Alaska Native Heritage Center completes Southeast village clan house

When the Alaska Native Heritage Center opened in 1999, it deemed the clan house in its Southeast village site incomplete. A major reason for this was the missing interior totem posts – decorative corner posts that resemble short totem poles.  At the time, the Center did not have the funding to complete the project.

Last year, the Center received a $75,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which put the posts within reach. The rest of the money was donated by various groups, including the Eyak Foundation – who sponsored the Eyak Totem Post.

Traditionally, a clan house would represent a single tribal group. However, since the center’s village site represents all Southeast Native groups, it was decided that each post would represent one of the four tribes from the region: Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian.