''The Yuquot Whalers' Shrine'' (known also as 'prayer house' or 'washing house'), previously located on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

, British Columbia, was a site of purification rituals, passed down through the family of a

Yuquot Yuquot , also known as Friendly Cove, is a small settlement of around six people—the Williams family of the Mowachaht band—plus two full-time lighthouse keepers, located on Nootka Island in Nootka Sound, just west of Vancouver Island, British C ...

chief. It contained a collection of 88 carved human figures, four carved whale figures, and sixteen human skulls. Since the early twentieth century, it has been in the possession of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

in New York City, but is rarely displayed. Talks are underway regarding repatriation.

Description

The Shrine was first described in first-hand accounts in 1785 by early Western explorers as a Nootka (

Nuu-chah-nulth The Nuu-chah-nulth (; Nuučaan̓uł: ), also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifte ...

) ceremonial site; the actual origin of the Shrine is unclear. Anthropologist Aldona Jonaitis believes a text of Camille de Roquefeuil written in 1818 provides the first conclusive evidence of the Shrine's existence from the perspective of multiple people. Rituals performed at the Shrine are of some contention, with more recent texts from anthropologists

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 ...

and

Philip Drucker Philip Drucker (1911–1982) was an American anthropologist and archaeologist who specialized in the Native American peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America. He also played an important part in the early excavations under Matthew Stirlin ...

describing the ritual as involving the use of skulls or corpses that do not appear in the earlier French texts of de Roquefeuil and his ship's surgeon Yves-Thomas Vimont. What is known is that it was of considerable importance given the Nuu-chah-nulth's long history of whaling, going back at least 4000 years.

Removal

It has been suggested that it was late in the winter canning season of 1900/early 1901 that George Hunt, a

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

-English ethnographer, learned of this 'mysterious' Shrine in the forest near Yuquot. Hunt initiated communications with

in 1903 about the existence of the Shrine, photographing it meticulously to gauge his interest; Boas was excited to purchase it on behalf of his employer, the

. Two elders claimed they had power to give permission to remove the Shrine and Hunt negotiated a price with both of them, with the condition was he was to wait until the band left for the hunt before removing the Shrine, as they feared a backlash. It was in 1904 that the Shrine was moved to the AMNH where is remains today, yet to be fully displayed.

Franz Boas, George Hunt, and Salvage Anthropology

George Hunt, upon removal of the Shrine, wrote to Boas to tell him, "It was the best thing I ever bought from the Indians". For Boas, the acquisition of the Whalers' Shrine became a defining 'historical moment', and marked a new direction in his 'new found obsession' with regard to the museum, its collections, and displays. Anthropologist Harry Whitehead has been especially outspoken about the methods used by George Hunt and Franz Boas in acquiring artefacts (and specifically the Whalers' Shrine). He believes that they contributed significantly to the perpetuation of

salvage anthropology Salvage anthropology, related to salvage ethnography, is a term referring to the practice of collecting and documenting in the face of presumed cultural decline. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, salvage anthropology influenced col ...

through their frequent collection and cataloguing of First Nations or American Indian objects. Whitehead says that in an attempt to save artefacts of the Nuu-chah-nulth before they 'disappeared', they accelerated the destruction of their 'traditional culture'. Furthermore, their public display and photographs of the artefacts collected prompted others to follow suit in collecting for their own institutions, which exacerbated the situation and led to years of misrepresentation of many groups of people and artefacts taken under false pretences. Aaron Glass, anthropologist of the Northwest Coast, has said that Hunt and Boas directly influenced photographers and anthropologists looking to capture Nuu-chah-nulth culture before it 'disappeared', continuing the practice of salvage ethnography and anthropology. He writes that photographer

Edward Curtis Edward Sherriff Curtis (February 19, 1868 – October 19, 1952) was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and on Native American people. Sometimes referred to as the "Shadow Catcher", Curtis traveled ...

(spurred on by Hunt's photographs to make his own of the Nuu-chah-nulth) was interventionist in his work and added things for visual effect and interest, encouraging the romanticizing of a 'lost culture' typical of

salvage ethnography Salvage ethnography is the recording of the practices and folklore of cultures threatened with extinction, including as a result of modernization. It is generally associated with the American anthropologist Franz Boas; he and his students aimed t ...

. George Hunt himself, under disguise, posed as a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth to demonstrate his interpretation of certain ceremonies in 1910 for Curtis' camera. The photograph is not of George Hunt falsely acting out a Nuu-chah-nulth initiation at all, George is acting out a Kwakiutl ceremony on the East coast of Vancouver Island which he was familiar with.

Repatriation

The

repatriation Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

of the Shrine and its contents are mired by extenuating and complicating circumstances. Canada does not presently have legislation in governing repatriation; however, museums act as caretakers on a case-by-case basis. In the United States, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (

NAGPRA The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law enacted on November 16, 1990. The Act requires federal agencies and institutions that ...

) requires Native American cultural items to be returned to 'lineal descendents'. The current discourse of the Shrine is to build a community centre that would house the Shrine, or build a replica of the Shrine. Jonaitas explains, however, that there needs to be a more 'nuanced' view and understanding of how historical events occurring, both before and after the acquisition, has presented challenges as to how to repatriate in light of loss of ceremonial rituals and traditions surrounding the handling of such sacred items. The repatriation of the Whalers' Shrine was the subject of a 1994 documentary entitled 'Washing of Tears' by filmmaker and anthropologist,

Hugh Brody Hugh Brody (born 1943) is a British anthropologist, writer, director and lecturer. Education In the 1950s he worked as an accountant in Sheffield before passing the entrance examinations for the University of Oxford. He studied at Trinity Coll ...

Heritage Value

Canada has designated the Whalers' Shrine Site as a national historic site since 1983.

Notes