Histories, Territories and Laws of the Kitwancool

A new edition of the groundbreaking 1958 publication created in collaboration with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs.

This beautiful new edition of the histories and laws of the Gitanyow (literally “people of the small/narrow place,” once called the Kitwancool in settler accounts), as recounted to museum curator Wilson Duff in 1958, includes a new foreword by Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs while preserving the original text.

Until the mid-twentieth century, the village of Kitwancool (now Gitanyow) was only accessible to outsiders by trail. This inaccessibility of territory protected a deeply independent spirit and unique legal system, recorded here as part of an agreement that allowed for the removal of Gitanyow totem poles to the Royal BC Museum for preservation. The complete histories of the Gitanyow, told in their own words, were also translated and recorded here as part of the same agreement.

This publication not only captures the histories, territories and laws of the Gitanyow, but also a significant moment in time for settler-Indigenous relations, and the origin story for totem poles still standing at the Royal BC Museum today. Histories, Territories and Laws of the Kitwancool is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand Gitanyow society and belief.

Maggie Good (Less-say-gu) was a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Ganeda (Frog Clan) of Gitanyow. B.W. McKilvington (Wee-ks-se-guh) was a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan) of Gitanyow. Glen WIlliams (Maliee) is a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan) of Gitanyow. Constance Cox (1881–1960) was a Canadian teacher of Tlingit ancestry who lived and taught with the Gitxsan people and served as interpreter for several anthropologists. Peter Williams (Gu-gul-gow) was a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Gibuu and Lax Ganeda (Wolf Clan and Frog Clan) of Gitanyow. Walter Derrick (Gam-gak-men-muk) was a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan) of Gitanyow. Wilson Duff (1925–76) was curator of anthropology at the BC Provincial Museum (now Royal BC Museum) from 1950 to 1965, when he accepted a teaching position at the University of British Columbia. He became one of the most important anthropologists of his time and published numerous articles and books on First Nations and anthropology in BC. Solomon Good (Gam-lak-yeltqu) was a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Ganeda (Frog Clan) of Gitanyow. Walter Douse (Gwass-lam) was a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan) of Gitanyow. Mr. Ernest Smith (Wee-kha) was a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan) of Gitanyow. Fred Good (Neas-la-ga-naws) was a Hereditary Chief of the Lax Gibuu (Wolf Clan) of Gitanyow.