Please join us for a presentation and open dialogue regarding the Maxwell Museum’s conservation/move project of the famous Kwakwa'kawakw totem pole currently residing in the Museum’s courtyard.

Facilitated by:
Beverly Singer (Director, Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies, and Associate Professor of Anthropology & Native American Studies UNM) Devorah Romanek (Curator of Exhibits, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, UNM) Ellen Carrlee (Conservator for the State of Alaska) India Real Young (PhD candidate Art History, UNM)

The 4,000 pound 40 foot totem pole, carved in 1910 by the prominent Kwakwa'kawakw carver Charlie James, was acquired by UNM anthropologist Frank Hibben in 1941. The totem pole has been the subject of ongoing research by India Real, who has been working in Alert Bay, in collaboration with community members and descendants of the Charlie James. The Maxwell Museum, in partnership with the UNM Ortiz Center and the Alert Bay community is undertaking conservation and possible move of the pole from the courtyard to the Hibben Center.