1879 Photos of "Flathead Indians" (Kwakiutl) on Coastal Beach *AND* Baranof Castle in Sitka, Alaska

MAYNARD, Richard (attributed to)

Published by [Victoria, BC?], 1879

About this Item

A haunting Pacific Northwest Indigenous image, articulating a noticable level of disquiet in most sitters - possibly due to the photographers presence in their midst, or to the demonstration of his unusual craft. Even though this photograph is uncredited, it matches the style and format of other Richard Maynard photos taken while on his Pacific coast expeditions between 1870-1882. The U.S. National Archives & Records Administration also hold a copy of this photograph - which they date to 1879, and state that it is ". probably at Quatsino Sound on Vancouver Island". We also note an area fenced off with sticks in the upper left background (possibly a burial ground) and that other items of material culture are also visible, such as a woven basket and two canoes. Two captioned albumen silver prints, each measuring 7.25 x 9 inches wide, mounted dos à dos onto a 12 x 15 inch wide, heavy card album leaf. Ink captions under photos read "Flathead Indians" and "Old Russian Castle - Sitka". Mount with some cockling and tanning near edges, prints with age related wear and a few spots to emulsion on Sitka image. We also found that the First Nations Health Authority of British Columbia used a cropped copy of this beach image in a recent pamphlet titled "Cultural Safety and Humility" (2019) and captioned the image "Kwakwaka'wakw Women & Children". The photo mounted on the verso shows Baranof Castle in Sitka, Alaska, which was destroyed by fire in 1894, thus dating that image to before then. A very desirable pair of early Pacific Northwest coast images. (* we colorized a digital copy of this original B&W image by using photo software in order to see how the objects and people in the photo may have looked at the time - there is no additional color photo included with this listing and it is uploaded here for academic interest only *). n.b. If our Richard Maynard attribution is incorrect, then these images would likely advance in their importance, as early work by the other known pioneer west coast photographers operating at the time (i.e. E. Dossetter or C. Gentile) are even more scarce than Maynards. Seller Inventory # 4763

Bibliographic Details

Title: 1879 Photos of "Flathead Indians" (Kwakiutl)...

Publisher: [Victoria, BC?]

Publication Date: 1879

Binding: Mounted Photograph

Condition: Very Good