Tlingit
| Tlingit |
|---|
 Chief Anotklosh of the Taku Tribe, ca. 1913 |
| Total population |
| 11,000 |
| Regions with significant populations |
| USA (Alaska), Canada (British Columbia, Yukon) |
| Languages |
| English, Tlingit |
| Religions |
| Christianity, other |
The Tlingit (IPA: /'klɪŋkɪt/, also /-gɪt/ or /'tlɪŋkɪt/ which is often considered inaccurate) are an Indigenous people. Their name for themselves is Lingít (/ɬɪŋkɪt/) , meaning "people". The Russian name Koloshi (from an Aleut term for the labret) or the related German name Koulischen may be encountered in older historical literature.
The Tlingit are a matrilineal society who developed a complex hunter-gatherer culture in the temperate rainforest of the southeast Alaska coast and the Alexander Archipelago. The Tlingit language is well known not only for its complex grammar and sound system but also for using certain phonemes which are not heard in almost any other language.
Territory
The maximum territory historically occupied by the Tlingit extended from the Portland Canal along the present border between Alaska and British Columbia north to the coast just southeast of the Copper River delta. The Tlingit occupied almost all of the Alexander Archipelago except the southernmost end of Prince of Wales Island and its surroundings into which the Kaigani Haida moved just before the first encounters with European explorers. Inland the Tlingit occupied areas along the major rivers which pierce the Coast Mountains and Saint Elias Mountains and flow into the Pacific, including the Alsek, Tatshenshini, Chilkat, Taku, and Stikine rivers. With regular travel up these rivers the Tlingit developed extensive trade networks with Athabascan tribes of the interior, and commonly intermarried with them. From this regular travel and trade, a few relatively large populations of Tlingit settled around the Atlin, Teslin, and Tagish lakes, the headwaters of which flow from areas near the headwaters of the Taku River.
Delineating the modern territory of the Tlingit is complicated by the fact that they are spread across the border between the United States and Canada, by the lack of designated reservations, other complex legal and political concerns, and a relatively high level of mobility among the population. In Canada, the modern communities of Atlin, British Columbia (Taku River Tlingit), Teslin, Yukon (Teslin Tlingit Council), and Carcross, Yukon (Carcross/Tagish First Nation) have reserves and are the representative Interior Tlingit populations. The territory occupied by the modern Tlingit people in Alaska is however not restricted to particular reservations, unlike most tribes in the contiguous 48 states. This is the result of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) which established regional corporations throughout Alaska with complex portfolios of land ownership rather than bounded reservations administered by tribal governments. The corporation in the Tlingit region is Sealaska, Inc. which serves the Tlingit as well as the Haida in Alaska. Tlingit people as a whole participate in the commercial economy of Alaska, and as a consequence live in typically American nuclear family households with private ownership of housing and land. Many also possess land allotments from Sealaska or from earlier distributions predating ANCSA. Despite the legal and political complexities, the territory historically occupied by the Tlingit can be reasonably designated as their modern homeland, and Tlingit people today envision the land from around Yakutat south through the Alaskan Panhandle and including the lakes in the Canadian interior as being Lingít Aaní, the Land of the Tlingit.
The extant Tlingit territory can be roughly divided into four major sections, paralleling ecological, linguistic, and cultural divisions. The Southern Tlingit occupy the region south of Frederick Sound, and live in the northernmost reaches of the Western Redcedar forest. North of Frederick Sound to Cape Spencer, and including Glacier Bay and the Lynn Canal, are the Northern Tlingit, who occupy the warmest and richest of the Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock forest. The Interior Tlingit live along the large interior lakes and the drainage of the Taku River, and subsist in a manner similar to their Athabascan neighbors in the mixed spruce taiga. North of Cape Spencer, along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska to Controller Bay and Kayak Island, are the Gulf Coast Tlingit, who live along a narrow strip of coastline backed by steep mountains and extensive glaciers, and battered by Pacific storms. The trade and cultural interactions between each of these Tlingit groups and their disparate neighbors, the differences in food harvest practices, and the dialectical differences contribute to these identifications which are also supported by similar self-identifications among the Tlingit.
