“INDIANNESS” AND THE FUR TRADE: REPRESENTATIONS OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLE IN TWO CANADIAN MUSEUMS BY MALLORY ALLYSON RICHARD A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of History University of Manitoba / University of Winnipeg Winnipeg Copyright © 2011 Copyright © 2011 by Mallory Allyson Richard ii ABSTRACT Museum representations of Aboriginal people have a significant influence over the extent to which Aboriginal presence in and contributions to Canadian history form part of the national public memory. These representations determine, for example, Canadians‟ awareness and acknowledgment of the roles Aboriginal people played in the Canadian fur trade. As the industry expanded its reach west to the Pacific and north to the Arctic, Aboriginal people acted as allies, guides, provisioners, customers, friends and family to European and Canadian traders. The meaningful inclusion of Aboriginal experiences in and perspectives on the fur trade in museums‟ historical narratives is, however, relatively recent. Historically, representations of Aboriginal people reflected the stereotypes and assumptions of the dominant culture. These portrayals began to change as protest, debate and the creation of The Task Force on Museums and First Peoples took off in the late 1980s, leading to the recognition of the need for Aboriginal involvement in museum activities and exhibitions. This project examines whether these changes to the relationships between museums and Aboriginal people are visible in the exhibits and narratives that shape public memory. It focuses on references to the fur trade found in the Canadian Museum of Civilization‟s First Peoples Hall and Canada Hall and throughout the Manitoba Museum, using visitor studies, learning theory and an internal evaluation of the Canada Hall to determine how and what visitors learn in these settings. It considers whether display content and visual cues encourage visitors to understand the fur trade as an industry whose survival depended on the contributions of Aboriginal people and whose impacts can be viewed from multiple perspectives. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for the generous support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Manitoba Graduate Scholarship, the Harington Fellowship. To Cindi Steffan, Katherine Pettipas and Lila Knox of the Manitoba Museum, I would like to express my deepest thanks for sharing their time, insight, and the use of the museum library. Karen Graham, Andrea Laforet, David Morrison, Jean Pierre Hardy and Mary Sarsfield at the Canadian Museum of Civilization were also immensely helpful; I learned a lot about how museums work from their patient answers to my questions, and from information on exhibit evaluations Karen Graham so generously provided. I have also been incredibly fortunate in being surrounded by supportive friends and colleagues. The faculty and support staff at the University of Manitoba have ensured my degree has been a rewarding and valuable experience, and my year as the Centre for Rupert‟s Land Studies‟ Harington Fellow introduced me to friends, skills and experiences I will always treasure. I am grateful to Jennifer S.H. Brown, Anne Lindsay, Susan Gray, Jennifer Ching, David Malaher and Rosemary Malaher for introducing me to different aspects of fur-trade and Rupert‟s Land history from which my research benefitted immensely. I am particularly indebted to my supervisor, Jennifer Brown, for her unending patience, encouragement, inexhaustible supply of good ideas and suggestions, her keen editing and her fantastic moral support. These people, and, of course, my family, have been essential to this project to an extent I cannot fully express or repay. iv CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS………………………………………………………….….vi LIST OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS…………………………………………..…viii DEFINITIONS……………………………………………………………………………ix ACRONYMS.…………………………………………………………………….......…..xi PREFACE……………………………………………………………………………......xii CHAPTER ONE SYMBOLS OF INDIANNESS, SYMBOLS OF THE FUR TRADE……………………………………………………………1 CHAPTER TWO A NEW VIEW OF THE FUR TRADE: THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION‟S FIRST PEOPLES HALL…..…………………………...30 CHAPTER THREE SNIPPETS IN A MONTAGE: THE FUR TRADE IN THE CMC‟S CANADA HALL………………………………………………………………...53 CHAPTER FOUR SNAPSHOTS FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES: THE MANITOBA MUSEUM‟S PORTRAYALS OF THE FUR TRADE………………………….78 CHAPTER FIVE RE-PRESENTING, RE-EVALUATING AND LOOKING TO THE FUTURE……………………………………………...………………110 EPILOGUE……………………………………………………………………………..126 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………130 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Display on the material culture of colonial Canada and the fur trade, Royal Ontario Museum, Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada…………………....7 2. Fur trade display, Glenbow Museum, Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta………….