Totem poles have come a long way from being identified as "curiosities" or roadside kitsch sold to collectors and shipped off to far-flung countries. (As recently as the 1990s, the Haisla people of the Kitimat area succeeded in retrieving a totem pole stolen 80 years prior and sold to a Swedish museum).
The word totem has come to be used in modern English just like any other word, indicating an emblem or herald, much like a Scottish tartan. Totem is likely a derivative of the Ojibwe word doodem. That tribe spoke an Algonquin dialect and lived from the Great Lakes out through North Dakota. As the Minnesota Historical Society says, a doodem was a societal role: "... political leaders came from the loon or crane clans, while warriors were traditionally from the bear, martin, lynx, and wolf clans." The meaning of doodem mirrors the purpose and significance of their physical artifacts, totem poles, especially since poles are carved with stylized versions of animals such as, "the wolf, eagle, grizzly bear, thunderbird, killer whale, frog, raven, and salmon."
There were different types of poles for different purposes (more on that later), but in general, they were used to document or commemorate historical events, deaths, and individuals. Essentially, they acted as historical ledgers that doubled as portraits of families, lineages, or "kinship groups." There were many different versions according to tribe, geography, and the artist who did the carving.
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