Culture
- Main article: Culture of the Tlingit
The Tlingit culture is multifaceted and complex, a characteristic of Northwest Pacific Coast peoples with access to easily exploited rich resources. In Tlingit culture a heavy emphasis is placed upon family and kinship, and on a rich tradition of oratory. Wealth and economic power are important indicators of status, but so is generosity and proper behavior, all signs of "good breeding" and ties to aristocracy. Art and spirituality are incorporated in nearly all areas of Tlingit culture, with even everyday objects such as spoons and storage boxes decorated and imbued with spiritual power and historical associations.
Food
- Main article: Food of the Tlingit
Food is a central part of Tlingit culture, and the land is an abundant provider. A saying amongst the Tlingit is that "when the tide goes out the table is set". This refers to the richness of intertidal life found on the beaches of Southeast Alaska, most of which can be harvested for food. Another saying is that "in Lingít Aaní you have to be an idiot to starve". Since food is so easy to gather from the beaches, a person who can't feed himself at least enough to stay alive is considered to be a fool, perhaps mentally incompetent or suffering from very bad luck. However, though eating off the beach would provide a fairly healthy and varied diet, eating nothing but "beach food" is considered contemptible among the Tlingit, and a sign of poverty. Indeed, shamans and their families were required to abstain from all food gathered from the beach, and men might avoid eating beach food before battles or strenuous activities in the belief that it would weaken them spiritually and perhaps physically as well. Thus for both spiritual reasons as well as to add some variety to the diet, the Tlingit harvest many other resources for food besides those which are easily found outside their front doors. No other food resource receives as much emphasis as salmon, however seal and game are both close seconds.
Philosophy and religion
- Main article: Philosophy and religion of the Tlingit
Tlingit thought and belief, although never formally codified, was historically a fairly well organized philosophical and religious system whose basic axioms shaped the way all Tlingit people viewed and interacted with the world around them. Between 1886-1895, in the face of their shamans' inability to treat Old World diseases including smallpox, most of the Tlingit people converted to Orthodox Christianity. (Russian Orthodox missionaries had translated their liturgy into the Tlingit language.) After the introduction of Christianity, the Tlingit belief system began to erode.
Today, some young Tlingits look back towards what their ancestors believed, for inspiration, security, and a sense of identity. This causes some friction in Tlingit society, because most modern Tlingit elders are fervent believers in Christianity, and have transferred or equated many Tlingit concepts with Christian ones. Indeed, many elders believe that resurrection of heathen practices of shamanism and spirituality are dangerous, and are better forgotten.
History
The history of the Tlingit involves both pre-contact and post-contact historical events and stories. The traditional history involved the creation stories, the Raven Cycle, other tangentially related events during the mythic age when spirits freely transformed from animal to human and back, the migration story of coming to Tlingit lands, the clan histories, and more recent events near the time of first contact with Europeans. At this point the European and American historical records come into play, and although modern Tlingits have access to and review these historical records, they continue to maintain their own historical record by telling stories of ancestors and events which have importance to them against the background of the changing world.
Creation story and the Raven Cycle
Stories about Raven are unique in Tlingit culture in that though they technically belong to clans of the Raven moiety, most are openly and freely shared by any Tlingit no matter their clan affiliation. They also make up the bulk of the stories that children are regaled with when young. Raven Cycle stories are often shared anecdotally, the telling of one inspiring the telling of another. Many are humorous, but there are some which are very serious and impart a sense of Tlingit morality and ethics, and others which belong to specific clans and may only be shared under appropriate license. Some of the most popular are those which are known to other tribes along the Northwest Coast, and which provide the creation myths for the everyday world.
There are two different Raven characters which can be identified in the Raven Cycle stories, although they are not always clearly differentiated by most storytellers. One is the creator Raven who is responsible for bringing the world into being and who in sometimes considered to be the same individual as the Owner of Daylight. The other is the childish Raven, always selfish, sly, conniving, and hungry. Comparing a few of the stories reveals logical inconsistencies between them, however this is usually explained as involving a different world where things did not make logical sense, a mythic time when the rules of the modern world did not apply.
