IMAGE CITATION
Date: 1936
Subject:
Orignal Work:
Place: Smith's Cove, Digby County, N.S.
Ownership/Collection: Alexander Leighton Collection
Source: Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax
Reference Number: P113/ 76.161.1/ N-19,319
Image Use: Free for personal research and non-commercial educational use.
Request an application for commercial use.
The Nova Scotia Museum reserves the right to refuse requests.
IMAGE INFORMATION
One of a series of photographs by Alexander Leighton and others, taken during Dr. Leighton's 1936 filming of a re-enactment by Matthew Pictou and Joe Louis of the traditional Mi'kmaq porpoise-hunt. The killing of porpoises for their oil provided Mi'kmaq with an income during the 1800s and early 1900s. The completed film, which Dr. Leighton donated to the Nova Scotia Museum, is now in storage at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Halifax. The majority of the photographs, some original negatives, and the canoe used in the film were donated to the Nova Scotia Museum in 1976. Leighton wrote an article on the subject of porpoise-hunting, illustrated with these photos, and a few others for which the museum lacks original negatives. The half-tone screens from the magazine article were also copied. [Alexander Leighton. "The Twilight of Indian Porpoise Hunters." Natural History Magazine. June 1937:414.] Joe Louis was the son of a Mi'kmaq woman and her Mohawk husband.
KEYWORDS
men; Mohawk; Leighton, Alexander, Dr.; Pictou, Matthew; Louis, Joe; Smith's Cove; Digby County; Nova Scotia