Haida Monumental Art

The Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbiaconstructed some of the most magnificent houses and erected some of themost beautifully carved totem poles on the Northwest Coast. During thelast quarter of the nineteenth-century, images of the Haida'simmense cedar houses and soaring totem poles were captured, first onglass plates and later on film, by photographers who travelled tothen-remote villages such as Masset and Skidegate to marvel at, andrecord, what they saw there. Haida Monumental Art, initially published as a limitededition hardcover and finally available in paperback, includes a largenumber of these remarkable photographs, selected from a collection ofover 10,000 original prints and photographic plates. They depict theHaida villages at the height of their glory and record their tragicdeterioration only a few decades later. As well, this edition containsthe complete text from the first edition, including site plans anddetailed descriptions of fifteen major villages and several smallersites, which are catalogued by house and pole. By combining archeology and ethnohistory, George MacDonald presentsan integrated framework for understanding the physical structure of aHaida village. He explains how the houses and poles are part of afascinating web of myth, family history and Haida cosmology, whichprovides a unique insight into Haida culture.