Exist Dates
1896 - present
Biographical or Historical Note
- abstract
- Permanent exhibition. Opened November 30, 1896. Located on Floor 1, Section 1. The Northwest Coast Hall at the American Museum
of Natural History highlights the traditional cultures of Native American and First Nation cultures from present-day Washington
State, British Columbia, and Alaska, including the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka’wakw), Haida, and Tlingit. Curators included Franz Boas,
Pliny Goddard, Stanley A. Freed, and Bella Weitzner. Expeditions that contributed to the hall included the Boas Expedition
to the Northwest Territories (1894-1895), the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897-1902), financed by Museum President Morris
K. Jesup, and the Goddard Expedition to British Columbia and Alaska (1922). Expedition members included George Emmons, Livingston
Farrand, Pliny Goddard, George Hunt, D.C.F. Newcombe, Harlan I. Smith, John R. Swanton, Will S. Taylor, and James Teit (1;
2; 3; 4; 5; 6, 1896, p. 19-20; 6, 1922 p. 10; 6, 1960/61, p. 25; 1, 1911, p. 23; 7).
When the Northwest Coast Hall first opened, it temporarily housed ethnological collections from Melanesia and northern Mexico
before they were transferred to a new wing (6, 1896, p. 19-20). The Eskimo collections were exhibited at the back of the hall
before being moved to a corridor between the Northwest Coast Hall and the Lecture Hall in 1916 (6, 1916, p. 87).
Cultures represented in the hall include Haida, Tlingit, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka’wakw), Tsimshian (Tsimshianic), Bella Coola (Nuxalk),
Coast Salish, Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth), Shuswap, and Thompson (Nlaka'pamux). Artifacts include basketry, ceremonial objects,
masks, textiles, tools, fishing gear, musical instruments, and woodcarving (9, 1931, p. 34; 10, 1967). The hall, with mural
paintings by Will S. Taylor, features large totem poles, house posts, grave monuments (6, 1909, p. 39; 9, 1935, p. 37) and
miniature models, such as the model of a Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka’wakw) village on Vancouver Island (9, 1928, p. 18; 6, 1911, p.
23).
The iconic Great Canoe, in the Grand Gallery as of 2017, was first exhibited in the Northwest Coast Hall. Mannequins representing
Chilkat Indians were installed in approximately 1910 (2; 9, 1911, p. 16-18), with work contributed by artist Albert Operti
(6, 1912, p. 71). The Canoe was transferred from the Northwest Coast Hall to the Grand Gallery in 1960 (6, 1960/61, p. 25),
where it still remains, suspended from the ceiling as of 2017.
As of 2017, the hall features a Digital Totem, an interactive installation that is part of a pilot project to bring contemporary
Northwest Coast voices and new interpretation into the hall. The installation has a touch-screen portal to the peoples, places,
and sounds of the Pacific Northwest. Museum visitors are introduced to indigenous Northwest Coast peoples through photos and
interviews, examine objects from the Museum’s collection via 360-degree rotations, listen to local languages, and create their
own Northwest Coast soundscapes using recordings of natural features, animals, and local instruments. To create the Digital
Totem, the Museum worked closely with Northwest Coast peoples and interviewed members of Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw, Haida, Nuu-chah-nulth,
Musqueam, Gitxsan, Tlingit, and Tsimshian communities (8).
Although the hall has been renovated several times, the suggestion of a "damp forest-seashore environment" and its presentation
has been retained throughout the hall's history (PG 1967), which is perhaps why the Northwest Coast Hall is credited with
being the Museum's oldest hall although other halls, such as the Hall of Primates, have roots tracing further back (AR 1964-1965
p. 4). Many of the early elements in the Northwest Coast Hall, such as the murals by Will Taylor and the tiled floor in the
alcoves remain in the hall as of 2017 (2; 11).
In September 2017, the Museum announced a multi-year project to update, restore, and conserve the Northwest Coast Hall. In
October 2018, renowned Nuu-chah-nulth artist and cultural historian Haa'yuups was named co-curator, along with AMNH Division
of Anthropology Curator of North American Ethnology Curator Peter Whiteley, in the restoration of the hall (13).
