Series MS-3374 - Indigenous studio portraits of Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery

This series consists of 67 nineteenth century photographs of First Nations and Indigenous individuals and groups taken between the early 1860s and the late 1880s to early 1890s. The bulk of the photographs are attributed to English photographers Frederick Dally (1838-1914) and Hannah Maynard (1834-1918) of Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery (1862?-1912) who acquired the Dally negatives at some point after his photographic business closed in 1870. A small number of works are attributed to Italian photographer Carlo (Charles) Gentile (1835-1893). The earliest images are attributed to F. Dally and C. Gentile taken in the early 1860s. The bulk of the photographs were produced by Maynard, Dally and Gentile for the purposes of creating and marketing commercial photographic products popular during the 1860s and 1870s in Victoria, and to a lesser extent for the purpose of fulfilling individual photographic orders of studio clientele in the late 1880s or 1890s. The studio portraits document a depiction of First Nations and Indigenous people and identities from the perspective of European photographers in Fort Victoria in the Colony of Vancouver Island (now the city of Victoria in the province of British Columbia) during the pre- and post-confederation era. Photographs in this series include popular Dally portraits that appear in print format in other F. Dally photographic albums.

During the 1860s and 1870s, the Maynard Studio was also one of the most prolific creators of cartes de visite of First Nations and Indigenous people along with F. Dally and Charles (Carlo) Gentile, popular in and around Victoria during the early 1860s and 1870s. During the 1860s, Frederick Dally advertised the availability of these products within his imprint on the back of card mounted print photographs stating: “...A large and highly interesting collection of Photographic Views of British Columbia and Vancouver Island may be had at the Gallery. Also, Cartes de Visite of the various Indian Tribes in great variety.” Commercial cartes de visite were marketed and sold more frequently to non-Indigenous tourist audiences. After 1870, the glass plate negatives and photographic works of Frederick Dally were purchased and marketed by the Maynards and Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery after the English photographer went out of business.

Along with conventional portraits for Maynard Studio clients produced in these early years of the studio, cartes de visite of First Nations and Indigenous people produced by Hannah Maynard and the Maynard Studio were created using studio portraits depicting sitters often against a studio backdrop (e.g. plain or scenic), posed and arranged (e.g. side profile, mid or full length, forward facing), sometimes with props (e.g. baskets, carvings), crouched, seated or standing, in groups or individually. In the years that followed, these studio portraits were re-marketed to the collecting public in the form of a composite or altered studio portrait or blended “documentary” image. Composite portraits removed Indigenous sitters and clients from their original context of the photography studio and blended them with field photographs and landscape views produced on other Maynard photographic tours around British Columbia.

Other photographers of the Maynard Studio were also creating and producing portraits of First Nations and Indigenous people in the early 1870s. Photographer Richard Maynard, husband of Hannah Maynard, created field portraits in a land-based studio produced during a photographic tour of Vancouver Island in 1873. Part of a tour with government officials travelling and inspecting Indigenous settlements on the Northeast Coast of Vancouver Island and adjacent sites on the mainland, the series of portraits of individuals and groups created during this visit were later marketed and sold as photographic commodities (cartes de visite) by Mrs. R. Maynard bearing imprints from the second Maynard Studio. Earlier, Frederick Dally had participated in a tour of inspection of Indigenous communities around Vancouver Island with the colonial administration on the H.M.S. Scout 1866 (summer).

After the closure of Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery, Maynard ‘s son Albert H. Maynard facilitated the distribution of his parent’s photographic work to educational institutions such as those on the west coast of Canada and United States. Some of the work distributed and sold consisted of ethnographic photographs documenting British Columbia’s First Nation communities, including studio portraits. In the early 1930s, an acquisition request for photographic slides to A. H. Maynard at a Yates Street address in Victoria from the University of California, 1930 requests for “#8 Haida woman with button labret and pierced septum. Taken in Victoria” and “#15 Kitta Canim of Clayoquot Sound. Nootka or Salish.”

This series consist of 67 collodion and gelatin dry cartes de visite sized glass plate negatives. There is a single stereograph sized portrait (gelatin dry negative). Virtually no negatives contain image captions or photographers name, signature or imprint. There does not appear to be dates and or photograph numbers for the original negatives identified on plates or in the emulsion of the negative. There is only one photograph that contains a caption noted on the negative plate and provides information on the identity of an individual in the portrait (see “Old Clah” on J-04841).

Photographs consist of manipulated and unmanipulated images. Of the manipulated images, many of the studio portraits have had visual information intentionally removed. The typical types of information removed include the removal or obscuring of the studio backdrop to facilitate the creation of a fabricated composite image or the illusion of a plain background. In many instances, the space around the area behind the sitter has been manipulated (e.g. painted overtop on the negative plate).

