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Central Coast Salish Art Inventory

Series consists of slides representing the inventory of Central Coast Salish art photographed by Dr. Kew during his visits to various North American museums and the British Museum in preparation for the exhibition Visions of Power Symbols of Wealth: Central Coast Salish Sculpture and Engraving. The images illustrate a wide variety of traditional art objects including masks, adzes, spindle whorls, mat creasers, and totems poles, as well as various jewelry, instruments, and utensils. The series also includes two volumes of the Central Coast Salish Computerized Art Inventory, which provides a detailed physical description of each art object.

Series includes --

Album 1: Slides 03-560

Album 2:
Sheet 1-14 Slides 561-940
Sheet 15-32 [Uncatalogued Slides]

Album 3: [Uncatalogued Slides]

Box# 1: Central Coast Salish Computerized Art Inventory

Chinook Jargon

Series is made up of records relating to the creation of a Chinook Jargon dictionary, a Big Book created for the Quileute on Chinook Jargon, and lessons for a Chinook Jargon class at Langara College. Powell documented the use of Chinook Jargon in LaPush during research on the Quileute language. His informants used Chinook Jargon regularly, and he began to research the history of its use on the Northwest Coast with the intention of writing a book about it. The manuscript for his book was accepted by the publishing company Douglas and McIntyre, but as Powell was not satisfied with his work, publication did not take place. However, he did produce a number of works that have been used for education purposes in LaPush as well as in British Columbia.

Series comprises six sub-series:
A. Research materials
B. Field notes and correspondence
C. Unpublished manuscript and lessons
D. Chinook Jargon dictionary files

Gitxsan

Series documents Jensen and Powell’s work with and visits to the Gitxsan speaking villages in North Western British Columbia. Jensen and Powell worked with the Gitxsan to produce language and culture material.

Jensen’s first visit to Gitxsan territory was in 1975, before they began to work with the communities. Jensen was asked to accompany Dr. Marjorie Halpen of the Museum of Anthropology, Amelia Sussman Schultz (a former student of anthropologist Franz Boas) and UBC grad student Carol Sheehan McLaren to Prince Rupert and various Gitxsan villages. The impetus for the journey was that Schultz was interested in recovering her old dissertation notes that she left with William Beynon, a hereditary Tsimshian chief who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to anthropologists including Boas. Although she had never completed her dissertation, in her retirement she regretted leaving the information. During this trip Jensen photographed the Gitxsan villages through which they travelled, making special note of the burial houses and totems she encountered.

Two years later the Gitxsan band approached Jensen and Powell to create language and culture materials. Powell secured the funding through the BC Ministry of Education and the federal government.

Powell and Jensen lived and worked with the Gitxsan in the summers from 1977 to 1981. The first three years were spent focussing on what they have termed the Eastern dialect. In this period they lived and worked in Kispiox, staying in a teacherage the first year (a small apartment built for housing teachers), and moving in the second year to the back room of the house of one of their linguistic informants, Clara Harris. The third year they again lived with Clara Harris until halfway through the summer when they decided to expand the project to include the Western dialect: at this time they moved to Kitwancool (now known as Gitanyow) where they again lived in a teacherage. The final two summers they returned to Kispiox to live with Clara Harris.

Powell worked with a number of linguistic informants, including Clara Harris, Edith Gawa, and Mary Johnson for the Eastern dialect, and Solomon Marsden, with the help of Ivan Good, Maggie Good, Cindy Morgan, Edith and Abel Campbell, David Milton, Olive Mulwain, Fred Johnson and Jeffrey Morgan for the Western. The materials produced throughout the Gitxsan project are divided into Eastern and Western Gitxsan. The books produced for the Eastern dialect were called Gitxsan for Kids. The books for the Western dialect were called Learning Gitxsan. In addition to the educational material, other resources were developed including illustrated alphabet sheets, the Northwest Coast Word List (which was intended as the basis for a full dictionary, a goal that did not transpire), and the Gitxsan Teacher’s Manual.

