are available, and in some cases, such as with Celebrations 2008-2012, SHI contains portable hard drives with digital recorded copies of dance performances.
Box listing:
Boxes 1-7d: Celebration 1982.
Boxes 8-9a: Celebration 1984.
Boxes 10-13: Celebration 1986.
Boxes 14-18: Celebration 1988.
Boxes 19-21: Celebration 1990.
Boxes 22-26: Celebration 1992.
Boxes 27-31: Celebration 1994.
Boxes 32-35: Celebration 1996.
Boxes 36-38: Celebration 1998.
Boxes 39-40: Celebration 2000.
Box 41-42: Celebration 2002.
Boxes 43-45: Celebration 2004.
Box 46: Celebration 2006.
Boxes 47-48: Celebration 2008.
Boxes 49-50: Celebration 2010.
Boxes 51-52: Celebration 2012.