Souvenirs of the fur trade : Northwest coast Indian art and artifacts collected by American mariners, 1788-1844 /

Malloy's catalog contains 241 objects made by the many peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America and collected by New England mariners from 1788 to 1844. The objects were deposited in, and records survive in, the archives of ten New England museums and historical societies as diverse as the Peabody Museums at Harvard and in Salem, and the Newburyport Maritime Society, although many of the objects described either no longer exist or cannot be identified or located. Of these, 62 are illustrated, with about 15 in color. Two essays--"Yankee Observations of Northwest Coast Indian Life" and "Souvenirs and Scientific Collection"--describe New England mariners' interest in the peoples of the coast and the objects they created. The first in particular draws heavily on firsthand, eyewitness accounts of ceremonies in which objects were used, and provides valuable early evidence of life on the coast. Both essays are informative and well written. The objects illustrated seem to have been chosen for their high visual quality. The book is very useful and interesting as a record of some of the earliest examples of Northwest Coast art collected and deposited in museums anywhere. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through faculty. C. D. Roy University of Iowa