Totem

Colour slides collected and donated by Adelaide de Menil. Slide jacket's contain numbers and some descriptions, which have been copied to the titles. all slides read: Schallerer's Photo Shop, 212 Front Street, Ketchikan, Alaska. Wedding or Wolf Pole, which derives its name from the prominant figure of a wolf in the centre of the pole. The top figure is a man, possibly a village watchman or the owner of the totem pole. The bottom figure is a salmon. Two interpretations of the pole exist. Teh most likely is that the wolf and salmon represent the clan crest symbols, or they may identify the clan crests of a husband and wife. The other interpretation identifies this pole as a legend pole. This interpretation recognizes the salmon as a sockeye and suggests the legend of a boy who was captured by the Dog Salmon people. The original Wolf Pole was collected in 1903, probably from the village of Howkan on Prince of Wales Island.