Hunt, George, 1854-1933
George Hunt (February 14, 1854 – 1933) (Tlingit) was a Canadian and a consultant to the American anthropologist Franz Boas; through his contributions, he is considered a linguist and ethnologist in his own right. He was Tlingit-English by birth and learned both those languages. George Hunt (February 14, 1854 – 1933) (Tlingit) was a Canadian and a consultant to the American anthropologist Franz Boas; through his contributions, he is considered a linguist and ethnologist in his own right. He was Tlingit-English by birth and learned both those languages. Mother, Mary Ebbetts (Ansnaq, Anislaga, A'naeesla'ga or Anain) (1823-1919), a member of the Raven clan of the Taantakwáan (Tongass) tribe of the Tlingit nation of what is now southeastern Alaska. Mary was the daughter of Chief Keishíshk' Shakes IV and S’eitlin, a Deisheetaan (Gaanax.ádi) woman from Aan goon (Angoon); Mary Hunt née Ebbetts (Ansnaq, Anislaga, A'naeesla'ga and Anain), a master Chilkat weaver, was influential among the Kwakwaka'wakw at Tsaxis, Fort Rupert, and introduced concepts of Tlingit hereditary privileges and artistic motifs (reflected on totem poles) into the local society.[citation needed] Hunt learned his mother's language and culture, as well as English and elements of his father's culture. Learning the Kwakwaka'wakw language and the local area from the Kwakwaka'wakw people, he became an interpreter and guide.
His reputation grew. In the early 1880s Hunt served as boatman, guide, and interpreter for Bernard Fillip Jacobsen (brother of Johan Adrian Jacobsen), one of the explorer/ethnologists of the far-ranging Jesup North Pacific Expedition.[1] He may have first met Franz Boas, American anthropologist and organizer of the expedition, at this time as well. Hunt's long collaboration with Franz Boas, an American anthropologist, began in 1886 when Boas first visited the Kwakwaka'wakw as part of the Jesup Expedition. Boas and Hunt worked to organize and create an exhibit of Kwakiutl and other Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Hunt collected hundreds of objects for the fair, including a house and a number of carved poles. He travelled to Chicago in April 1893 with a group of 17 Kwakiutl Indians from Fort Rupert, British Columbia. They re-created a village on the fairgrounds, where the Kwakiutl lived during the period of the fair and "demonstrated their ceremonial dances, arts and other traditions. For the 'performers' it was an opportunity to perform songs and dances that had been banned by Canadian government officials. After the Exposition, most of the objects from the exhibit were donated to the Field Museum, where many still can be seen on display today."[4]
Hunt was later instrumental in the purchase of the Yuquot Whalers' Shrine in 1904, an object that has since been of some controversy in recent decades. The Yuquot have tried to reclaim this work.
Over the years Hunt wrote as much as ten thousand pages of ethnological description for Boas.[5] This work covered every aspect of Kwakwaka'wakw culture, including potlatch ceremonies in which Hunt participated. When Boas received texts collected from other speakers, he sent the transcriptions to Hunt to look over, remarking in a 1931 letter, "In some cases, I can guess what is wrong but I had rather have you correct it than use my own uncertain knowledge of Kwakiutl."[6]
Hunt's manuscripts are held by the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, NY. The Hunt/Boas correspondence is found at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.
Legacy
