A Cruise Among Haida and Tlingit Villages About Dixon's Entrance. George A. Dorsey. Reprinted from Appletons’ Popular Science Monthly for June 1898.
Photograph depicts an unidentified individual leaning against a large overturned dugout canoe; barrel, bucket, and wood planks in foreground. Houses and other buildings can be seen on shore above beach, and two unidentified individuals stand in distance on far right.
Handwritten annotations on verso read: “Haida canoe on beach at Masset / ? 1898”; “No. 4 Page 5. Haida Canoe ready for steaming to [widen?] out and finish.”
An original negative of this photograph is held by the Canadian Museum of Civilization, no. 26664.
"The Geography of the Tsimshian Indians." G.A. Dorsey. Reprint from The American Antiquarian, October 1897.
Haida Grammar. Reverend C. Harrison. From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. Volume I, Section II: 1895.
Newspaper consists of the recto and verso of 2 pages (p. 1-4). It was published in Aiyansh on the Nass River in British Columbia in April 1895 and presents a missionary's perspective of regional First Nations traditions and current affairs of the day.
Religion and Family Among the Haidas (Queen Charlotte Islands). Rev. Charles Harrison. London: Harrison and Sons, 1891.
Handwritten annotations read: "At rest, after a rough passage of two days and a night from Massett, Queen Charlotte's Islands by canoe - W.H. Collison and Mrs. Collison with Indians from Masset"; "Archdeacon Collison Indian Canoe & Crew. Return from Queen Charlotte's Islands, Haida & Tsimshian Crew [...?]" Archdeacon and Mrs. Collison sit in centre of canoe.
Report of Conferences Between the Provincial Government and Indian Delegates from Fort Simpson and Nass River. British Columbia. February 1887.
Young boy stands among bushes in snow, totel pole in background.
Handwritten annotation on verso reads: “WE Collison Totem on QCIsl."
Metlakatlah Inquiry 1884: Report of the Commissioners, together with evidence. British Columbia. Victoria: Government Printing Office, 1885. Handwritten annotation in pencil on book cover: "To be returned to Matt B. Begbie"
Close up of a carved wooden rattle featuring one side which is in the shape of a sun with face.
Handwritten annotation on verso reads: “Medicine man’s rattle. One side representing The sun and the other side The Moon. For heading of Page 20 Medicine Man’s rattle, Haida, Q.C. Islands.”
Two carved wooden figures stand side by side to mark the burial of a Haida medicine man. Each figure has one arm up with a hand under or over the chin, while the other arm is down. Carved chiefly headdresses adorn each of their heads.
Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “Q.C. Is.”
Two carved wooden figures stand side by side to mark the burial of a Haida medicine man. Each figure has one arm up with a hand under or over the chin, while the other arm is down. Carved chiefly headdresses adorn each of their heads.
Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “Shaman’s grave”.
Display of the tools of the Medicine Man: rattles, statues, hats (crowns), masks, spoons apron and body ornamentation.
Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “A medicine man’s outfit. Crowns of bear’s claws, aprons of skins adorned with carved charms of bone and ivory, also rattles. Would illustrate Chapt. XIII for no. 2”
Photograph depicts close-up of unidentified skeletal remains situated on the ground. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “skeleton fallen from burial box at Masset QCIs. Remains were buried near original site”.
Display of the tools of the Medicine Man: snow shoes, rattles, trumpet, hats (crowns), mask, apron and body ornamentation.
Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “No. 26 Medicine Man’s Outfit. Bear claw crowns, aprons with charms, rattles, trumpet, for insertion at close of chapt.”
Two carved wooden figures stand side by side with a horizontally placed wooden plank between them.
Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “Chapter XIX near Skidegate, Shaman’s Grave”.
Two carved wooden figures stand side by side to mark the burial of a Haida medicine man. Each figure has one arm up with a hand under or over the chin, while the other arm is down. Carved chiefly headdresses adorn each of their heads.
Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “Shaman’s grave nr. --Masset QCIs.”
