Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Goingback Chiltoskey

  • wcu_cherokee_traditions-562.jp2
  • This photograph by an unknown photographer shows Goingback Chiltoskey participating in a blowgun competion in 1977. Goingback Chiltoskey (1907-2000) was a native of Cherokee, North Carolina who trained in woodworking and art at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas and the American Indian Art Institute in Santa Fe. He began teaching woodworking at the Cherokee High School in 1935. He worked as a model maker for the U.S. Army during World War II and continued his craft after retiring in 1966. He was known for his many carvings of animals and people and worked primarily in native woods like walnut, cherry, apple, buckeye, and holly.