author
George Thornton Emmons
Best known for his close, long-term study of Tlingit life in Alaska, this naval officer turned observer left behind work that still draws readers interested in Indigenous history and the Northwest Coast. His writing combines firsthand experience, collecting, and careful description from years spent in the region.
1 Audiobook
The Whale House of the Chilkat
by George Thornton Emmons
About the author
George Thornton Emmons was an American naval officer, ethnographic photographer, and writer born in Baltimore in 1852. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1874, and while stationed in Alaska in the 1880s became deeply interested in the cultures of the region, especially the Tlingit.
Over time, he built relationships in Southeast Alaska and gathered extensive notes, photographs, and collections connected to Tlingit life and material culture. Several works associated with his research were published after his lifetime, including The Tlingit Indians and studies of Tlingit basketry and Chilkat weaving.
Emmons died in 1945, but his name remains closely tied to early writing on the Tlingit and the peoples of the Northwest Coast. Readers often come to his books for their rich descriptive detail and for the window they offer into the history of Alaska and its Indigenous communities.