A. C. Anderson items in Royal B.C. Museum Collection

By going to the Royal B.C. Museum website at www.objectdb.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca -- object database -- you can view some of the native cultural items that Alexander Caulfield Anderson collected in his travels up and down the coast as Fisheries Inspector. These items were sold or donated by J. R. Anderson after his father's death.
Bark Beater from Nootka Sound Area (Catalogue No. 10226) -- This was used to soften bark by beating it into a hemp-like consistency to make clothing; bark beaters exist all the way up and down the coast and are made of wood, bone, whalebone, or volcanic stone. Capt. Cook collected a bark beater as he passed down the coast many years before the fur trade even made it into this area.
Cedar Bark Cape (Catalogue No. 10227) of woven cedar bark and wool. These types of capes were common up and down the coast and may well have been made with the use of a bark beater.
Haida Grease Dish carved from Sheep's Horn (Big horn sheep?) (Catalogue Number 10224) for eulachon oil at feasts. It has a hawkshead at each end, perforated for beak, wings on sides, and is a red/brown colour.

A.C. Anderson's son, Walter Birnie Anderson, also donated some items, see below:
Haida Copper Model, cut, punched and hammered (Catalogue Number 168 A-J if they haven't recatalogued it yet) a Ceremonial artifact made of copper, the sort of work the Haidas of Queen Charlotte Islands were well known for.
Tsimshian Wooden Comb, made of carved wood (Catalogue No. 181) came from the Tsimshain or Gitzaklath people at Port Simpson which is the modern name for Fort Simpson, where A.C. Anderson was posted early in his career.
Berry Crusher from the central coast or Clayoquot Sound (Catalogue No. 4701).