File:Tilikums of Elttaes invitation, 1912 (MOHAI 11538).jpg

English:

The Tilikums of Elttaes were a fraternal, civic organization composed primarily of influential white Seattle area businessmen, who used Native American imagery to promote tourism and the economic development of the city. In July 1911 the Tilikums ("Friends" in Chinook Jargon; Elttaes is Seattle spelled backward) organized the first Golden Potlatch celebration. The Golden Potlatch was a city-wide festival held in July organized by civic boosters hoping to capitalize on the success of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. The event continued for each of the next three summers before being suspended during wartime, and then was started up again as the Potlatch Festival from 1934 to 1941.

The name “Golden Potlatch” appropriates a Chinook Jargon word describing a Native ceremony of celebration and gift giving. It also reflects the importance of the Klondike gold rush to Seattle’s growth. Many organizers and participants in the Golden Potlatch dressed in stereotyped imitations of traditional Native attire, as part of a created Potlatch myth. The appropriation of Native culture in order to market products or events was one common example of discrimination and marginalization faced by Native peoples in the United States.

The invitation pictured here was sent to members of the Tilikums on April 27, 1912, to remind them of the importance of attending the group's next meeting on April 30, during which the group would be discussing the "big stunt" the group planned to pull off on May 11. The stunt turned out to be a massive tableaux surrounding the totem pole in Pioneer Square.

Caption information source: "Tilikums of Elttaes Touch off Potlatch Enthusiasm in City," The Seattle Sunday Times, May 12, 1912, p. 1.

• Subjects (LCTGM): Business people--American--Washington (State)--Seattle; Civic leaders--Washington (State)--Seattle; Invitations