Peoples of the Northwest Coast Hudson Museum Virtual Tour
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Visual: Hudson Museum logo followed by a title card reading “Native American Galleries Tour” and “Peoples of the Northwest Coast” with an image of a museum exhibit.
Visual: A wooden mask with moveable elements presented in “open” form to show a face hidden within.
Narration: The Hudson Museum has collections from the Arctic, Plains, Southwest, and Northwest Coast in addition to the Maine Indian collection.
Visual: A stone sculpture depicting a man wearing a hooded coat in a kayak holding a spear above a seal displayed as beneath the surface of the water.
Narration: It is one of the only Museums in Maine where you can compare and contrast Native American cultures from North America.
Visual: A bag made of stiff material, rectangular in shape, painted with decorative elements.
Narration: These collections date from the 1850s to the Present and for communities today, these pieces provide inspiration for contemporary works
Visual: A ceramic vessel covered in crushed turquoise and decorated with small carved stone fetishes and feathers.
Narration: and connect them to their ancestors.
Visual: A simple map of the region of North America encompassing Canada and the northern portion of the United States with regions labeled Arctic, Subarctic, Northwest Coast (along the Pacific coast), and Plateau.
Visual: A series of landscapes including a river, coastline, and verdant forest.
Narration: The Peoples of the Northwest Coast live in an environment with a mild climate that features abundant natural resources: river systems with migratory fish species, five species of salmon, the Pacific Ocean with access to shellfish and crustaceans, a wide variety of fish and whale species, and forests that provide habitat and hunting and gathering grounds for animals and plants.
Visual: A topographic and environmental map of the Pacific coast that pans from California in the United States to British Columbia in Canada.
Narration: Geographically the region includes the present-day states of Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska as well as the province of British Columbia.
Visual: A panning shot of a verdant forest.
Narration: The peoples of this region were hunters and gatherers, but unlike most hunter-gatherer groups, they were able to stay in one place for extended periods of time without practicing agriculture.
Visual: A low wooden structure in front of a forest. It appears to be partially subterranean.
Narration: They built large-scale cedar plank long houses where extended families and others, often 50 or more people lived, and created a stratified social structure with Chiefs, artisans, common people and even slaves—individuals who had lost status for violating community values or were captured in war.
Visual: A museum exhibit displaying a collection of objects with a sign in the background reading “Status and Power”. Most prominent are a long robe with eagles, a large ladle, and a collection of rattles.
Narration: The objects here identify the status of the individual and were worn for special occasions, such as house and totem pole raisings, births, deaths, and marriages. They also identify the clan and lineage of the wearer. In our culture, we identify individuals who are genetically related by last names. In Northwest Coast culture individuals belonged to a clan, such as Raven, Eagle, Wolf and Killer Whale. An individual inherited their clan from their mother and clan crests were displayed on personal possessions.
Visual: Two hats or headdresses in the museum exhibit. In the rear is a hat depicting the face of a bird with inlaid mother-of-pearl elements. In the front is a finely-woven conical hat topped with a stack of four rings and decorated with linear designs.
Narration: The most important item of regalia was the hat—these could be basketry hats made from spruce root or carved wooden helmets.
Visual: A wooden hat, widely conical in shape, topped with the carved head of a seal and with two applied “flippers”. All is carved and painted.
Narration: Both types of hats displayed clan crests.
Visual: A closer shot of the long robe with the eagles, showing it is woven.
Narration: Other regalia included Chilkat tunics and blankets woven from mountain goat wool, dog fur and yellow cedar bark. These items were often worn at potlatches and dances.
Visual: A closer shot of the three rattles on exhibit. All are carved and painted to depict a bird, and on one can be seen a person or figure on the bird’s back.
Narration: Rattles were also used during potlatches and ceremonies. The Raven rattle tell how Raven brought light to the people and rattles were carried by high-ranking individuals at ceremonies and dances.
