Walter Goldschmidt

Theodore H. Haas

Sealaska Heritage Foundation

In the early 1940s, a boom in white migration to Southeast Alaska brought up questions of land and resource rights. In 1946, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs assigned a team of researchers to interview old and young villagers to discover who owned and used the lands and waters of the region and under what rules. Their report is published here for the first time in book form, along with text of interviews with 88 natives, a reminiscence by an anthropologist on the research team, and an introduction explaining the context and significance of the original report. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Haa Aaní

In the early 1940s, a boom in white migration to Southeast Alaska brought questions of land and resource rights to courts of law, where neither precedence nor evidence was sufficient to settle claims. In 1946, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs assigned a team of researchers--anthropologist Walter Goldschmidt, lawyer Theodore Haas, and Tlingit schoolteacher and interpreter Joseph Kahklen--to go from village to village to interview old and young alike to discover who owned and used the lands and waters and under what rules. Their mimeographed report, "The Possessory Rights of the Natives of Southeastern Alaska," established strong historical evidence to support Native land claims. Haa Aaní, Our Land publishes this monumental study in book form for the first time. A reminiscence by Walter Goldschmidt and introduction by Thomas Thornton explain the genesis, context, and significance of the original report. Previously uncirculated testimony from the original 88 witnesses is included, along with a bibliography and an index of names, clans, and resources.

Theodore H. Haas

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