The theft of daylight
The most well recognized story of is that of the Theft of Daylight, in which Raven steals the stars, the moon, and the sun from Naas-sháki Yéil or Naas-sháki Shaan, the Raven (or Old Man) at the Head of the Nass River. The Old Man is very rich and is the owner of three legendary boxes which contain the stars, the moon, and the sun; Raven wants these for himself (various reasons are given, such as wanting to admire himself in the light, wanting light to find food easily, etc). Raven transforms himself into a hemlock needle and drops into the water cup of the Old Man's daughter while she is out picking berries. She becomes pregnant with him and gives birth to him as a baby boy. The Old Man dotes over his grandson, as is the wont of most Tlingit grandparents. Raven cries incessantly until the Old Man gives him the Box of Stars to pacify him. Raven plays with it for a while, then opens the lid and lets the stars escape through the chimney into the sky. Later Raven begins to cry for the Box of the Moon, and after much fuss the Old Man gives it to him but not before stopping up the chimney. Raven plays with it for a while and then rolls it out the door, where it escapes into the sky. Finally Raven begins crying for the Box of the Sun, and after much fuss finally the Old Man breaks down and gives it to him. Raven knows well that he cannot roll it out the door or toss it up the chimney because he is carefully watched. So he finally waits until everyone is asleep and then changes into his bird form, grasps the sun in his beak and flies up and out the chimney. He takes it to show others who do not believe that he has the sun, so he opens the box to show them and then it flies up into the sky where it has been ever since.
The Tlingit migration
There are a few variations of the Tlingit story of how they came to inhabit their lands. All are fairly similar, and one will be detailed here. They vary mostly in location of the events, with some being very specific about particular rivers and glaciers, others being more vague. The particular one presented here involves some interesting relationship explanations between the Tlingit and their inland neighbors, the Athabaskans. Note that the particular Athabaskan group is not noted, and it seems to be indeterminate. It may in fact refer to a time before the Athabaskans had developed into the multiplicity of peoples that they are today.
All stories are considered property in the Tlingit cultural system, such that sharing a story without the proper permission of its owners is a breach of Tlingit law. However, the stories of the Tlingit people as a whole, the creation myths, and other seemingly universal records are usually considered to be property of the entire tribe, and thus may be shared without particular restriction. It is however important to the Tlingit that the details be correct, for if not this can lead to perpetuations of error and worsen the transmission of the information in the future, as well as degrade the value of the knowledge.
The story begins with the Athabaskan (Ghunanaa) people of interior Alaska and western Canada, a land of lakes and rivers, of birch and spruce forests, and the moose and caribou. Life in this continental climate is harsh, with bitterly cold winters and hot summers. One year the people had a particularly poor harvest over a summer, and it was obvious that the winter would bring with it many deaths from starvation. The elders gathered together and decided that people would be sent out to find a land which was rumored to be rich in food, a place where one did not even have to hunt for something to eat. A group of people were selected and sent out to find this new place, and would come back to tell the elders where this land could be found. They were never heard from again. However, we now know that these people were the Navajo and Apache, for they left the Athabaskan lands for a different place far south of their home, and yet retain a close relationship with their Athabaskan ancestors.
Over the winter countless people died. Again, the next summer's harvest was poor, and the life of the people was threatened. So once again, the elders decided to send out people to find this land of abundance. These people travelled a long distance, and climbed up mountain passes to encounter a great glacier. The glacier seemed impassable, and the mountains around it far too steep for the people to cross. They could however see how the meltwater of the glacier traveled down into deep crevasses and disappeared underneath the icy bulk. The people decided that some strong young men should be sent down to follow this river to see if it came out on the other side of the mountains. But before these men had left, an elderly couple volunteered to make the trip. They reasoned that since they were already near the end of their lives, the loss of their support to the group would be minimal, but the loss of the strong young men would be devastating. The people agreed that these elders should travel under the glacier. They made a simple dugout canoe and took it down the river under the glacier, and came out to see a rocky plain with deep forests and rich beaches all around. The people followed them down under the glacier and came into Lingít Aaní, the rich and bountiful land that became the home of the Tlingit people. These people became the first Tlingits.
