All images and text © Kevin Moloney


Andy Gamble, left, George Bennett and Thomas Davis, of the Tlingit nation of Angoon, Alaska, see for the first time the bear clan totem long known as "Totem Teddy" on the University of Northern Colorado campus at Greeley. The bear clan totem disappeared from Angoon in 1908 and reappeared in 1914 as a gift to UNC from U.S. Commissioner of Education for Alaska Andrew Thompson, an 1897 UNC alumnus.



Tlingit tribe members Mary Paddock, left, Lydia George, seated, Thomas Davis and George Bennett stand before a bear clan totem during a ceremony to properly send the religious artifact home to Angoon, Alaska. The Tlingit tribe requested the return of the totem under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.


Tlingit representatives put away regalia used at UNC, in Greeley, Colo., to celebrate the return of the Bear Clan Totem. The tribe members sang to welcome the artifact back to their care and addressed the university community before the totem was disassembled and packed for shipment to Alaska.



University of Northern Colorado facilities workers carefully lower a Tlingit bear clan totem. A 600-pound bear was removed from the top of the pole and packed separately for shipping. The totem was once a centerpiece of university life, lending it's bear image as the school's mascot.



Tlingit nation members Herman Davis Sr., left, Thomas Davis, Harold Jacobs and Louise Brady watch as a bear clan totem, known to University of Northern Colorado alumni as "Totem Teddy," as it is lowered into crates for shipping back to it's original home.



Joe Zuboff, left, Daniel Brown and Mark Jacobs, seated, prepare to address officials, alumni and members of the University of Northern Colorado community on the eve of the departure of a Tlingit bear clan totem that spent more than 80 years at the campus.


All images and text © Kevin Moloney

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