The paper explores the meaning of the 19th‐century Tlingit memorial potlatch and explains some of the reasons for its centrality in the Tlingit sociocultural order. By drawing on existing accounts of this complex ritual and on data obtained during fieldwork in 1979–80 and 1984, the study focuses on the symbolism of ceremonial objects, ritual acts and discourse, as well as the interaction and relationships among actors. By treating the dead as active participants and by analyzing the role of the cultural values associated with them, the paper presents a more holistic interpretation of this ritual than previous works on the subject and suggests some implications of its findings for research on comparable ceremonies in other Northwest Coast societies. [mortuary ritual, symbolic analysis, potlatch, Northwest Coast, Tlingit]

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In the 1900s–1920s, Lev Shternberg played a major role in transforming the St. Petersburg Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography into Russia's most comprehensive ethnology museum and a popular site for visitors. As an anthropologist, Shternberg was committed to both a Boasian investigation of individual cultures (and intercultural relations) and classical evolutionism. Hence he believed that his museum had to include displays depicting distinct cultures and culture areas and a separate department illustrating “the evolution and typology of culture.” The article examines his work of putting the former part of this vision into practice and the reasons why the latter one failed.