Excursions : toward an intercultural biography of the totem pole -- pt. 1. Totem poles in the colonial imagination -- On commerce and cultures : explorers and merchants encounter carved columns -- The rise and fall of totem poles : the dynamics of settler colonialism and the emergence of anthropology -- "Places of totemic delight" : significant sights/sites on the Northwest coast -- Totems for tourists : on salvage and salvation -- The expansion of totem pole form : minis, maxis, and multiples (or, the small, the tall, and the kitschy) -- pt. 2. The global circulation of totem poles -- Transforming emblems at museums and expositions : poles in the global village -- "Monuments in multichrome" : totem poles and the promotion of place -- Beyond restoration : the work of Wilson Duff -- High art from rainy places : the "Renaissance" of totem carving -- pt. 3. Current cultures of the totem pole -- Beyond fairs : contemporary cultural tourism and ethnokitsch -- Family trees and tribal treaties : on the politics of poles -- Totem poles and the mediation of colonial encounter -- Appendix A: A selected and annotated list of books on totem poles -- Appendix B: Primary eighteenth- and nineteenth-century reports of monumental carvings on the Northwest coast (1778-1900) -- Appendix C: A selection of early illustrations of totem poles and major photographic expeditions (1778-1900) -- Appendix D: A selective list of poles collected or commissioned for destinations abroad (1880-1970) -- Appendix E: A selection of totem poles at regional, national and international expositions (1876-1994) -- Appendix F: A selection of totem poles at British Columbian and Canadian celebrations (1936-1986) -- Appendix G: A selection of poles raised in or for Native communities (1957-1988).