As was the case with all the communities they lived in, Powell and Jensen found that work and recreation in small Indigenous communities blended together, and many of the activities they took part in were incorporated into the language materials produced. Jensen photographed the cultural activities they attended, and they made audio and photographic records of Elders reminiscing about what they referred to as the “old ways.” Both Jensen and Powell were adopted into Gitxsan tribes during their time living in the region: Jensen to the Firweed Clan, and Powell to the Lax Gibuu, or Wolf Clan, both of Kispiox. This series comprises all the records created during their stays in Gitxsan villages.

The series consists of nine sub-series:
A. Field notes and correspondence
B. Research
C. Published educational materials
D. Unpublished manuscripts
E. Tsimshian-Gitxsan materials
F. Eastern and Western Gitxsan recordings
G. Eastern Gitxsan photographs
H. Western Gitxsan photographs
I. Doreen Jensen
J. Gitxsan artist photographs

Haisla

Series consists of records pertaining to the work Powell has done in Kitamaat Village.

In 2000 Powell began working on the Haisla Traditional Use Study (TUS) with community members Gerald Amos, Rod Bolton and Louise Barbetti. For the TUS, Powell conducted interviews and checked information gathered against textual archival records of the region. The first year of the project was funded by the BC Ministry of Forests, and the second year with a federal grant. At the end of the second year, the study was completed with a report on the Haisla concept of ownership.

Upon completion of the TUS, Powell stayed on with the Haisla to work on outlining ownership in the regional watersheds to be used in Land and Resource Management Planning (LRMP) negotiations. This led to the creation of a book on Haisla land ownership and other traditions, explained using oral histories, to be distributed during a Unity Feast hosted by Chief Steve Wilson.

As he was working on the Haisla Unity Feast Book, Powell started to push for the development of a Haisla curriculum package for the schools in the Kitimat area. In the summer of 2005 Jenson travelled with Powell to Kitlope and photographed many of the areas included in the traditional oral histories of the region. This trip led to the creation of a curriculum booklet called By Punt to the Kitlope. The pamphlet was so successful that Powell was commissioned to create a booklet for the whole of the traditional Haisla territory. Beginning work on this project led to the discovery that most of the Haisla trapline registrations had lapsed or had been passed on to the incorrect person, owing to confusion between the traditional matrilineal method of inheritance and the emerging patrilineal way of passing on title. Powell embarked on a project with Rod Bolton to re-register Haisla traplines in a way that made sense to the community.

In 2006 Vickie “Eden” Robinson was hired to assist Powell in the creation of an archives for the Haisla, based on the material accrued during the time of Powell’s work in Kitamaat.

In 2008 the Kitamaat Village Council signed a two year contract with Powell. He will work for two weeks out of every two months to complete the remaining outstanding projects, including a Haisla place names map, the introduction to Haisla territory.

The series consists of five sub-series:
A. Notebooks
B. Reports
C. Publications and research material
D. Photographs
E. Interviews

Kwak’wala

The series contains records created during a number of visits and projects completed with the Kwakwaka'wakw of Alert Bay.

After meeting David Grubb at the Salish Conferences in the early 1970s, Jensen was invited by Grubb to attend a potlatch on Gilford Island, just off Alert Bay. It was the first potlatch that she attended, and Jensen photographed it in black and white without flash.

Around the same time, Gloria Cranmer Webster began involving her UBC colleague Powell in discussions on the development of a Kwak’wala orthography. The two worked on this project during their breaks at work, with the main end goal to create accurate labels for artefacts at the museum, then located in the basement of the library on campus.

In 1975, after she moved back to Alert Bay, Webster contacted Powell and asked him to assist her in the creation of a language and culture book for Kwak’wala speaking people. Powell travelled to Alert Bay, the first of many trips to do such work. Over the next few years, Powell and Jensen were invited to Alert Bay on a number of occasions to attend potlatches, pole raisings, and other community events. Jensen photographed the events, as well as other aspects of the community such as the day care and band school.