There are several studios represented in this series: studio(s) attributed to the photographic studio(s) of Frederick Dally, studio(s) attributed to Carlo Gentile and studio(s) attributed to Mrs. R. Maynard's Photographic Gallery. Studio accessories include plain or painted scenic backdrops, flooring (such as floor tiling, carpets or woven mats -rare). Of the floor titling, the same titling appears in photographic negatives attributed to photographers Carlo Gentile and Mrs. R. Maynard (see J-04844, J-03643, J-04864, J-04858, J-04860 and J-04847, J-04863 and J-04865). Regarding scenic studio backdrops, the bulk of the images do not contain them. However, a number of portraits use a studio backdrop depicting a false window and balcony scene (e.g. J-04865, J-03639), which has can be seen used in conventional studio portraits attributed to Mrs. R. Maynard in her portfolio of studio portraits of non-Indigenous sitters (e.g. HP018346). The presence of photographic devices (e.g. such as lighting equipment - tent) or other photographic apparatus (e.g. a standing head rest) are visible in some portraits (e.g. see J-04841, J-04844, J-04849). Finally, common type of props used in many of the portraits featured in this series include: woven baskets (small and large weave) or pails with some containing potatoes, clams, crabs or other food items; a container of berries; bundles of wood; cloth bags and blankets; Hudson’s Bay Company blankets. A small number of portraits include props used in conventional studio portraits of non-Indigenous sitters such as false bannisters used in the studio of Carlo Gentile (e.g. J-03640) or chairs (e.g. J-04864, J-03643, J-04859, J-03658). There are a small number of portraits that reflect a wider view of a photographic studio. For those attributed to a studio of Dally, see J-04827. For those attributed to a studio of Gentile, see J-03635. For those attributed to a studio of Mrs. R. Maynard, see J-04841 and J-04854. There are also a number of studio portraits taken by an unattributed photographer and an unattributed photographic studio.

First Nations and Indigenous sitters and/or studio clients featured in Dally portraits in this series, are identified in captions for the same but often cropped versions of many of these photographs in other photographic formats such as albums or posters. Related 19th or early 20th century Dally albums identify individuals and groups as having cultural, political, linguistic or geographical affiliations with the following descriptors: “Sooke,” “Barclay Sound,” “Fort Rupert,” “Hydah,” “Quamichan,” “Cowichan,” “Ohiat” [Huu-ay-aht] and “Sheeshat” [Tse-shaht].

A number of sitters are represented in individual and group studio photographs. Representatives from Indigenous governments and communities on Vancouver Island and British Columbia including the Tsimshian Chief known as Arthur Wellington Clah (see J-04841), as well as Chief Sitakeenum/Cedarkanim (also known or been identified as Seta-Kanim/Seta-Canim/Seta-ka-nim/Setta (Cedar) Canim/Sitakanim) of the Tla—o-qui-aht [Clayoquot] First Nation of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation (see J-04860, J-04864, J-04858).

Many of the portraits feature clients or sitters who may have been day labourers in Fort Victoria, depicted with actual or props of baskets of items to sell, such as potatoes (see J-03636), clams, berries (see J-04843, J-04857), crabs (J-03647), or services potentially such as laundry (see J-04863, J-04847, J-04862).There are several sitters in uniform (see J-04842, J-04856), including a naval uniform (see J-03657) and two depict individuals with both a naval uniform and a presentation staff (see J-03635, J-04854). Other occupational like portraits appear to reflect Christian religious clergy (see J-04856).

Youth are featured in individual (see J-03637, J-03640) and group photographs (J-03638, J-04860, J-04853, J-03643, J-04844, J-04827). There are two portraits of babies photographed wrapped in cradleboards (see J-03652, J-03658) and a single portrait reflecting mother and child depiction (J-03655). Older adults are represented less commonly, but are included in this series as individual (see J-03645, J-03654, J-04849, J-04848, J-04831) and group portraits (see J-04865, J-03643, J-04866). Some sitters (youth, adults) wear adornments or jewelry such as earrings, septum rings or nose labret, bracelets, necklaces, necklaces with chains or with pendants (see J-04833, J-04826, J-04836, J-03640, J-04863, J-04847, J-04862, J-03647, J-04865, J-03656). Many sitter wear short or mid-length hair and some wear their hair long (loose, held back with headbands, braided or under hats or other head wear) (see J-04866, J-03656, J-04843, J-03639, J-03641, J-03657, J-04844, J-04828, J-04832).

Portrait styles reflected in this series include head shots, front profile, side profiles, as well as mid and full-length likenesses that employ a variety of studio props. Only a single portrait appears to depict a smile expression (J-03636).