News release

Nova Scotia to See Mi'kmaq Photos for First Time

Tourism and Culture (Aug. 1999 - Dec. 2003)

A new museum exhibit titled Mikwitemanej Mikmanaqi'k: Let Us Remember the Old Mi'kmaq will bring early 20th century images of Mi'kmaq people to the Nova Scotian public for the first time.

The archival photographs, taken in 1931 by American anthropologist Frederick Johnson, will be on display at the Museum of Natural History, 1747 Summer St., from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.

The exhibit is co-produced by the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology in North Andover, Mass., and the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, Truro.

Mr. Johnson lived in native communities from Quebec to Newfoundland from 1917 to 1931 and talked with the people about their lives and histories. He also took pictures of people, places and activities to document the communities he visited.

The exhibit features 80 images of the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Photo subjects vary from people making baskets and wigwams and drying eels to adults and children playing waltes and other traditional games and the religious Procession of Ste. Anne at Chapel Island.

In preparation for the exhibit, the project curators visited the communities Mr. Johnson photographed to learn more about the people and the time period. More than 40 elders from Eskasoni, Merigomish, Millbrook, Pictou and Whycocomagh in Nova Scotia, and from Conne River in Newfoundland shared their memories and stories surrounding the images. Highlights from these recollections are also a part of the exhibit.

"By looking at the faces and activities presented in the photographs, one can begin to understand what our people mean by the Mi'kmaq concept of Netukulimk.' It was the way of life of our ancestors, comprising hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering, as well as the commercial activities that centered around trading and selling for the necessities of life," said Don Julien, executive director of the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, and an advisor to the curatorial team. "Our elders were overjoyed in seeing these pictures as they travelled back in time with fond memories of days gone by."

"The photos are an opportunity for our youth today to get a glimpse of the past where our ancestors enjoyed life from the land, where people are healthy, working and independent," added Tim Bernard, editor-in-chief of the Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Nations News and one of the local curators who worked on the project. Other local curators are Cathy Martin, an independent film-maker from the Millbrook First Nations Community in Truro and Murdena Marshall, educator and historian, from the Eskasoni First Nations Community.

"It's an honour that this exhibition of invaluable historical photographs is being shown for the first time at the Museum of Natural History," said Rodney MacDonald, Minister of Tourism and Culture. "The stories and photos in this exhibition are important for all Nova Scotians. I hope many people will gain insight about the experience of the Mi'kmaq First Nations people in the early 20th century."

To better understand the exhibit's significance, the public is invited to meet the curators at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2, at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax.

Leah Rosenmeier, outreach and repatriation co-ordinator at the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, will join the curators to describe this project and answer questions from the public.

This is the first in a series of public talks organized by programmer Miranda Gould of the Nova Scotia Museum. Details on all free public programs scheduled from October through December at the Museum of Natural History are found at museum.ednet.ns.ca/news/ . Funding for programming is provided by the Nova Scotia Museum; the Department of Education's Mi'kmaq services division; and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.

The pronunciation of Mikwitemanej Mikmanaqi'k is:
mee-k-wee-day-mon-edge mee-k-mon-aqq-ee-k. The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, the Maine Humanities Council and the Nova Scotia Arts Council provided funding for the exhibition.


FOR BROADCAST VERSION:

Nova Scotians will have a chance to see rare photographs of

Mi'kmaq life for the first time this fall.

A new exhibit at The Museum of Natural History in Halifax

will feature archival images dating back to 1931.

The exhibit -- titled "Mikwitemanej Mikmanaqi'k

(mee-k-wee-day-mon-edge mee-k-mon-aqq-ee-k): Let Us Remember the

Old Mi'kmaq" -- runs from October first to December thirty-first.

The pictures show Mi'kmaq life, including basket-making,

eel-drying and game-playing in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

The photos were taken by American anthropologist Frederick

Johnson, who lived in native communities across the Maritimes and

Quebec between 1917 and 1931.

The exhibit also features the memories and stories of

present-day Mi'kmaq elders as they look at the images.

The curators -- including prominent Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia

  • will meet the public at two p.m. on October second at the

museum.

The Robert Peabody Museum of Archaeology in Massachusetts

and The Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq in Truro co-produced the

exhibit.

Cultural groups in Maine, Massachusetts and Nova Scotia

provided funding.