Two cylindrical wooden columns stand parallel, connected at the top by a horizontal wooden panel featuring the carved head and front paws of a wolf. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “W.E. Collison.” Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources,
Stone figure carved in the likeness of a fish. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “48-5”
Wooden fish, complete with carved fins and moveable (?) tail. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “48-1”
Two carved wooden bentwood boxes; one containing seven carved wooden spoons. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “W.E. Collison.” Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “49-5”
Two carved wooden bentwood boxes. Box on the left containing three carved wooden spoons, box on the right containing one carved wooden spoon; between the two lies one large spoon resting against a box. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “W.E. Collison.” Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “49-6”
Figure on the left is a club-shaped cylindrical figure with bulbous human face at one end; abalone shell is inlaid in the face for eyes. Figure on the right is a club carved in the shape of a whale with inlaid eyes and engraved markings on its sides. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “W.E. Collison.” Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “51-1”
Figure on the left is a club-shaped cylindrical figure with bulbous human face at one end; abalone shell is inlaid in the face for eyes. Figure on the right is a club carved in the shape of a whale with inlaid eyes and engraved markings on its sides. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “W.E. Collison.” Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “51-1”
Carved wooden sculpture of a seated male figure - his hands on his chest wearing a headdress and a neck ring. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “46-3”.
Carved stone figure on left features a hole at one end through which a rope is strung; while the figure on the right is a soapstone figure carving of a face with two ears to the sides and split ‘u’ ones at the top of the head. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “W.E. Collison.” Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “51-5”
Carved wooden mask, perhaps a portrait mask. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “32-6”
Carved wooden portrait mask. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “45-3”
Carved wooden mask of a mythic creature whose mouth is in the shape of an ‘o’. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “33-2”
Mask created from leather or metal, featuring eyeholes and a mouth hole as well as holes pierced around the perimeter of the mask itself. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “45-5”
Carved portrait mask featuring real fur eyebrow (one is missing) and mustache. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “45-4”
Carved wooden mask depicting a bird/human face painted with a stylized design of feathers and animal's ear to one side of the forehead. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “44-2”
Carved and painted wooden mask in the shape of a mythic creature with flaring nostrils and oblong eyes. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “44-6”
Carved wooden mask featuring inlaid teeth and a halo surrounding the face. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “44-5”
Carved wooden mask in the shape of a mythic creature with distinct eyebrows, a wide and flattened nose and a thin lipped mouth. Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “44-3”
Ermine-tail headdress with wooden frontlets carved with mythic animal and inlaid with abalone. Sea lion whiskers extending upwards from top of frontlet. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “W.E. Collison.” Stamped annotation on verso reads: “Department of Mines and Resources, Photographic Section. Oct. 6, 1939”. Numeric annotation on verso: “45-6”
Photograph of three Tsimshian mortuary poles. Two crossed logs rest atop the three poles. Annotation on recto reads: "Indian Mortuary Poles Nr Prince Rupert BC McRae Bros."
Hand coloured photograph of a cemetery in Gitxsan territory. Annotation on recto reads: "Indian Cemetery, Hazelton, BC."
Series consists of journals, draft manuscripts, correspondence, CMS documents and orders, speeches, sermons all written by or to Archdeacon W. H. Collison. Series also contains correspondence to W.E. Collison and Joyce Collison, genealogical information on the Collison family, newspaper clippings and a school paper written by Archdeacon Collison's grandaughter Katy.
File predominantly consists of correspondence to Rev. W.H. Collison from the Church Missionary Society. However, some letters in this file are also from individual parishioners, fellow clergymen, Massett councillors, and the American Geographical Society.
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 includes "In the Wake of the War Canoe" Chapter XX revisions and a note from donor Jean Whiffin on behalf of Joyce Collison regarding the revisions.
This unpublished manuscript, authored by W.H. Collison and handwritten by Joyce Collison, comprises 29 identifiable chapters. Content of this manuscript appears to be focused upon the retelling of First Nations stories. The donor identified that this manuscript was intended for publication but was never completed.
Small booklet containing handwritten notes of what appears to be a speech prepared by W.H. Collison on the topic of traditions and events he had been witness to along the northwest coast of British Columbia.
Notebook contains two stories: "The Finding of the Crystals" and "Tit for Tat or The Porcupine and the Beaver". These stories are also found in the Collison manuscript.
Notebook contains Collison's recollections of local history as he heard it, and of the events he encountered during some of his time in ministry.
File contains linguistic notes prepared by W.H. Collison and sermons written by W.H. Collison in various First Nations languages.
Series contains publications on the following subjects: linguistics, First Nations studies, anthropology, museum studies, the Missionary Society of the Church of England, the Metlakatla Inquiry, material culture and Canadian geography. It is believed that items published prior to 1922 had been collected by the Archdeacon W.H. Collison, while those published post 1922 (the year W.H. Collison passed away) were collected by both his son W.E. Collison and then his grandaughter Joyce Collison.
Haida Grammar. Reverend C. Harrison. From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. Volume I, Section II: 1895.
The Church Missionary Intelligencer. New Series. 1 September 1873
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.
North British Columbia News with which is incorporated Aiyansh Notes (2 editions):
- North British Columbia News with which is incorporated Aiyansh Notes: A Journal of Missionary Endeavor in the Diocese of Caledonia, British Columbia. Vol. 1, No. 8. October 1911.
- North British Columbia News with which is incorporated Aiyansh Notes: A Journal of Missionary Endeavor in the Diocese of Caledonia, British Columbia. No. 84 April 1931.