The Sculpin Hat at NMNH was collected more than 135 years ago.
NMNH Anthropology E74339, E74441
work on it again. When all the sections of the hats were finally carved and assembled, with guidance from Tlingit artist Cyril Zuboff (De- isheetaan), Hollshwander and Hollinger fin- ished the hats by painting them, inlaying shell for teeth and eyes, and adding ermine fur, sea lion whiskers, swan down and deer hide. The pair of replicas were finally completed in 2019. On September 25, 2019, Tlingit leaders,
clan members and Smithsonian staff gathered in Juneau to dedicate the new Sculpin Hat that
was given to the clan. Hollshwander, Hollinger, Thome and other representatives from the NMNH, SI Exhibits and the Digitization Pro- gram Office traveled to Alaska for the event. During the nine-hour ceremony many objects from both moieties were displayed, including many previously repatriated by the NMAI. The hat was placed on Wilson, who danced in it, making the new Sculpin Hat truly at.óow. “When you dance in it,” says Wilson “you breathe life into it and the hat comes alive.”
Although Wilson says people always talk
about how museums and Native people should collaborate, “This is one case where we did work together and something good like the hat came out of the product of us working with the Smithsonian.” While not all clans or tribes could go
through the extensive process of “culturally restoring” an object as with the Sculpin Hat, Hollinger says Indigenous artists can use such digital models as a map to replicate or
Left: Smithsonian Exhibits model maker Chris Hollshwander milling the new Sculpin Hat, a process than took more than a year to complete. Right: NMNH tribal liaison Eric Hollinger and model maker Chris Hollshwander worked together to finish the Sculpin Hat, including attaching sea lion whiskers.
16 AMERICAN INDIAN WINTER 2020
PHOTO COURTESY OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION EXHIBITS
COURTESY OF HAROLD JACOBS
PHOTO BY BRITTANY HANCE, NMNH REPATRIATION OFFICE
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