Norman Tait
Museum Campus
In front of main entrance
of Field Museum of Natural History
1400 South Lake Shore
Drive
This
55-foot cedar totem was carved by Tait, a member of Nishga’a Band, Tsimshian
Tribe of British Columbia. This was his first permanent installation in the
Americas and was commissioned by The Women’s Board of the Field Museum of
Natural History in honor of the Museum’s permanent exhibit about the Maritime
Peoples of the Artic and Northwest Coast. The monument explains Tait’s family
ancestry through traditional story (Aadizookaan). Five brothers went on a
beaver hunt that was successful, but two beavers escaped from them. The
youngest brother, who was too young to hunt, followed the two beavers and
helped them home. At the beaver lodge, the brother sees the beavers remove
their pelts, revealing that they are really humans. He listens as the beavers
tell their grandfather, the Beaver Chief, about how the rest of the family has
been slaughtered. In full remorse, the youngest brother adopts the beaver for
his family crest and his brothers agree never to hunt beavers again.
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