Totem Tales

Second graders studied Native American art in the Baden Academy Calliope program. Students learned about Totem Poles carved from trees that feature human and animal characters from a Native American story. Each story begins with the character at the base of the totem pole and continues up toward the top. The students wrote their own story, focusing on the importance of sequencing, and also drew and colored character faces that were attached to cardboard tubes to create their own totem poles. Students then typed their stories learning to use basic keyboarding skills. Teachers and students had a great time bringing you these wonderful tales. Profits from the sale of this book benefits Autism Speaks.

Contains 7 Tlingit Indian legends as told by Robert Zuboff, head of the Beaver Clan at Angoon, Admiralty Island, Alaska.

Hughina Harold paints a powerful picture of a world that no longer exists in this compelling account of her experiences as a young teacher and nurse on the remote Broughton Archipelago on British Columbia’s coast in the 1930s. Fresh from nursing school in Victoria and eager to start work, Harold could not have imagined the challenges that awaited her in the tiny village of Mamalilikulla. Leaving the comforts of Victoria behind for a cold, leaky floathome that she shared with two elderly missionaries, she had to adapt quickly to her new circumstances. Travelling in unreliable boats to remote outposts to treat the sick, attending births in the most primitive conditions and teaching—from standard, middle-class textbooks—children who had never even seen a car, this gutsy young woman rose to the challenge. The clash of cultures Hughina experienced was extreme, but through it she developed a new understanding of the people she had been sent to teach and treat, discovering their age-old traditions and witnessing “things that should not be forgotten. Written decades later and based on letters Harold had written home, Totem Poles and Tea ensures that her memories will be preserved.

Joseph Hillaire (Lummi, 1894–1967) is recognized as one of the great Coast Salish artists, carvers, and tradition-bearers of the twentieth century. In A Totem Pole History, his daughter Pauline Hillaire, Scälla–Of the Killer Whale, who is herself a well-known cultural historian and conservator, tells the story of her father’s life and the traditional and contemporary Lummi narratives that influenced his work. A Totem Pole History contains seventy-six photographs, including Joe’s most significant totem poles, many of which Pauline watched him carve. She conveys with great insight the stories, teachings, and history expressed by her father’s totem poles. Eight contributors provide essays on Coast Salish art and carving, adding to the author’s portrayal of Joe’s philosophy of art in Salish life, particularly in the context of twentieth century intercultural relations. This engaging volume provides an historical record to encourage Native artists and brings the work of a respected Salish carver to the attention of a broader audience.

Introduces totem poles and how they were made, and their importance to Native Americans living along the coast of North America which used them as a means of recording family and tribal history.