Edward L. Keithahn

Edward L. Keithahn
Born
Edward Linnaeus Keithahn

(1900-05-15)May 15, 1900
DiedSeptember 26, 1970(1970-09-26) (aged 70)
Occupation(s)Ethnographer, museum curator, schoolteacher, writer
Spouse
Toni
(m. 1923)

Edward Linnaeus Keithahn (May 15, 1900 – September 26, 1970) was an American museum curator and the author of a well known book on totem poles, Monuments in Cedar, published in 1945.[1] According to WorldCat, the book is held in 725 libraries.[2]

He became interested in totem poles at the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909 and later traveled to southeast Alaska and eventually lived there. He lived and taught in native villages for about 15 years, and became working "in the Indian service," as he put it (meaning perhaps employment with the Bureau of Indian Affairs), living mainly among the Tlingit and Haida people.

He was Curator and Librarian at the Alaska Historical Library and Museum from 1941.[3]

  1. ^ Holm, Bill. 1964. Review of Monuments in Cedar: The Authentic Story of the Totem Pole. Oregon Historical Quarterly 65 (2). 210–11
  2. ^ WorldCat book record. OCLC 1843585.
  3. ^ Renner, F. G., J. C. Dykes, and B. W. Allred. 1968. "A Roundup of Western Reading". Arizona and the West 10 (1). Journal of the Southwest: 89–104. p. 100