A house front and totem pole said to be at Bella Coola. This image may be from a book by Marius Barbeau or Edward Linnaeus Keithahn.

House post figures flank a door frame in Montréal

House post figures flank a door frame in Montréal

House post figures flank a door frame in Montréal

House post figures flank a door frame in Montréal

House post figures flank a door frame in Montréal for the Museum of Anthropology's Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".

Image of the houseposts and beam of what once was a longhouse in Quatsino, BC, on the north end of Vancouver Island. These posts appear to be the same as posts now houses at the Museum of Anthropology (museum item number A50009 a-c). The poles are described on the museum's catalogue: "Two upright posts and crossbeam that were part of a large interior house frame (also see records d-f and g-h). The uprights depict sea lions carved in high relief and painted (parts a-b). Their heads are equal size to their bodies. Both part a and b have an eagle in profile within the sea lions front flippers. Part a has a top portion of a face painted on the back of its head that is part of a sisiutl that runs down the seal lions back and into its hind flipper with a serpent's head in each. The cross-beam (part c) is painted and carved as a supernatural double-headed sea lion. All parts are painted black and white with Northwest Coast stylized forms... The Klix'ken (sea lion) House was commissioned by Tza'kyius around 1906, and was the last old style house erected in Xwatis. The beams and figures stood as part of a house frame, and acted as structural supports. Figures represented on house frames were supernatural beings which the family living in the house had the right, through their history and origins, to represent."

Item is a hand-tinted glass lantern slide of the inside of a building with two house posts. Based on the original order of the collection, photograph might have been taken in Alert Bay.

Image of a bear shaped interior house post. This appears to be a house post that was transferred from Hope Island to the Museum of Anthropology in 1956.

Image of a bear shaped interior house post. This appears to be a house post that was transferred from Hope Island to the Museum of Anthropology in 1956.

Image of interior house posts in an abandoned settlement. These appear to be the house posts that were transported from Hope Island to the Museum of Anthropology in 1956.

Image of interior house posts in an abandoned settlement. These appear to be the house posts that were transported from Hope Island to the Museum of Anthropology in 1956.

A wider view of some displays from the Museum of Anthropology's Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".

Items from the Museum of Anthropology on display in Montréal for the Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".

Items from the Museum of Anthropology on display in Montréal for the Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".

Items from the Museum of Anthropology on display in Montréal for the Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".

Items from the Museum of Anthropology on display in Montréal for the Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".

Items from the Museum of Anthropology on display in Montréal for the Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".

Items from the Museum of Anthropology on display in Montréal for the Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".

Items from the Museum of Anthropology on display in Montréal for the Northwest Coast exhibit for "Man and His World".