Sources
(1) American Museum of Natural History, "Hall of Northwest Coast Indians," accessed May 5, 2017, http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/human-origins-and-cultural-halls/hall-of-northwest-coast-indians.
(2) American Museum of Natural History Research Library Digital Special Collections, accessed May 5, 2017, http://images.library.amnh.org/digital
(3) American Museum of Natural History Research Library. Boas Expedition to the Northwest Territories (1894-1895), accessed
May 5, 2017, http://data.library.amnh.org:8082/orbeon/xeac/id/amnhc_2000023
(4) American Museum of Natural History Research Library. Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897-1902), accessed May 5, 2017,
http://data.library.amnh.org:8082/orbeon/xeac/id/amnhc_2000038
(5) American Museum of Natural History Research Library. Goddard Expedition to British Columbia and Alaska (1922), accessed
May 5, 2017, http://data.library.amnh.org:8082/orbeon/xeac/id/amnhc_2000728
(6) American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1896-1964/65.
(7) American Museum of Natural History Research Library. "Jesup North Pacific Expedition, accessed May 5, 2017, http://library.amnh.org/finding_aids_Jesup/.
(8) American Museum of Natural History, "Digital Totem," accessed May 5, 2017, http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/human-origins-and-cultural-halls/hall-of-northwest-coast-indians/digital-totem
(9) American Museum of Natural History. General Guide to the Exhibition Halls of the American Museum of Natural History. New
York: American Museum of Natural History, 1904-1931.
(10) American Museum of Natural History. The American Museum of Natural History: A Pictorial Guide. New York: American Museum
of Natural History, 1967.
(11) Hall of Northwest Coast Indians. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY. May 5, 2017.
(12) American Museum of Natural History. Official Guide: Images from around the American Museum of Natural History New York:
American Museum of Natural History, 1993.
(13) American Museum of Natural History. Northwest Coast Hall. American Museum of Natural History website (accessed February
5, 2021).
Information for the hall appears in the following Museum publications:
American Museum of Natural History Annual Reports for years 1895 (page 17-18); 1896 (page 19-20); 1898 (page 16-17); 1900
(page 18); 1904 (page 20); 1908 (page 36); 1909 (page 38); 1910 (page 48+); 1911 (page 22, 23, 60); 1912 (page 66, 71); 1913
(page 28); 1914 (page 31, 74); 1915 (page 28, 81); 1916 (page 86, 87); 1917 (page 46, 91); 1918 (page 43, 87); 1920 (page
26, 103); 1921 (page 104); 1922 (page 10, 101); 1923 (page 127); 1924 (page 110); 1926 (page 34, 84); 1927 (page 142); 1930
(page 38); 1937 (page 50, 70); 1956 (page 15); 1959 (page 4); 1960 (page 25, 68); 1961 (page 54); 1963 (page 71); 1964 (page
75); 1984 (page 59); 1989 (page 63); 2009 (page 29); 2010 (page 50)
American Museum of Natural History General Guides for years 1904 (Table of Contents, page 40); 1911 (page 13, 15, 16); 1913
(page 20); 1914 (Table of Contents, page 21); 1916 (page 23); 1918 (page 13); 1919 (page 13); 1920 (page 13); 1921 (page 13);
1922 (page 13); 1923 (page 13); 1927 (page 5, 37); 1928 (page 18); 1929 (page 18); 1930 (page 18); 1931 (page 34); 1932 (page
34); 1933 (page 36); 1934 (page 37); 1935 (page 37); 1936 (page 37); 1939 (page 16, 131); 1943 (page 16, 138); 1945 (page
16, 138); 1947 (page 16, 138); 1949 (page 16, 138); 1953 (Floor plans, page 172); 1956 (page 178); 1958 (page 180); 1962 (page
12, 42); 1964 (page 12, 17, 42)
American Museum of Natural History: Pictorial Guide, 1967
American Museum of Natural History: An Introduction (page 7, 8), 1972
American Museum of Natural History Official Guides for years 1984 (page 41); 1993 (page 35); 1993 (page 50); 2001 (Table of
Contents, page 30 60)
Terms
- place
- New York
AMNH: Floor 1, Section 1.
Additional location information: North Wing, Section 108 indicated for 1904; South Central Wing and Hall number 1-F is indicated
in publications for the 1930s.
