Benjamin Alfred Haldane (June 15, 1874 – November 21, 1941) was a

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terrace and ...

professional photographer from Metlakatla, Alaska.In the Spirit of the Ancestors.
''Burke Museum.'' 2007 (retrieved July 15, 2009)

Background

Benjamin Alfred Haldane was born on June 15, 1874, in the village of Metlakatla, British Columbia. He was a full-blood member of the Tsimshian tribe, a

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

people spanning

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and Alaska. At the age of 13, Haldane migrated to the village of Metlakatla, Alaska, located on

Annette Island Annette Island or Tàakw.àani (Tlingit) is an island in the Gravina Islands of the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean on the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is at . It is about long and about wide. The land area i ...

, along with 800 other Tsimshian people. They made the 30-mile journey by canoe, seeking secure land rights and religious freedom with the missionary William Duncan.Tsinhnahjinnie and Passalacqua, 2 Haldane's parents were Matthias (Matthew) Haldane and Caroline Auriol. Haldane married his first wife, Martha Calvert, on November 17, 1896, and together the couple had 11 children. Martha died in 1918. Haldane married again before 1938 to his second wife, Margaret. He was a successful merchant and grocer, who served as his village's secretary for 35 years. In 1903, Haldane began teaching music and was respected for his musical abilities throughout southeast Alaska. For 38 years, he was the organist and choir master at the William Duncan Memorial Church and led the Metlakatla Concert Band.

Art career

Haldane took up photography in the late 19th century, as did his brother Henry Haldane and Thomas Eaton, also Tsimshian. At the age of 25, in 1899, Haldane opened his own portrait studio. He maintained his studio and actively documented the people of his community from the 1890s to approximately 1910. He specialized in portrait photography and his works are carefully composed. They show the Tsimshian at a time of great transition. Families and individuals posed in Western clothing of their day. They are photographed inside with props and backdrops or outside. He photographed events such as weddingsMetlakatla Vintage Photographs.
''Ketchikan Museums.'' November–December 2006: 1. (retrieved July 15, 2009) or concerts by his marching band. As a community insider, he was able to achieve an intimate look at the Tsimshian people. He was also able to photograph

potlatch A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Scienc ...

es, outlawed at the time, along the Nass River.

Legacy

Haldane died on November 21, 1941, from pulmonary tuberculosis. He is buried in Ocean View Cemetery in Metlakatla. His photographs have been increasingly exhibited in recent decades. This revived interest in his work was sparked by Dennis Dunne, who rescued 162 original glass plate negatives of Haldane's photographs from the dump on Annette Island in the 1990s. The Tongass Historical Museum curated ''Metlakatla: Vintage Photographs'' in 2006, which featured 36 of prints of his photographs. Also in 2006, his work was included in ''Our People, Our Land, Our Images'', an exhibition of indigenous photographers at the C.N. Gorman Museum at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, curated by Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie."Our People, Our Land, Our Images."
''Gorman Museum, UC Davis.'' 2006 (retrieved July 15, 2009) That shows also traveled to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. in 2007.

Notes

References

* Tsinhnahjinnie, H. J. and Passalacqua, Veronica, eds. ''Our People, Our Land, Our Images: International Indigenous Photography.'' Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2008. .

External links

Extensive collection of Benjamin Haldane's photography
Tongass Historical Museum
Bringing our History into Focus: Re-Developing the work of B.A. Haldane, 19th Century Tsimshian Photographer by Mique’l Askren; April 16, 2010
* Askren, Mique'l Icesi
''From Negative to Positive: B.A. Haldane, Nineteenth Century Tsimshian Photographer''
Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Haldane, Benjamin 1874 births 1941 deaths 19th-century Native American artists 20th-century Native American artists 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 20th-century Alaska Native people Artists from Alaska First Nations photographers Native American photographers Native American musicians People from Prince of Wales–Hyder Census Area, Alaska Tsimshian people Tuberculosis deaths in Alaska Canadian emigrants to the United States