The Story Box

The exhibition will explore the hidden histories and complex legacies of one of the most influential books in the field of anthropology, Franz Boas’ The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians (1897). Focusing on Boas’ work with his Indigenous co-author George Hunt among the Kwakwaka’wakw people of British Columbia, the exhibition—guest designed by artist Corrine Hunt, Hunt’s great-granddaughter—features ceremonial objects as well as rare archival photographs, manuscripts, and drawings that shed new light on the book and advance understanding of the ongoing cultural traditions it documents.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.