This 1910 photo shows the Tlingit screen on a house in Tuxekan before it was taken in the 1930s. The screen has made its way back to Prince of Wales Island through the federal repatriation act.
A house screen that disappeared in the 1930s from a Tlingit village north of Klawock has returned to Prince of Wales Island, and is on display temporarily at Klawock High School.
The screen had been on the exterior of a house in the village of Tuxecan (tux-eh-kaan), the traditional home of the Dog Salmon Clan.
Clan leader David Jensen lives in Ketchikan, and stopped by KRBD to talk about the screen’s recent homecoming. Here’s a portion of his interview:
That’s Dog Salmon Clan Leader David Jensen talking about a house screen that recently was returned to the clan from a museum on the East Coast through the National Museum of the American Indian Act of 1989. That act is the law upon which the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 is based. The claim was submitted in 2002.
Dennis Demmert has been designated as the caretaker of the screen, but Jensen says the clan has accepted its return on behalf of all the people of Prince of Wales Island.
While the celebration for the screen is Friday evening, it will remain on display at Klawock High School through the end of next week’s totem raising celebration, which is Aug. 15 through 18.