Another theory of Tlingit migration is that of the Beringia Land Bridge. Coastal people in general are extremely aggressive; whereas interior Athapascan people are passive. Tlingit culture, being the fiercest among the coastal nations due to their northernmost occupation, began to dominate the interior culture as they traveled inland to secure trading alliances. Tlingit traders were the "middlemen" bringing Russian goods inland over the Chilkoot Trail to the Yukon, and on into Northern British Columbia. As the Tlingit people began marrying interior people, their culture became the established "norm." Soon the Tlingit clan and political structure, as well as customs and beliefs dominated all other interior culture. To this day, Tlingit regalia, language, clan structure, political structure, and ceremonies including beliefs are evident in all interior culture. The Athapascan way of life is now embedded with the Tlingit people's lifestyle.
Clan histories
The clans were Yehi, or Raven; Goch, or Wolf; and Nehadi, or Eagle.
Each clan in Tlingit society has its own foundation history. These stories are private property of the clan in question and thus may not be shared here. However, each story describes the Tlingit world from a different perspective, and taken together the clan histories recount much of the history of the Tlingits before the coming of the Dléit Khaa, the white people.
Typically a clan history involves some extraordinary event that happened to some family or group of families which brought them together and at once separated them from other Tlingits. Some clans seem to be older than others, and often this is notable by their clan histories having mostly mythic proportions. Younger clans seem to have histories that tell of breaking apart from other groups due to internal conflict and strife or the desire to find new territory. For example, the Deisheetaan are descended from the Ghaanaxh.ádi, but their clan foundation story tells little or nothing of this relationship. In contrast, the Khák'w.wedí who are descended from the Deisheetaan usually mention their connection as an aside in the telling of their foundation story. Presumably this is the case because their separation was more recent, and is thus well remembered, whereas the separation of the Deisheetaan from the Ghaanaxh.ádi is less apparent in the minds of the Deisheetaan clan members.
First contact
A number of both well-known and indistinguished European explorers investigated Lingít Aaní and encountered the Tlingit in the earliest days of contact. Most of these exchanges were congenial, despite European fears to the contrary. The Tlingit rather quickly appreciated the trading potential for valuable European goods and resources, and exploited this whenever possible in their early contacts. On the whole the European explorers were impressed with Tlingit wealth, but put off by what they felt was an excessive lack of hygiene. Considering that most of the explorers visited during the busy summer months when Tlingit lived in temporary camps, this impression is unsurprising. In contrast, the few explorers who were forced to spend time with the Tlingit Tribe during the inclement winters made mention of the cleanliness of Tlingit winter homes and villages.
- Bering and Chirikov (1741)
Vitus Bering was separated from Aleksei Chirikov and only reached as far east as Kayak Island. However Chirikov traveled to the western shores of the Alexander Archipelago. He lost two boats of men around Lisianski Strait at the northern end of Chichagof Island. Subsequently Chirikov encountered Tlingit whom he felt were hostile, and returned west.
- First Bucareli Expedition (1774)
Juan Josef Pérez Hernández sent by Don Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Viceroy of New Spain, to explore to north 60 latitude in 1774. Accompanied by Fray Juan Crespi and Fr. Tomás de la Peña Suria (or Savaria). Suria executed a number of drawings which today serve as invaluable records of Tlingit life in the precolonial period.
- Second Bucareli Expedition (1775)
Lt. Bruno de Hezeta (or Heceta) commanded the expedition aboard the Santiago, with Lt. Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra leading the Sonora as second in command. Hezeta returned to Mexico shortly after a massacre by the Quinault near the Quinault River in modern Washington, but Bodega y Quadra insisted upon completing the mission to reach 60º north latitude. He traveled almost as far as Sitka, Alaska to 59º north, claimed possession of the lands he encountered for Spain, and named Mt. Edgecumbe as "Mount Jacinto." It is unclear whether the expedition ever encountered the Tlingit.
- James Cook (1778)
James Cook acquired possession of the journals of Bodega y Quadra's second commander Francisco Mourelle and of maps created from the two previous Bucareli Expeditions. This inspired him to investigate the northwest coast of America on his third voyage, in search of the Northwest Passage.
