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

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only ...

professional photographer from

Metlakatla, Alaska Metlakatla (; Tsimshian: ''Maxłakxaała'' or ''Wil uks t’aa mediik''; Lingít: ''Tàakw.àani'') is a census-designated place (CDP) on Annette Island in Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the popul ...

.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 Metlakatla, British Columbia (Tsimshian: ''Maxłaxaała'') is a small community that is one of the seven Tsimshian village communities in British Columbia, Canada. It is situated at Metlakatla Pass near Prince Rupert, British Columbia. It is th ...

. He was a full-blood member of the Tsimshian tribe, a

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: ** First Nat ...

people spanning

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

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

Annette Island Annette Island or ''Taak'w Aan'' (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 are ...

, 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 The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance. Nass Bay joins Portland In ...

Legacy

Haldane died on November 21, 1941 from

pulmonary tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. 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 C.N. Gorman Museum is a museum focused on Native American and Indigenous artists, founded in 1973 at University of California, Davis (UC Davis) in Davis, California. History The C.N. Gorman Museum was founded in 1973 by the Department of Nativ ...

at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

, curated by

Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie (born 1954) is a Seminole-Muscogee-Navajo photographer, museum director, curator, and professor. She is living in Davis, California. She serves as the director of the C.N. Gorman Museum and teaches at University of Califo ...

."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 The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Burke Museum) is a natural history museum in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. Established in 1899 as the Washington State Museum, it traces its origins to a high school naturalist club f ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. 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 Americans 20th-century Native Americans 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Alaska Native people Artists from Alaska First Nations photographers First Nations musicians Native American photographers Native American musicians People from Prince of Wales–Hyder Census Area, Alaska Tsimshian people Tuberculosis deaths in Alaska