………………………………………………………………7 3. Recreated voyageur encampment, Canadian Canoe Museum…………………….8 4. Birchbark canoe loaded with trading goods, Canadian Canoe Museum………….8 5. Floor plan of the First Peoples Hall, Canadian Museum of Civilization………...31 6. Orientation area, An Aboriginal Presence zone, Canadian Museum of Civilization, First Peoples Hall…………………………………………………..33 7. Orientation area (second view), An Aboriginal Presence Zone, Canadian Museum of Civilization, First Peoples Hall………………………………………...……...33 8. Fur trade display, Canadian Museum of Civilization, First Peoples Hall...……..36 9. Artefacts in a display case in the Arrival of Strangers zone, Canadian museum of Civilization, First Peoples Hall………………………………………………......36 10. Cradle board, Canadian Museum of Civilization, First Peoples Hall……………50 11. Floor plan of the Canada Hall, Canadian Museum of Civilization………………54 12. Environmental exhibit recreating a coureurs de bois encampment, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Canada Hall…………………………………………...56 13. Artefacts in a display case in the Canada Hall‟s fur trade module, Canadian Museum of Civilization………………………………………………………….66 14. Artefacts and a text panel on “Native People and Furs” in the Canada Hall‟s fur trade module, Canadian Museum of Civilization………………………………..66 15. Floor plan of the Manitoba Museum…………………………………………….79 16. Displays on the Dene and Caribou Inuit, Manitoba Museum, Arctic-Subarctic Gallery……………………………………………………………………………84 17. Display on hunting and fishing, Manitoba Museum, Arctic-Subarctic Gallery……………………………………………………………………………84 vi 18. Smoking bag, Manitoba Museum, Arctic-Subarctic Gallery…………………….84 19. Display on Fort Ellice, Manitoba Museum, Parklands Gallery………………….88 20. Miniature diorama of an Anishnaabe village, Manitoba Museum, Boreal Forest Gallery……………………………………………………………………………88 21. Diorama of Native people and wildlife in the boreal forest, Manitoba Museum, Boreal Forest Gallery…………………………………………………………….91 22. Lake Agassiz display, Manitoba Museum, Grasslands Gallery…………………91 23. Northern Cree woman‟s hood, Manitoba Museum, Hudson‟s Bay Company Gallery……………………………………………………………………………94 24. Silver candelabra owned by Governor George Simpson, Manitoba Museum, Hudson‟s Bay Company Gallery………………………………………………...94 25. Tableau of a Hudson‟s Bay Company historical exhibit, Manitoba Museum, Hudson‟s Bay Company Gallery………………………………………………...94 26. Map of Canada inset with display cases, Manitoba Museum, Hudson‟s Bay Company Gallery………………………………………………………………...99 27. View of the Hudson‟s Bay Company Gallery, Manitoba Museum……………...99 28. Hudson‟s Bay Company Gallery (second view), Manitoba Museum………….100 29. Tableau of Hudson Bay House, Manitoba Museum, Hudson‟s Bay Gallery……………………………………………………………………..100 30. Display case on Aboriginal women and the fur trade, Manitoba Museum, Hudson‟s Bay Company Gallery…………………………………………….…105 31. A three-dimensional map of Canada at the entrance of the Canadian Museum of Civilization‟s Canada Hall…………………………………………………...115 32. A close-up of the map‟s depiction of the fur trade, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Canada Hall……………………………………………………….115 33. Full-size display of Inuit people with a dogsled, Canadian Museum of Civilization…………………………………………………………………..119 vii LIST OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS 1. “North America in A.D. 1500” (text panel), courtesy © Canadian Museum of Civilization, on-line exhibit, 2010…………………………………………….35 2. “Arrival of Strangers” (text panel), courtesy © Canadian Museum of Civilization, on-line exhibit, 2010……………………………………………….35 3. “Early Relations” (text panel), courtesy © Canadian Museum of Civilization, on-line exhibit, 2010……………………………………………………………..38 4. “Aboriginal Women” (text), courtesy © Canadian Museum of Civilization, on-line exhibit, 2010……………………………………………………………..39 5. “Population and Identity” (text panel), courtesy © Canadian Museum of Civilization, on-line exhibit, 2010……………………………………………….46 6. “The Fur Trade ca. 1750” (text panel), courtesy © Canadian Museum of Civilization, on-line exhibit, 2010……………………………………………….58 7. “Fur and Native People” (text panel), courtesy © Canadian Museum of Civilization, on-line exhibit, 2010……………………………………………….69 8. “For Richer or Poorer? The Historians Debate” (text panel), courtesy © Canadian Canoe Museum………………………………………………………..73 9. Untitled text panel, Arctic/Subarctic Gallery, © The Manitoba Museum……….83 10. “New Opportunities for Trade – Fort Ellice: 1832-1890” (text panel), Parklands Gallery, © The Manitoba Museum…………………………………...86 11. Untitled text panel, Hudson‟s Bay Company Gallery, © The Manitoba Museum………………………………………………………………………….96 12. Untitled text panel, Hudson‟s