In 1980 Webster, on behalf of the U’Mista Cultural Centre, secured salaries for both Jensen and Powell for one full year. They were hired to produce language and culture books, but in reality helped with many other aspects leading to the opening of the Centre. They rented a house in the village and lived there full time for the year, immersing themselves in the community, and creating a body of records that integrates both work and community life. Jensen had permission to photograph extensively, and these are all included in this series. Powell did linguistic research and worked with teachers from both the band school and the provincial school that were located in the village. Jensen also photographed language and culture lessons to be used in the books being produced. During the year they lived in Alert Bay, they produced 12 language books and a teacher’s manual for U’mista.

In 1982 Powell and Jensen purchased a house in Alert Bay, further cementing their intentions to maintain connections to the community. They continued to attend and photograph events and potlatches between projects.

In 1983 the Kwak’wala Teacher Training Program (KTTP) was developed by Powell and Jensen. The program was a college credit course for local area teachers to train them to lead language and culture lessons in their classes. Jensen and Powell divided their teaching duties, involving another teacher named Joy Wild. The program was successful for two years.

Over the next 20 years many of their visits were social in nature, although they continued to keep a detailed record of the events they attended. In 2001 they completed a CD-ROM for the Learning Kwak’wala series. This project had been ongoing for some time.

The series also contains photographic records of two events that took place outside the realm of the language projects. The Canadian Museum of Civilisation hired Doug Cranmer to carve a new Wakas Pole to replace the decaying version in Stanley Park and contacted Jensen to document the event. The second set of photographs records a trip organised by U’Mista Cultural Centre for scholars and experts to visit Mimkwamlis (Village Island) and T’sadzis’nukwakme’ (New Vancouver).

The records kept in this series consist of recordings, photographs, research notes, draft teaching aids, and copies of completed resources for both children’s education and the KTTP.

The series consists of eleven sub-series:
A. U’Mista research/background
B. Research materials
C. Field notes
D. Publications
E. Kwak’wala teacher training program
F. Kwak’wala CD-ROM project
G. Kwak’wala photographs
H. Potlatch photographs.
I. Wakas pole raising in Stanley Park 1987 photographs
J. Trip to Village Island and Tzatsisnukomi (New Vancouver) photographs 2005.
K. Audio recordings

Northwest Coast groups

Series consists of photographs documenting events in various communities throughout British Columbia and Washington State. These include community photographs in Mt. Currie; the Salish Linguistic Conference in Oman, Washington State; a Robert Davidson Pole Raising; coverage of NWC artifacts at the National Museum of Copenhagen in Denmark; coverage of 1992 Nuxalk Potlatch at Bella Coola for Canadian Museum of Civilization; and photographs of a Haida bentwood box.

Between working on language and education projects, Jensen was often hired by communities to document important events, such as pole-raisings, conferences and potlatches. This series consists of the photographs taken at those events.

Nuu-chah-nulth

Series is made up of records related to the creation of a Nuu-chah-nulth (otherwise referred to as T’aat’aaqsapa, West Coast language, or Nootka) dictionary.

Powell was first contacted to do a Nuu-chah-nulth language project in 1989 by Andrew Callicum, a Nuu-chah-nulth Elder and acquaintance. Originally they planned to create curriculum materials, but after John Thomas, a main informant, left the project, it was decided that they would create a dictionary instead.

Series comprises five sub-series:
A. Field notes
B. Dictionary/publications
C. Research materials
D. Morphological lexicon
E. Audio recordings

Photographic Materials

Series contains graphic materials created by E. F. Meade, L. M. Greene, Dr. Akladakov (?), Arthur Goodland, Louis Poitras, Dick Pattinson, C. Gades, Dr. Foskett, and Morley Raven, and collected by E. F. Meade while documenting and studying petroglyphs and pictographs in the West Coast.
Series also contains some graphic materials documenting petroglyphs outside of Canada, including the United States of America, Russia, Scotland, and Guyana.

Quileute

Powell first went to La Push, the Quileute village in Washington State, in 1969 to complete research for his PhD dissertation Proto-Chimakuan: A Reconstruction. While he documented the language he also developed relationships with the local families. During Jensen’s initial visit to La Push, the couple began their first collaborative work with the Quileute, as Jensen photographed the community for eventual use in a language book.

