Tennessee Boy Scouts Send World War II
Totem Pole Back To The Aleutian Islands

A totem pole, carved during World War II in the Aleutian Islands, made a 4,000 mile journey back to Alaska, thanks to the efforts of Tennessee Native Americans and the generosity of a Tennessee Boy Scout group. It was picked up from the Boxwell Boy Scout Reservation in Wilson County, Tennessee, on March 13, and delivered to Unalaska Island, Alaska on April 24. It will be displayed at the Museum of the Aleutians when the Museum’s new building is completed.

The totem pole was erected on Kiska Island while Naval forces occupied the island as part of the U.S. defense of the mainland from Japan. In the early 1960’s, during a military clean-up, it was shipped to a Navy base in California. Eventually, it was donated to a group of Boy Scouts in Lebanon, Tennessee.

The American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation was contacted about the totem pole by Dan Kirby of the Tennessee Alliance for Native American Rights, a group assisting with the repatriation of Native American remains and burial objects in the Tennessee area. The Repatriation Foundation researched the pole’s origins and contacted Allison Young, Cultural Heritage Director of the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, who suggested that it be donated to the Museum of the Aleutians. Director of the museum Rick Knecht will oversee its installation in Alaska.

Doug Kirby (no relation to Dan), who is Advisor for Native American Activities for the Wa-Hi-Nasa Lodge of the Middle Tennessee Council, Boy Scouts of America, worked with the Repatriation Foundation to return the huge wood carving. Mr. Kirby had some difficulty finding a shipper willing to take on the daunting task of hauling the large, awkward, somewhat fragile pole to the middle of the Bering Sea. After refusals from some major shippers, David Hagar of American Manufacturing Inc. Transportation Division agreed to the job. The journey included a 10-day ride on a barge from Seattle to Unalaska Island.

The case was unique for the Repatriation Foundation in that the return was initiated by Native Americans and involved an object that may not have been carved by a Native American. Nevertheless, the totem pole’s return to the Aleutians is emblematic of the way that Native American repatriation has encouraged a reassessment of the ownership of exotic artifacts of other Peoples.

Return from Totem Pole - An Endearing Story to Native American Totem Poles