Raven Post
Located at the Saxman Totem Park. Photo courtesy of Linn Forrest.
Description
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) relocated the Raven Posts from a village in Southeast Alaska to the newly established Saxman Totem Park. The CCC set up a totem restoration project in 1938 and Tlingit carvers enrolled in the CCC lead the work.
The photographic material published here by the Living New Deal was provided by courtesy of Linn A. Forrest (1905-1986), a practicing architect who photographed the totem poles at the time of their restoration, between 1939 and 1941. Forrest oversaw the joint program of the Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps to recruit Alaska native carvers in the restoration and recarving of totem poles throughout Southeast Alaska. Employed by the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon, Forrest transferred to Juneau, Alaska in 1937, where he undertook the totem restoration as one of his first projects. Under his supervision, indigenous carvers preserved and restored 103 totem poles and three Tlingit and Haida community houses. Forrest documented the restoration process and maintained notes and a photo record of a significant portion of the work. He used a Leica camera designed for the then new Kodachrome 35mm color slide format.
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Linn Forrest, the architect who oversaw the CCC restoration program, posing with the Raven Totem. Photo verso has the following note: “Raven Pole – at the entrance to Saxman Totem Park about 4 miles south of Ketchikan. This photo was taken in 1938-39. Linn A Forrest Sr.” Photo courtesy of Linn Forrest.
Raven Post
Linn Forrest, the architect who oversaw the CCC restoration program, posing with the Raven Totem. Photo verso has the following note: "Raven Pole - at the entrance to Saxman Totem Park about 4 miles south of Ketchikan. This photo was taken in 1938-39. Linn A Forrest Sr." Photo courtesy of Linn Forrest.
Source notes
Garfield, Viola and Linn Forrest, 1961, The Wolf and the Raven, Seattle: University of Washington Press, p. 13-56.
Saxman Totem Park, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1979, accessed July 1, 2017.
Project originally submitted by Linn Forrest and Steve Forrest on July 14, 2017.
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