Eight unidentified medicine men in full regalia stand in a row within a long house. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “Yaulalet Dum guna al git dkdin (?) Party of medicine men Nishka Indians ready for medicine dance. W.H. Collison”. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Haldane & Bro. Alaskan Photographers, 7 West Street, Metlakahtla – Alaska.”
Two carved wooden figures covered in moss stand side by side with a fallen wooden plank lying between them. Wooden figures have pen marks applied to the surface of the photo.
Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “Chapt. XIX No. 3. A medicine man’s tomb guarded by two figures, one of which has two heads following a tradition. They are both ie (?) the two headed figure, arranged in the headdress containing the swan’s down which is the sign of peace”.
Two carved wooden figures stand side by side to mark the burial of a Haida medicine man. Each figure has one arm up with a hand under or over the chin, while the other arm is down. Carved chiefly headdresses adorn each of their heads.
Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “Illustration for insertion at end of Chapt XIX no. 2. Medicine man’s tomb Queen Charlotte Islands.” Photograph has pen markings made on its recto tracing the outline of these two shapes.
Photograph depicts community buildings on shoreline, water in foreground.
Handwritten annotation on image reads: "Wrangle, Alaska."; on verso: "Fort Wrangle, Alaska Territory. visited by W.H.Collison, C.M.S. 1877. Prior to the establishment of any mission, [...? illegible] 1875 - 1876. Presbyterian. Insert this illustration of Wrangle on Page 77 as marked."
Portrait of Lady Dufferin, wife of Lord Dufferin (Governor General of Canada, 1872-1878) was given to W.H. and Marion Collison on the occasion of their visit to the North Coast in 1876.
Handwritten annotation in pen on the verso which reads: “Given to my parents.” Recto of photograph is signed by Lady Dufferin. Photographers mark on recto reads: “Cabinet Portrait Hunter & Co. Toronto, Ontario”.
The Church Missionary Intelligencer. New Series. 1 September 1873
A monthly journal published by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) featuring the work of CMS missionaries around the world.
A monthly journal published by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) featuring the work of CMS missionaries around the world. Note: pages 315-320 are missing.
This file contains handwritten and typed notes and drafts of First Nations legends, addresses and manuscripts. It is believed this material was authored by W.H. and W.E. Collison although none is signed or dated.
File contains listing of items donated by Rose Margaret Davies to the Ridley Home Archives in 2008 that documented accomplishments of Margaret West; handwritten notes regarding place names along the North Pacific Coast and one page from an issue of the Monthly Reporter, No. 9, September 1873 published by the Church Missionary Society.
File consists of a blank notecard featuring colour aerial photograph of Metlakatla, B.C. Photograper: Eugene Mah.
File contains obituaries for Collison as well as for his son Henry Alexander (H.A.) and granddaughter Katherine Clarke (nee Collison); various articles re: Collison’s many accomplishments; a letter of condolence from Councillors of the Haida Nation on the occasion of his death, a program from Collison’s memorial service at Metlakatla, and a typed biography.
File contains an article identified as having been written by W.E. Collison on the topic of the development of First Nations peoples along the North Pacific Coast.
File contains articles and obituaries regarding the life and death of W.E. Collison, as well as a letter of condolence from T.D. Patullo to Bertha Collison. Also contained within this file is an attestation to the baptism of Bertha Davies on 26 January 1897 in Devon, England and a certified handwritten copy of the marriage register entry for the marriage of W.E. Collison and Bertha Davies in Metlakatla on 8 June 1900.
File contains article on life and death of Marion Collison and an excerpt from an editorial by Joyce Collison in BC Bookworld (1996) regarding the need to write the biography of Marion Collison.
File contains a prize-winning essay handwritten by Katy Collison, granddaughter of W.H. Collison, and daughter of W.E. Collison regarding the Confederation of Canada.
File contains a family tree created in 1986 which shows the Collison family tree from John Collison (ca. 1820) to the birth of the great-grandchildren of W.H. Collison (ca. 1980’s); as well as, brief handwritten notes created by Joyce Collison on the lives of her father and grandfather.