Native Woman with Children

Native Woman with Children

British Columbia
Indigenous peoples
Museum Age
Ethnography
19th century

This source is a black and white photograph that portrays an indigenous woman with two children with several buckets. It is difficult to glean much from this photograph with certainty. One of the children appears to have some form of facial disfigurement. They are within a pebbled area with a fence in the background. This photograph is historically significant because of the representation of indigenous people. The photograph was taken from 1880-1920 during the Museum Age. In the photographs captured by ethnographers and anthropologists, Boas sought to create visual images that would invoke the traditional culture he sought. There is little evidence of colonial rule in this photograph.

Charles Briggs and Richard Bauman, “’The Foundation of All Future Researches’: Franz Boas, George Hunt, Native American Texts, and the Construction of Modernity, American Indian Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 3 (1999):479-528

Franklin, ‘unknown’

Royal British Columbia Museum, British Columbia Archives

http://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/native-woman-with-children

1890-99

David Cook

The Royal British Columbia Museum

N/A

Photograph

19th Century British Columbia