Northwest Coast Regalia

History of Button Blankets

Button Blankets were created around the 1840s in southeast Alaska. Local artisans utilized the available Hudson Bay wool trade blankets to create regalia blankets using an fabric applique technique. The design of the blanket often depicted family crests within the central open field. Trade buttons and beads were often used as additional adornments along the boarder edge of the blanket.

Copper River Reds

Blanket - Copper River Reds

Northwest Coast style button blanket of multiple Sockeye salmon using three styles of formline: Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. The blanket utilizes coins as buttons, an old style of buttons used during the 1840s to 1930s.

Regalia - Copper River Reds

Regalia set of jacket, apron, and leggins made for "Copper River Reds." Similar to the button blanket, each piece of regalia utilizes coins as buttons.

Wool Salmon Jacket

Salmon Apron

Salmon Leggings

Wool Salmon Jacket

Regalia - Copper River Reds

Regalia set of jacket, apron, and leggins made for "Copper River Reds." Similar to the button blanket, each piece of regalia utilizes coins as buttons and features the sockeye salmon of all three styles of northern formline including: Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian.

The jacket is my grandfather’s old wool halibut jacket with the Norwegian style bib. The left salmon head on the bib is Tlingit and the right salmon head is Haida. The two salmon heads on the sleeves are Tsimshian. The apron is a simplistic style utlizing the appliqué technique. The salmon formline styles are Tlingit on the left and Tsimshian on the right.

National Eagle Repository

Button Blanket

Northwest Coast style wool button blanket with formline tináa of bald eagles. The blanket is a witticism of the US Fish and Wildlife Service federal repository for eagle parts. The blanket utilizes the formline style of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. The blanket utilizes coins as buttons, an old style of buttons used during the 1840s to 1930s.

Tlingit tináa

This tináa utilizes a Tlingit style of formline design. Note the thick bold lines and emphasis on the positive space. This is a common feature of Tlingit formline.

Haida tináa

This tináa utilizes a Haida style of formline design. Note the cross hatch lines in copper beads and thinner ovid shapes. The Haida place a greater emphasis on flowing positive and negative space.

Tsimshian tináa

This tináa utilizes a Tsimshian style of formline design. Similar to the Haida style of formline, the Tsimshian also focus on a flowing balance between negative and positive space. However, they utilize more cross hatch lines and negative space.

National Eagle Repository

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service maintains the National Eagle Repository. This facility receives, inventories, stores, and distributes both bald and golden eagle parts to federally recognized Native Americans in the United States for religious purposes.

Traditional tináa

A tináa is a shield created from beaten copper metal. It is a symbol of wealth within the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures. Tináa were often brought out and openly displayed during important cultural events as symbols of an individual wealth and prestige. These shields were often exchanged as part of the distribution of wealth during potlatch feasts.

The image to the left is a large tináa that is decorated with a double-headed Eagle. It was collected by Charles F. Newcombe in the Haida village of Skedans prior to 1900. The double-headed eagle design is thought to be inspired by the Imperial Russian insignia that was introduced by Russian fur traders in Alaska.

Canadian Museum of History. CMC VII-B-665 (S92-4244)

The Tongass Forrest Button Blanket

The Tongass National Forest is the nation's largest national forest spanning most of Southeast Alaska. Yet the forest encompasses the historical territory of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people.

The button blanket, Tongass National Forest, sheds light upon the relationship between the US Forest Service and Alaska Natives as the national forest continues to provide a wealth of raw materials that are vital to both economic stability and cultural practices of Alaska Natives.

United State Forest Service

The Alaska Natives developed the first timber management policies in Southeast Alaska based upon a system of clan and house land claims. These individual land parcels fostered sustainable local timber and resource management practices that provided a wealth of timber and artistic materials.

The Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve was first created in 1902, and later was expanded in 1909 and renamed as the Tongass National Forest. Today the Tongass is the United State’s largest national forest and covers most of Southeast Alaska. Alaska Natives continue to work with the US Forest Service for both commercial and noncommercial activities.

Formline Logo

Formline can broken down into three stylistic elements that are repetitively used to create the outline subjects: U-shapes, ovoids, and S-shapes. In this case, the U-shape and S-shapes are used to form the letters of the U.S. Forest Service logo.

Humanity - Button Blanket

Northwest Coast style button blanket with formline style love birds using Tlingit formline. The love birds motif is inspired by the two main moieties of the Haida and Tlingit, the Eagles and the Ravens. Traditionally, marriage was between eagles and raven rather then between members of the same moiety. In this blanket I represent the combined clans to signify diversity and union. Thus, represent humanity as a whole rather then an individual moiety or clan. The blanket utilizes the old coin button style of the early 1840s to 1930s.

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