Series 1 - Photoprints and other material relating to missions of the Presbyterian Church to Indigenous Peoples and ethno-cultural communities in Canada

• Graphic material

ca. 470 photographs, negatives, and glass slides

Series contains images generated in the course of home mission activities under the direction of: the Board of Foreign Missions, and its predecessor body, the Foreign Mission Committee (w.s.); the Women's Missionary Society (e.d.); the Women's Missionary Society (w.d.) and its antecedent bodies, the Women's Foreign Missionary Society (w.d.) and Women's Home Missionary Society; the Board of Home Missions and Social Service, and its antecedent bodies, the Home Mission Committee (w.s.), Board of Home Missions, and Board of Social Service and Evangelism.

Series consists of photoprints, lantern slides, postcards, cartes de visite, and stereographs created or collected by ordained missionaries, lay mission workers, and others serving, or involved in directing or promoting Presbyterian missions to indigenous peoples and ethno-cultural communities in Canada. Significant images include: lantern slides by the Presbyterian Lantern Slide Department; and photos taken in connection with a series of social surveys of major Canadian cities conducted in 1913 by the Presbyterian Board of Social Service and Evangelism in cooperation with the Department of Temperance and Moral Reform of the Methodist Church.

Images in this series provide insight into the complex power relationships between those who served in the home mission fields and those whom the missions sought to reach. Images offer visual evidence of the evangelistic, educational, medical, and social work of the Church as an agent of colonialism, 'Christianization' and 'Canadianization'. Images also document the activities, way of life, and cultural experience of indigenous peoples as well as the immigrants who settled the land now known as Canada through the dominant white, Eurocentric, perspective of the Church and its missions. Indigenous peoples, ethnic groups, immigrants, missionaries, preaching places, and institutions are the main subjects covered.

Types of institutions represented include: boarding schools, such as Ahousaht Residential School, Ahousaht, B.C.; school homes, for example, Sifton School Home, Sifton, Man.; fresh air camps for children, such as those held at Gimli, Man.; hospitals, for example Anna Turnbull Hospital, Wakaw, Sask.; marine missions, featuring mission boats such as Sky Pilot; co-operative city missions, such as the United Mission, Sydney, N.S.; missions to immigrants and new Canadians, such as the Jewish Mission, Winnipeg, Man.; and social settlement houses, such as St. Columba House, Montreal, Que.

Series is arranged geographically according to information provided by each item. Consequently, the level of specificity varies: one item may give only enough information to link it with a country or region, while another may indicate that it is associated with a particular province or town. Material is available for the following locations: Ahousaht, B.C.; Alberta; Assiniboia, Sask.; Athabasca, Alta.; Atlin, B.C.; Birtle, Man.; British Columbia; Buchanan, Sask.; Calgary, Alta.; Canora, Sask.; Coalmont, B.C.; Cote Reserve, Sask.; Cushing, Que.; Dawson Creek, B.C.; Dawson, Y.T.; Dunvegan, Alta.; Eldorado, Y.T.; Elgin, Man.; Ethelbert, Man.; File Hills,
Sask.; Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.; Fort Frances, Ont.; Fort William, Ont.; Gimli, Man.; Grande Prairie, Alta.; Gull Lake, Ont.; Hamilton, Ont.; Indian Head, Assa.; Ingersoll, Ont.; Kenora, Ont.; Latchford, Ont.; Loring, Ont.; Lumsden Beach, Sask.; Makoce Waste Reserve, Sask.; Manitoba; Marine missions, B.C.; Milk River, Alta.; Minto, N.B.; Minto, Man.; Montreal, Que.; Ontario; Paul's Corners, Alta.; Peace River, Alta.; Pine River, Man.; Pipestone, Man.; Port Arthur, Ont.; Portage la Prairie, Man.; Pouce Coupe, B.C.; Prairie Provinces; Quebec; Quebec City, Que.; Rainy River, Ont.; Regina, Sask.; Robinson's Crossing, Alta.; Rolla, B.C.; Saskatchewan; Schumacher, Ont.; Sifton, Man.; Sudbury, Ont.; Swan Lake, Man.; Sydney, N.S.; Telegraph Creek, B.C.; Teulon, Man.; Toronto, Ont.; Turtle Mountain, Man.; Vancouver, B.C.; Verburg, Alta.; Veregin, Sask.; Wakaw, Sask.; Whitecourt, Alta.; Winnipeg, Man.; Yellowhead Pass, Alta.