IDNO

P.8101.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: Eskimo woman and child. (some European blood)

Portrait of Columbia Smith, an Inuit woman from Labrador, holding up a young child, probably Florence?. Columbia and child were part of a family from Labrador that performed in Seattle at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition's "Eskimo Village" in 1909. [JD 15/11/2024]

Place

N America; United States of America; Canada; Labrador; Washington; Seattle; Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition

Cultural Affliation

Inuit [historically Eskimo]

Named Person

Columbia Smith; ?Florence

Photographer

Horniman, John Eric; Haddon, Alfred Cort

Collector / Expedition

Haddon, Alfred Cort; Horniman, John Eric (Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909)

Date

1909

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon Collection

Source

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Related Image: The same woman is seen in a group portrait in the University of Washington Libraries, ref: AYP545, in which she is named as “Columbia, Eskimo from Labrador”. [Source: http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/ayp&CISOPTR=137&CISORESTMP=&CISOVIEWTMP=&CISOMODE=thumb, JD 11/10/2008]

Named Person: "Miss Columbia was part of a family from Labrador that performed in Seattle at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition's "Eskimo Village" in 1909. Columbia's mother, Esther Eneutseak, was brought from Labrador to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where her daughter, Columbia Smith (1893-1959), was born. Eneutseak recruited other Inuit from Labrador to perform in later expositions, including the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. At the AYPE, Columbia was named "Queen of the Pay Streak," and the most beautiful woman at the exposition. After the fair Columbia moved with her parents, John and Esther Smith, and siblings to Los Angeles. Columbia married Raymond Melling, a motion picture operator, and in 1927 their daughter Esther Sue (Melling) Elliott was born. Later Columbia went on to write and star in the first Hollywood film with a credited Inuit cast.
The term Eskimo refers to the indigenous people groups of far northern North America, but is widely viewed as offensive or inappropriate today. The term was imposed by non-Indigenous colonizers." [Information from a portrait of Columbia Smith in the collections of the University of Washington Libraries, ref: 1991.17.32, https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/id/10958/rec/9, JD 15/11/2024]

Photographer: This negative was previously attributed to 'John Emslie Horniman' (b. 1863 - 1932), but based on the biographies and life dates, it is more likely that the photographer was John Eric Horniman (b. 1889 - 1951), Emslie's son. This has been confirmed by the Passenger lists of the 5th June 1909 from England to Montreal, where the following passengers:
"Dr. A.C. Haddon, 55 years old, Surgeon.
Fanny, wife
Ethel, 25 yrs. old, daughter
Kathleen, 21 yrs. old, daughter.
John E. Horniman, 20 years old, student, single."
See also the self-portrait, N.14632. The Photographer field has been amended accordingly. [JD 8/23/2013]