Committee, Hollinger said. That also helped pay
for creating a second replica, which Hollinger
said the Smithsonian wanted to have to help it
tell the hat’s story.
Chris Hollshwander, exhibition specialist and
model maker for Smithsonian Institution, who
helped mill the hat, was adopted into the Sitka
Kaagwaantaan. That was done so the hat maker
would come from a non-Raven moiety.
“I think it turned out beautiful,” Hollshwander
said in an interview. “I’ve been adopted into
the culture and given a chance to do a very
special piece.”
The newer hat was made because the centuries-
old hat is delicate after hundreds of years of
wear and tear. Both Smithsonian personnel
and tribe members said it needs to be treated
carefully and kept in a controlled climate in
order to continue to exist.
“The original hat is fragile and can’t be danced,
this hat is a new functional hat,” Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History Director
Kirk Johnson said in an interview.
The new hat, which Wilson said will live at a still
undetermined location in Sitka, will have staying
power in Southeast Alaska.
“Our grandchildren will be using this hat down
the line,” Wilson said.
Not entirely old hat
While the old and new hats are extremely
similar, they are not identical. That’s by design.
“The milling (cut) is all the same and based on it,
but they wanted to add slightly different things,”
Hollinger said.
Some of those changes reflect the history of
the original hat, which was gleaned in part
from a CT scan, Hollinger said. The scan showed
evidence of past repairs, which Hollinger said
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