Paper Placemats from Code Talkers memorial potlatch

National Museum of Natural History

E435527-0

Three printed paper placemats. Blue background, with a photo of Mark Jacobs, Jr., killer whale clan symbols, and the words "Dakl'aweidi Memorial - September 1 & 2, 2007 - Sitka, Alaska"This place mat is representative of the kinds of items provided at place settings for Tlingit memorial potlatches. This one as used at the potlatch of Mark Jacobs in 2007. It shows a photo of Jacobs wearing the NMNH Killer Whale Dakl'aweidi clan hat (formerly NMNH catalog number E230063) on January 2, 2005, when it was repatriated to him in a Sitka hospital. The two killer whale images on either side of his photo are the killer whales on Mark's clan house in Angoon; commonly called the "Killer Whales facing away house". This item shows how imagery at memorial potlatches honor the individual memorialized as well as their clan crest connections through their crest symbols."


  • Type of Item placemat
  • Culture Tlingit

  • Received from Harold Jacobs

  • Made in Sitka
  • Collected in Sitka

  • Acquisition Date on April 3, 2018

  • Accession Number 2078919