This hall opened in 1899 under renowned anthropologist Franz Boas, who led the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897–1902). One of Franz Boas’s most valued field collaborators was ethnologist George Hunt, son of a British trader and a Tlingit noblewoman. 

Revolutionary in arranging artifacts as snapshots of living cultures, this hall includes many items with whale imagery, from a Tlingit ivory killer whale charm to carvings on totem poles to this colorful Tsimshian hat. The latter was donated in the 19th century by Trustee Heber Bishop, who also acquired the Great Canoe in 1883.