PRINCE RUPERT, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ — A First Nations house post is being returned to its home in British Columbia after 138 years, including spending the last two decades in storage at Harvard University in Massachusetts.
A statement from the Gitxaala Nation on sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½'s north coast says the house post was acknowledged as the nation's grizzly bear pole that has been in the care of the Peabody Museum at Harvard.
The nation says a transfer agreement has been signed, with the post expected to arrive in Prince Rupert by March, and a community celebration will be held the next month.
The house post was bought by a fishing company in 1885 and has been part of the museum's anthropological artifacts since 1917.
The nation says the post will be exhibited at the Museum of Northern sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ until a museum in the village of Lax Klan is constructed.
House posts are a type of totem pole used to support the beams of a longhouse or could also be situated at the front of a house.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2023.
The Canadian Press