- Third Bucareli Expedition (1779)
Lt. Ignacia de Arteaga officially led this expedition in the Princesa, however Bodega y Quadra was the more experienced explorer and accompanied the expedition aboard the Favorita. They made contact and traded with the Tlingits around Bucareli Bay (Puerto de Bucareli). They also named Mount Saint Elias.
- Potap Zaikov
- La Pérouse (1786)
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
- George Dixon (1787)
George Dixon (captain)
- James Colnett (1788)
James Colnett
- Ismailov and Bocharov (1788)
Gerasim Izmailov and Dmitry Bocharov
- William Douglas (1788)
- Alessandro Malaspina (1791)
Alessandro Malaspina, after whom the Malaspina Glacier is named, explored the Alaskan coast as far north as Prince William Sound. His expedition made contact with the Laxhaayík Khwáan of the Yakutat area upon reaching Yakutat Bay.
- George Vancouver (1794)
George Vancouver
Fur trade
The Battle of Sitka (1804) was the last major armed conflict between Europeans and Alaska Natives, and was initiated in response to the destruction of a Russian trading post two years prior. The primary combatant groups were the native Tlingits of Sheet’-ká X'áat'l (Baranof Island) and agents of the Russian-American Company. Though the Russians' initial assault (in which Alexandr Baranov, head of the Russian expedition, sustained serious injuries) was repelled, their naval escorts bombarded the Tlingit fort Shis'kí Noow mercilessly, driving the natives into the surrounding forest after only a few days. The Russian victory was decisive, and resulted in the Tlingit being permanently displaced from their ancestral lands. The Tlingit fled north and established a new settlement on the neighboring Chichagof Island.
Animosity between the two cultures, though greatly diminished, continued in the form of sporadic attacks by the natives against the Russian settlement as late as 1858. The battlefield location has been preserved at Sitka National Historical Park.
U.S. President Benjamin Harrison set aside the Shis'kí Noow site for public use in 1890. Sitka National Historical Park was established on the battle site on October 18, 1972 "...to commemorate the Tlingit and Russian experiences in Alaska." Today, the K'alyaan (Totem) Pole stands guard over the Shis'kí Noow site to honor the Tlingit casualties. Ta Éetl, a memorial to the Russian sailors who died in the Battle, is located across the Indian River at site of the Russians' landing. In September of 2004, in observance of the Battle's bicentennial, descendants of the combatants from both sides joined in a traditional Tlingit "Cry Ceremony" to formally grieve their lost ancestors. The next day, the Kiks.ádi hosted a formal reconciliation ceremony to "put away" their two centuries of grief.
Alaskan purchase
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The bombing of Angoon
At a rendering plant located near Angoon in October 1882, a shaman and aristocrat by the name of Til'tlein was killed in an accident involving the factory's boats and harpoon bombs. Another man had been violently killed recently, and his relatives had not been compensated by the factory managers for his death, a customary Tlingit practice which they had engaged previously. The Tlingits had let the matter rest since they were interested in maintaining friendly relations, but when Til'tlein was killed and the owners again refused to compensate, the Angoon residents followed traditional Tlingit practice and seized the boats and weapons involved in the death and took a few whites hostage until such time as the factory managers repaid them for the deaths. They claimed compensation of two hundred blankets from the factory.
Incensed at the theft and perhaps misunderstanding the situation as a threat, the owners sent word to the US Naval Commander Merriman in Sitka. Merriman came to Angoon aboard the revenue cutter Corwin and demanded that the Angoon people return the boats and men and pay a fine of four hundred blankets in twenty-four hours or suffer bombing from the cutter's cannons. The following morning only 80 blankets were produced and Merriman proceeded to destroy the canoes on the beach, shell the houses and storehouses, and send a landing party in to loot and burn the remaining town.
The looting and burning of the storehouses destroyed most of the Angoon people's possessions and food which they had put up for winter, and that year many people died of starvation. It took five years for the town to be rebuilt to the size at which it was before the bombing. This incident, concomitant with the gold rush in Juneau forced the US government into recognizing the need for a formal Territorial Government to replace the extant martial law which had been in place since the Alaska Purchase.
The residents of Angoon have long held out for a formal apology for what they consider was undue terrorizing punishment for a cultural misunderstanding. In 1973 the US government offered a ninety thousand dollar settlement to the village of Angoon in response to the bombardment, but the government and the US Navy declined to offer a formal apology. In 1982 on the centennial anniversary of the bombing a memorial potlatch was held, attended by Tlingit dignitaries from all across Southeast Alaska and by then Governor Jay Hammond in which the people of Angoon formally made public their feelings and opinions on the matter, and demanded an apology from the US Navy. No representatives of the Navy attended despite a formal invitation, and no apology has been forthcoming despite repeated requests from the town government, the Tlingit tribal organizations, and representatives of the State of Alaska.
Alaska Native Brotherhood and recognizing rights
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Two Tlingit brothers initially created the Alaska Native Brotherhood in 1912 in Sitka in order to pursue the privileges of whites in the area at the time. The Alaska Native Sisterhood followed. ANB and ANS now function as nonprofit organizations serving to assist in societal development and the preservation of Native culture, and ensure all people are treated equally.
Elizabeth Peratrovich was a renowned member of the ANS for whom in 1988 the State of Alaska designated a state holiday, February 16.
World War II
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Aleuts were forcibly encamped by the United States government throughout Southeast Alaska during World War II.
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
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Tlingits were an important driving force behind passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of December 18, 1971.
Prominent Tlingits
- Diane E. Benson, politician
- Nora Marks Dauenhauer, writer and scholar
- George Hunt, ethnologist (adopted into Kwakwaka'wakw)
- William Paul, Native rights activist
- Elizabeth Peratrovich, political activist
- Louis Shotridge, ethnologist
Anthropologists and other scholars who have worked among the Tlingit
- Nora Marks Dauenhauer
- Richard Dauenhauer
- George T. Emmons
- Viola Garfield
- Frederica de Laguna
- Kirk Dombrowski
- Sergei Kan
- Edward L. Keithahn
- Aurel Krause
- Steve J. Langdon
- Jeff Leer
- Catherine McClellan
- Madonna Moss
- Kalervo Oberg
- Ronald Olson
- Louis Shotridge
- Ian Stevenson
- John R. Swanton
- Thomas F. Thornton
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Ames, Kenneth M. & Maschner, Herbert D.G. (1999). Peoples of the Northwest Coast: Their archaeology and prehistory. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd. ISBN 0-500-28110-6.
- Bullen, Edward L. (1968). An historical study of the education of the Indians of Teslin, Yukon Territory. (Unpublished master's thesis, University of Alberta, Edmonton).
- Emmons, George Thornton (1991). The Tlingit Indians. Volume 70 in Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. Edited with additions by Frederica De Laguna. New York: American Museum of Natural History. ISBN 0-295-97008-1.
- Dauenhauer, Nora Marks & Dauenhauer, Richard (1987). Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors: Tlingit oral narratives. Volume 1 in Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-96495-2.
- ——— (1990). Haa Tuwunáagu Yís, for Healing our Spirit: Tlingit oratory. Volume 2 in Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-96850-8.
- ——— (1994). Haa Kusteeyí, Our Culture: Tlingit life stories. Volume 3 in Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-97401-X.
- De Laguna, Frederica (1960). The Story of a Tlingit Community. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology: bulletin 172. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ——— (1972). Under Mount Saint Elias: The history and culture of the Yakutat Tlingit. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology: volume 7 (in three parts). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ——— (1990). Tlingit. In W. Suttles (Ed.), Northwest Coast (pp. 203-228). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 7) (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
- Dombrowski, Kirk (2001) Against Culture: Development, Politics and Religion in Indian Alaska. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Eliade, Mircea (1964). Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01779-4.
- French, Diana E. (1974). Taku recovery project: A preliminary report for the Atlin band. Archaeology Sites Advisory Board permit no. 29-73. (Unpublished).
- Garfield, Viola E. (1947). "Historical aspects of Tlingit clans in Angoon, Alaska". American Anthropologist 49:438–453.
