Haida Carvers in Argillite By Marius Barbeau

Published by the National Museum of Canada

1957 First Edition Hardcover

Very Good Vintage Condition. The book is clean, covers attached, secure binding, previous owner signature on front end-page, otherwise unmarked, no internal writing, no highlighting, crisp inner pages, no fading, no stains, no ripped pages, no edge chipping, no corner folds, no creased pages, no remainder marks, no price stickers, not ex-library. Some light surface and general wear from age, use, storage and handling.

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The  Haida  are an  indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast  of  North America. They constitute one of 203  First Nations in British Columbia  and 231 federally recognized  tribes in Alaska. Their traditional territory include  Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the coast of  British Columbia, and the southern half of  Prince of Wales Island, in  Southeast Alaska. Their language is  Haida, a linguistic isolate. The Haida are known for their  craftsmanship, trading skills, and  seamanship. In Canada, the Haida are represented by  Council of the Haida Nation (CHN), in addition to the two village band governments,  Old Massett Village Council  and  Skidegate Band Council. Federally recognized Haida tribes in the United States include the  Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska  and the Hydaburg Cooperative Association. 

Haida society continues to produce a robust and highly stylized art form, a leading component of  Northwest Coast art. While artists frequently have expressed this in large wooden carvings (totem poles),  Chilkat weaving, or ornate jewellery, in the 21st century, younger people are also making art in a popular expression such as  Haida manga. The Haida also created "notions of wealth", and Jenness credits them with the introduction of the  totem pole  (Haida:  ǥyaagang) and the  bentwood  box. Missionaries regarded the carved poles as  graven images  rather than representations of the family histories that wove Haida society together. Chiefly families showed their histories by erecting totems outside their homes, or on house posts forming the building. Well known contemporary Haida artists include  Bill Reid,  Robert Davidson,  Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, and  Freda Diesing  amongst others.

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Charles Marius Barbeau  (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969), also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian  ethnographer  and  folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian  anthropology.  A  Rhodes Scholar, he is best known for an early championing of  Québecois  folk culture, and for his exhaustive cataloguing of the social organization, narrative and musical traditions, and plastic arts of the  Tsimshianic-speaking peoples in  British Columbia  (Tsimshian,  Gitxsan, and  Nisga'a), and other  Northwest Coast peoples. He developed unconventional theories about the  peopling of the Americas.