Photograph of Reverend Green with a Tsimshian interpreter

Photograph of Reverend Green with a Tsimshian interpreter

Indigenous Peoples
Missionaries
Culture

This source is a photograph of Reverend A.E. Green and his Tsimshian interpreter. This shows both persons dressed traditionally; Green in the bowler hat and smart jacket and the interpreter in old clothing, which highlights the clash between the two cultures. In other circumstances, some missionaries attempted to learn the language of the indigenous peoples they met but in this instance, it seems this was not the case, and the cultural boundaries were not broken down. Furthermore, the interpreter is not named in this source, highlighting the ignorance of the creator of the source or of Reverend Green himself as the person in the photograph should be named, just as Green is. This photograph fits in with the themes of museum culture and missionaries.

Unknown

Royal BC Archives

http://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/reverend-e-green-methodist-missionary-on-nass-and-clah-tsimshian-interpreter

circa 1870

Stephanie Ternier

Royal BC Museum

N/A

Visual - photograph

19th century British Columbia