- Garfield, Viola E. & Forrest, Linn A. (1961). The Wolf and the Raven: Totem poles of Southeast Alaska. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-73998-3.
- Goldschmidt, Walter R. and Haas, Theodore H. (1998). Haa Aaní, Our Land. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-97639-X.
- Holm, Bill (1965). Northwest Coast Indian Art: An analysis of form. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-95102-8
- Hope III, Andrew (1982). Raven's Bones. Sitka, Alaska: Sitka Community Association. ISBN 0-911417-00-1.
- ——— (2000). Will the Time Ever Come? : A Tlingit sourcebook. Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Knowledge Network. ISBN 1-877962-34-1.
- Huteson, Pamela Rae (2002). Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems. Portland, Oregon: Greatland Classic Sales. ISBN 1-886462-51-8
- Kaiper, Nan (1978). Tlingit: Their art, culture, and legends. Vancouver, British Columbia: Hancock House Publishers, Ltd. ISBN 0-88839-010-6.
- Kamenskii, Fr. Anatolii (1985). Tlingit Indians of Alaska. Translated with additions by Sergei Kan. Volume II in Marvin W. Falk (Ed.), The Rasmuson Library Historical Translations Series. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press. Originally published as Indiane Aliaski, Odessa, 1906. ISBN 0-912006-18-8.
- Kan, Sergei (1989). Symbolic Immortality: The Tlingit potlatch of the nineteenth century. William L. Merrill and Ivan Karp (Eds.), Smithsonian Series in Ethnographic Inquiry. ISBN 1-56098-309-4.
- Krause, Arel (1956). The Tlingit Indians. Translated by Erna Gunther. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. Originally published as Die Tlinkit-Indianer, Jena, 1885. ISBN 0-295-95075-7.
- McClellan, Catharine (1950). Culture change and native trade in southern Yukon territory. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley).
- ——— (1953). The inland Tlingit. In M. W. Smith (Ed.), Asia and North America: Transpacific contacts (pp. 47-51). Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology (No. 9). Salt Lake City: Society for American Archaeology. (Reprinted 1974, 1979).
- ——— (1954). The interrelations of social structure with northern Tlingit ceremonialism. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 10 (1), 75-96.
- ——— (1970). Indian stories about the first whites in northwestern America. In M. Lantis (Ed.), Ethnohistory in southwestern Alaska and the southern Yukon: Method and content (pp. 103-133). Studies in anthropology (No. 7). Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
- ——— (1975). My old people say: An ethnographic survey of southern Yukon territory. [2 books]. Publications in Ethnology (No. 6). Ottawa: National Museum of Man (National Museums of Canada).
- ——— (1981). Inland Tlingit. In J. Helm (Ed.), Subarctic (pp. 469-480). Handbook of Native American Indians (Vol. 6) (W. C. Sturtevant, Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
- McClellan, Catharine; & Rainier, Dorothy. (1950). Ethnological survey of southern Yukon territory, 1948. (Preliminary report). National Museum of Canada Bulletin, 118, 50-53.
- Moss, Madonna Lee (1989). Archaeology and cultural ecology of the prehistoric Angoon Tlingit. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- Peratrovich, Robert J. Jr. (1959). Social and economic structure of the Henya Indians. Masters dissertation, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
- Salisbury, O.M. (1962). The customs and legends of the Thlinget Indians of Alaska. New York: Bonanza Books. ISBN 0-517-13550-7.
- Swanton, John R. (1909). Tlingit myths and texts. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology: bulletin 39. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
- Teslin Women's Institute (1972). A history of the settlement of Teslin. Teslin, Yukon.
External links
- Sealaska Heritage Institute
- Sealaska Inc.
- Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
- Contemporary Tlingit Artist-Nicholas Galanin
- Raven Trickster Larry McNeil Creation Stories Raven Stories
- Tlingit National Anthem, Alaska Natives Online
- Tlingit Tribes, Clans and Clan Houses (includes map)
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Alaskan Tlingit and Tsimshian Dr. Jay Miller of the University of Washington examines the Tlingit of the Alaskan panhandle and neighboring Tsimshian of the British Columbia coast.
- Taku River Tlingit First Nation (British Columbia)
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