Visual: A carved and painted canoe paddle displayed next to a small, carved model of a canoe.
Narration: The cultures of the Northwest Coast build and continue to build large oceangoing canoes. Here is a model of a Haida canoe. Full size canoes, upwards of 50 feet long, are made from a single giant red cedar log. The log was hollowed out and the prow and stern as well as keel were carved. Canoes were traditionally rowed with paddles, but after contact many had sails. These canoes went out on the open ocean miles offshore to fish for halibut, which could weigh hundreds of pounds and even whales.
Visual: A helmet in the shape of a large wooden whale with an open mouth showing wooden teeth and with lines running to various portions of the structure which could be moved. The entire thing is painted decoratively.
Narration: The capture of a whale was an event to be memorialized through song and dance.
Visual: Three masks in a museum exhibit. From left to right, a face that appears to be whistling with hair sprouting from the top, a face within a sunburst of mother-of-pearl rays, and a face with an eagle’s curved bill for the nose.
Narration: Masks were essential to the winter cycle of ceremonials in which community history, legends and values were passed from one generation to the next. Here we have three masks from the Northwest Coast
Visual: A close-up of the “whistling” mask, showing the pursed red lips, black skin, and tufts of hair at the top.
Narration: This is Tsonoqua the wild woman of the forest who eats little children who wander off into the woods. Does this remind you of any tales from your childhood? This mask represents a cultural universal in which children are discouraged in various ways from wandering off alone.
Visual: A close-up of the sun mask, showing the serene face with realistic features and pale eyes.
Narration: This mask is used to tell the story of how raven stole the sun from the sky people and brought light to the people. It is part of the creation legend in which the people emerged from a giant clam shell to a world in darkness.
Visual: A close-up of the hawk mask showing the large, stylized eyes, the long, curved nose, dark blue skin, and open mouth.
Narration: This mask represents the Blue Hawk—a being with supernatural powers who can help the people in times of need. There are many Northwest Coast legends that involve another bird with supernatural powers—Thunderbird. When whale came up the river eating salmon and depriving the people of food. Thunderbird grabbed whale in his talons and flew whale to the top of a mountain. When whale agreed to stay in the ocean, Thunderbird took him off the mountaintop and returned him to the sea.
Visual: A portion of a museum case with a collection of bowls and a large scoop surrounding an informational sign that reads “Potlatches”. The bowls are of intricately carved wood, very dark in color, and some are decorated with inlaid mother-of-pearl. The scoop is very large with a wide bowl and a handle carved and painted to look like a bear or human figure.
Narration: Central to Northwest Coast ceremonies was the potlatch. Potlatches validated events within the community—births, deaths, marriages and other important events—and were often held to demonstrate a leader’s wealth and power. Potlatches featured feasting and the distribution of valuable gifts or even the destruction of goods.
Visual: A series of detail shots of a bowl carved to look like an animal with mother-of-pearl eyes followed by a very large vessel in the shape of a painted wooden whale. These are followed by a return to the previous shot of bowls and a scoop in a museum display.
Narration: Items associated with the potlatch include bowls often carved in the shape of animals and marine mammals, such as these examples here and ladles carved from wood or made from mountain goat horns.
Visual: A detail shot of a rectangular bowl or vessel – large enough for an adult to sit within – with a face carved into one end and all sides painted in decorative elements. The video then returns to the previous shot of the museum exhibit.
Narration: Bowls vary widely in size from ones that would hold a person to tiny ones that would fit in your hand. Some were used for eulachon oil—which is a special delicacy, while others are used to present fish, shellfish or meat stews.
Visual: A block- or screen-printed artwork in black and red on white in the characteristic style of Northwest Coast art.
Narration: Today, the people of the Northwest Coast carry on traditions that are thousands of years old and continue to create objects that are used for ceremonies, dances and potlatches, as well as jewelry, prints and carvings.
Visual: 91¸£Àû logo.