Louis Situwuka Shotridge (April 15, 1883 – August 6, 1937) was an American art collector and ethnological assistant who was an expert on the traditions of his people, the
Tlingit nation of southeastern
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. His Tlingit name was ''Stoowukháa'', which means "Astute One."
Early life
Louis Shotridge was born at
Klukwan, Alaska
Klukwan (Tlingit: ''Tlákw.aan'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alaska, United States. It is technically in Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, though it is an enclave of Haines Borough. At the 2010 census the population was 95, down from 139 at ...
, near present-day
Haines, in 1883, to George Shotridge (birth name ''Yeilgooxu'', also spelled as ''Yeil gooxhu'') and ''Kudeit.sáakw''. In the Tlingit matrilineal system, Louis followed his mother as a member of the
Kaagwaantaan clan in the Eagle moiety and as a member of the ''Gaaw Hit'' (Drum House) offshoot called ''Ligooshi Hit'' (Finned House). Louis was named after a (
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
) missionary in Haines, Louis Paul. The name Shotridge is derived from Louis' paternal grandfather Chief "Tschartitsch," this being a Germanicized spelling of the Tlingit name "kakolah" or, in contemporary Tlingit orthography, ''Shaadbaxhícht''.
Marriage
Shotridge was educated at the Haines mission school, where he met his wife-to-be,
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
Dennis (''Kaatkwaaxsnéi'', also spelled as ''Katwachsnea''), whom he married in a traditional Tlingit arranged marriage; she was of the Lukaax.ádi clan. Florence became an accomplished weaver of baskets and
Chilkat blankets and performed her technique at the
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, in 1905.
Perhaps inspired by contact with the ethnologist Lt.
G. T. Emmons, Louis accompanied Florence to Portland to exhibit and sell Tlingit artifacts from Klukwan. Forty-nine were sold to
George Byron Gordon of the
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, who subsequently hired him to collect more, thus beginning a lifelong career for the Shotridges as artifact collectors, art producers, and culture-brokers.
Work in anthropology
In 1912 the Shotridges visited Philadelphia and met the anthropologist
Frank Speck, who introduced them to Canada's leading anthropologist-linguist,
Edward Sapir. They began to work with Sapir as well, providing him with essays, information, and objects.
In 1914 the Shotridges met
Franz Boas
Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...
in New York and worked with him on recording information on Tlingit language and musicology. Boas included Louis in his lecture audiences and eventually in his weekly round-table discussions among anthropologists at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
Starting in 1915, Shotridge worked for 17 years as Assistant Curator at the University Museum, making him the first Northwest Coast Indian to be employed by a museum.
Louis was also active in the
Alaska Native Brotherhood
The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) and its counterpart, the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS), are two nonprofit organizations founded to address racism against Alaska Native peoples in Alaska. ANB was formed in 1912 and ANS founded three years lat ...
and served as its Grand President.
Florence died on June 12, 1917, of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
and was buried at
Chilkoot, Alaska.
In February 1919 Louis remarried, to Elizabeth Cook, a Tlingit of the L'uknax.ádi clan, and they had three children: Louis Jr., Richard, and Lillian. Elizabeth died in August 1928 of tuberculosis. In the early 1930s Louis married again, to Mary Kasakan (''Kaakaltin''), a Tlingit of
Sitka, Alaska
russian: Ситка
, native_name_lang = tli
, settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough
, image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg
, image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984
, image_size ...
of the Kiks.ádi clan from the family of "Chief Katlean", and had two more children by her.
Shotridge died August 6, 1937, of complications from an accident.
References
*
Berman, Judith (2004) "'Some Mysterious Means of Fortune': A Look at North Pacific Coast Oral History." In: ''Coming to Shore: Northwest Coast Ethnology, Traditions, and Visions,'' ed. by Marie Mauzé, Michael E. Harkin, and Sergei Kan, pp. 129–162. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
* Boas, Franz (1917) ''Grammatical Notes on the Language of the Tlingit Indians.'' Philadelphia: University Museum.
* Dean, Jonathan (1998) "Louis Shotridge, Museum Man: A 1918 Visit to the Nass and Skeena Rivers." ''Pacific Northwest Quarterly,'' vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 202–210.
* Milburn, Maureen E. (1986) "Louis Shotridge and the Objects of Everlasting Esteem." In: ''Raven's Journey,'' ed. by Susan Kaplan and Kristin J. Barsness, pp. 54–90. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
* Milburn, Maureen E. (1994) "Weaving the 'Tina' Blanket: The Journey of Florence and Louis Shotridge." In: ''Haa Kusteeyí, Our Culture: Tlingit Life Stories,'' ed. by
Nora Marks Dauenhauer
Nora Marks Keixwnéi Dauenhauer (May 8, 1927 – September 25, 2017) was a Tlingit poet, short-story writer, and Tlingit language scholar from Alaska. She won an American Book Award for ''Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 An ...
and
Richard Dauenhauer
Richard Dauenhauer (April 10, 1942 – August 19, 2014) was an American poet, linguist, and translator who married into, and subsequently became an expert on, the Tlingit nation of southeastern Alaska. He was married to the Tlingit poet and schol ...
, pp. 548–564. (Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature, vol. 3.) Seattle: University of Washington Press.
* Shotridge, Florence (1913) "The Life of a Chilkat Indian Girl." ''Museum Journal'' (University of Pennsylvania Museum), vol. 4, pp. 101–103.
* Shotridge, Florence, and Louis Shotridge (1913) "Indians of the Northwest." ''Museum Journal,'' vol. 4, pp. 71–80.
* Shotridge, Florence, and Louis Shotridge (1913) "Chilkat Houses." ''Museum Journal,'' vol. 4, pp. 81–100.
* Shotridge, Louis (1917) "My Northland Revisited." ''Museum Journal,'' vol. 8, pp. 105–115.
* Shotridge, Louis (1919) "War Helmets and Clan Hats of the Tlingit Indians." ''Museum Journal,'' vol. 10, pp. 43–48.
* Shotridge, Louis (1919) "A Visit to the
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terr ...
Indians." ''Museum Journal,'' vol. 10, pp. 49–67, 117–148.
* Shotridge, Louis (1920) "Ghost of Courageous Adventurer." ''Museum Journal,'' vol. 11, pp. 11–26.
* Shotridge, Louis (1928) "The Emblems of Tlingit Culture." ''Museum Journal,'' vol. 19, pp. 350–377.
* Shotridge, Louis (1929) "The Kaguanton Shark Helmet." ''Museum Journal,'' vol. 20, pp. 339–343.
External links
Louis Shotridge Digital Archiveat the
Penn Museum
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology—commonly known as the Penn Museum—is an archaeology and anthropology museum at the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penn's campus in the University City neighb ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shotridge, Louis
1883 births
1937 deaths
20th-century American anthropologists
20th-century Native Americans
Accidental deaths in Alaska
Alaska Native people
American ethnologists
Native American anthropologists
People from Haines Borough, Alaska
Tlingit people
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Writers from Alaska
American Folklorists of Color