Powell completed his dissertation in 1974, but the language revival projects had only just begun for Jensen and Powell. Over the next 36 years, they spent time in La Push every year, sometimes travelling down for a weekend, and sometimes staying for a month or two. The results of these regular visits are a number of general linguistic books for adults and children; Big Books on culture specific themes to be used in schools; teaching materials to be used by Quileute language and culture teachers; cultural resource studies; dictionaries; and translated stories and resources for smaller language revitalization projects. The records in this series consist of Powell’s research notes; drafts and outlines for the language books; photographs documenting the community; Jensen’s photographs taken of particular subjects for use in language and culture books; audio and visual records of events, stories, and cultural activities.

Jensen and Powell have a continuing relationship with the Quileute and are currently involved in an ongoing language revitalization project. Another dictionary is due to be published in 2009.

The series consists of eleven sub-series:
A. Research
B. Field notes
C. Administrative records
D. Publications
E. Village life photographs
F. Modern basket weavers’ photographs
G. Counting book photographs
H. Historical photographs and artefacts
I. Photographs of La Push folks
J. Audio recordings
K. Quinault materials

Research

The series consists primarily of material accumulated and/or created by Gillian Darling Kovanic during her travels abroad, both as a student of anthropology and a filmmaker. This series includes field research conducted by Kovanic with the Kalash in Pakistan, the Kom/Kati tribes in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Orissa in India, the Haida on the Queen Charlotte Islands [Haida Gwaii], British Columbia and the Kwakwaka’wakw in Alert Bay, British Columbia. Much of her fieldwork is made up of a study of the languages and cultural practices of the people being studied.

Included in the series are eleven field notebooks, a handwritten Kalash’a dictionary, a notebook containing information on the ethnographic materials collected by Darling, which now reside with the Royal Ontario Museum, and approximately 4502 photographs, including slides, negatives, prints and digital photos. Also included are a number of academic and popular articles collected by Kovanic, which compliment her field research, including a unique, handwritten article by Wazir Ali Shah, secretary to the last ruler of Chital, Mehtar, in 1977, which was written after the original manuscript was lost. The series also contains published material, comprised of a teaching kit titled “Kalash Bread-making: From Field to Feast” and the Wakhi Language Book by Haqiqat Ali.

Gillian Darling Kovanic

Research and Publications Records

Series consists primarily of records relating to the publication of Art of the Kwakiutl Indians (first published 1967), including correspondence with various publishing houses, reviews of the book, research notes, copies and revisions of the book, bibliographies, appendices and documents relating to the photographs used in Art of the Kwakiutl Indians. The series also contains several drafts of A Labour of Love (first published 1993), book reviews written by A. Hawthorn about other authors' works, research materials for other publications and exhibits at MoA, and three folders entitled Kwakiutl Ceremonial Art, Museum of Anthropology U.B.C. Vol. 1-3 (may have been intended as a catalogue of MoA holdings).

The series has been divided into the following subseries:
A. Art of the Kwakiutl Indians
B. Kwakiutl Ceremonial Art
C. A Labour of Love
D. Exhibits and Other Research

Audrey Hawthorn

Salishan

Series contains records relating to Jensen and Powell’s work with the Salishan language groups in Musqueam and Shalalth territories, and events related to those communities. Although the records were created in a number of villages at different periods of time, Jensen and Powell arranged them together due to the linguistic connection they share.

In 1975 Powell received an Urgent Ethnology grant from the National Museum of Man (Now the Canadian Museum of Civilization) to do linguistic work in Kitamaat. However, this work fell through, and Powell contacted Arnold Guerin of the Musqueam band to discuss using the grant to prepare materials for Guerin’s Hunqum’i’num classes. Together they planned to produce three books: one of phonetics, one on grammar, and one on maths, with Jensen’s assistance in the layout and photography. From reel-to-reel recordings Powell and Paul Thiele of the UBC Library for the Blind produced cassettes to accompany the books. Only the first book was completed as planned, but Powell adapted the notes they had already taken to create two books for younger children. All of this resulted in Musqueam Language: Book 1 and Hunq’um’i’num for Kids: Books 1 & 2. Three years later in 1978 Leona Sparrow hired Jensen on grant money to teach a black and white photography course.

In 1989 the principal of the Shalalth School asked Powell to work with the band on language books. With Harold Oldman and Bev Frank he compiled materials for two books, which were not published. He also completed an alphabet sheet for the community to use.

Series also includes photographs taken by Jensen in 2003 of a ceremony returning city land to the Musequeam near Vanier Park.

Series comprises four sub-series:
A. Field notes and research
B. Publications
C. Musqueam photographs
D. Salishan audio recordings
E. Squamish photographs

Shuswap

Series consists of records pertaining to the development of Shushwap Language books and a teacher’s manual.

In the summer of 1979 Jensen and Powell moved to Alkali Lake for the summer to begin the Shuswap project. The work later expanded to include the communities of Soda Creek, Dog Creek, Canim Lake and Sugar Cane. Their primary language resources were Phyllis Chelsea and Celina Harry for the younger students’ books, and Phyllis Chelsea, Celina Harry, Cecelia DeRose, May Dixon, Elizabeth Pete, Minnie Phillips, Margaret Gilbert, Lucy Archie, Sharon Paul, and Cecile Harry for the older students’ book. In the latter part of the project Powell and Jensen also developed a curriculum with Joy Wild, and produced a teacher’s manual.

The series consists of seven sub-series:
A. Project records phase I
B. Project records phase II
C. Research
D. Original manuscripts for publications
E. Shuswap Teacher Training
F. Photographs and slides
G. Recordings.

Textual Materials

Series contains textual records contextualizing the petroglyphs and pictograms found in the graphic materials. Narrations include descriptions of the sites and their geologic evolution over the years that is leading to the loss of rock surface and petroglyphs and pictograms. Text also documents E. F. Meade’s hypothesis on how some of the petroglyphs and pictographs may have been carved and painted and his interpretations on the reasons behind the locations and purpose of some of them. The author also mentions conversations with local Indigenous peoples inquiring about the petroglyphs and pictographs and areas where he could not get documented due to issues with his equipment. Lastly, narrations include quotations and references to accounts by Capt. Vancouver, Archibald Menzies, and Alexander McKenzie describing the shore and locating some of Vancouver’s descriptions based on Meade’s knowledge of the coast and archaeology.

This is Haida records

Series consists of images found in or related to Carter's 1969 published work. Focus is on photographic representations of First Nations communities and individuals throughout Haida Gwaii. Geographic locations include Anthony Island (Ninstins), Masset, Skedans, Skidegate, Tanu and Yan. Series also contains images related to the 1969 Masset pole raising ceremony in honor of Robert Davidson, Jr. Files are generally arranged chronologically according to subject matter and/or locality. Except where noted with square brackets, the titles for files and items in this series were taken from annotations on the original material.

Anthony Carter

Tsimshian files

Research notes compiled by Wilson Duff during his work on the Barbeau/Beynon material held at the National Museum of Canada (now Canadian Museum of History). This research, focused specifically on the Tsimshian culture, includes correspondence addressed to and/or written by Duff, files relating to the Nishga Land Claim of which Duff was involved as a witness, and typed manuscripts.

Visions of Power, Symbols of Wealth Exhibition

The series contains slides relating to the exhibition Visions of Power Symbols of Wealth: Central Coast Salish Sculpture and Engraving. Images include exhibit views and various artifacts including masks, adzes, spindle whorls, mat creasers, and textiles.

Series includes --
Album 4: Slides 1-172
Album 5:
Sheet 1-2 Salish Exhibit 1 [exhibit views], Slides 1-1 – 1-29
Sheet 3-4 Salish Exhibit 2 [artifacts], Slides 2-1 – 2-39
Sheet 5-6 Salish Exhibit 3 [textiles, artifacts], Slides 3-1 – 3-35
Sheet 7 Salish Exhibit 4 [artifacts], Slides 4-1 – 4-19
Sheet 8-9 Salish Exhibit 5 [artifacts], Slides 5-1 – 5-36
Sheet 10-11 Salish Exhibit 6 [artifacts], Slides 6-1 – 6-35