The Grey Nuns Northwest Territory Collection: embroidery in the Mackenzie Valley
During the Indian Residential School period (1867-1960) in the Mackenzie River area of the Northwest Territories, Indigenous students at several schools administered by the Order of the Grey Nuns produced crafts and art items that were then exported to the Order’s motherhouse in Montréal. This colle...
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ftuvicpubl:oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/7508 2023-05-15T16:17:49+02:00 The Grey Nuns Northwest Territory Collection: embroidery in the Mackenzie Valley Wenzel, Abra Walsh, Andrea N. (Andrea Naomi) 2016 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1828/7508 English en eng http://hdl.handle.net/1828/7508 Available to the World Wide Web http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/ CC-BY-NC-ND Northwest Territories Indian Residential Schools The Grey Nuns Students' art and crafts Thesis 2016 ftuvicpubl 2022-05-19T06:14:18Z During the Indian Residential School period (1867-1960) in the Mackenzie River area of the Northwest Territories, Indigenous students at several schools administered by the Order of the Grey Nuns produced crafts and art items that were then exported to the Order’s motherhouse in Montréal. This collection of 275 pieces, ranging from garments and footwear to paintings and drawings, was repatriated at the request of the Fort Providence Métis Council to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (PWNHC), in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in 2001. While locationally repatriated, the Grey Nuns collection has to date remained in storage at the PWNHC until 2015 when, in cooperation of PWNHC staff, I was able to carry out a preliminary examination of the collection. The objective of this examination was to: (1) temporally and spatially trace the movement of the pieces across Canada, situating the PWNHC collection within the residential school history in Canada; (2) to explore if the making of these pieces by the children who attended residential schools in the Mackenzie River Valley perpetuated Indigenous artistic traditions; (3) to determine whether the materiality of the collection exposes the complex interrelations between children’s crafting knowledge and the colonial structure; (4) to explore the potential and challenges of reconnecting this collection now at the PWNHC with its source communities today. This thesis reports on the analysis of a small subset of the collection’s contents. This sample, consisting of two pairs of moccasins, one pair of mittens and a single souvenir object, was analyzed for information pertinent to my main objectives, and especially what they indicate about hybridity and materiality regarding the different cultural influences, Métis, Dene and Euro-Canadian, that met in the Indian Residential school setting. The objects, made at the behest of the Grey Nuns in order to meet the demands of the Canadian tourism industry, and provide badly needed income to support their Northwest ... Thesis Fort Providence Mackenzie river Mackenzie Valley Northwest Territories Yellowknife University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace Canada Fort Providence ENVELOPE(-117.653,-117.653,61.350,61.350) Indian Mackenzie River Mackenzie Valley ENVELOPE(-126.070,-126.070,52.666,52.666) Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftuvicpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Northwest Territories Indian Residential Schools The Grey Nuns Students' art and crafts |
spellingShingle |
Northwest Territories Indian Residential Schools The Grey Nuns Students' art and crafts Wenzel, Abra The Grey Nuns Northwest Territory Collection: embroidery in the Mackenzie Valley |
topic_facet |
Northwest Territories Indian Residential Schools The Grey Nuns Students' art and crafts |
description |
During the Indian Residential School period (1867-1960) in the Mackenzie River area of the Northwest Territories, Indigenous students at several schools administered by the Order of the Grey Nuns produced crafts and art items that were then exported to the Order’s motherhouse in Montréal. This collection of 275 pieces, ranging from garments and footwear to paintings and drawings, was repatriated at the request of the Fort Providence Métis Council to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (PWNHC), in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in 2001. While locationally repatriated, the Grey Nuns collection has to date remained in storage at the PWNHC until 2015 when, in cooperation of PWNHC staff, I was able to carry out a preliminary examination of the collection. The objective of this examination was to: (1) temporally and spatially trace the movement of the pieces across Canada, situating the PWNHC collection within the residential school history in Canada; (2) to explore if the making of these pieces by the children who attended residential schools in the Mackenzie River Valley perpetuated Indigenous artistic traditions; (3) to determine whether the materiality of the collection exposes the complex interrelations between children’s crafting knowledge and the colonial structure; (4) to explore the potential and challenges of reconnecting this collection now at the PWNHC with its source communities today. This thesis reports on the analysis of a small subset of the collection’s contents. This sample, consisting of two pairs of moccasins, one pair of mittens and a single souvenir object, was analyzed for information pertinent to my main objectives, and especially what they indicate about hybridity and materiality regarding the different cultural influences, Métis, Dene and Euro-Canadian, that met in the Indian Residential school setting. The objects, made at the behest of the Grey Nuns in order to meet the demands of the Canadian tourism industry, and provide badly needed income to support their Northwest ... |
author2 |
Walsh, Andrea N. (Andrea Naomi) |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Wenzel, Abra |
author_facet |
Wenzel, Abra |
author_sort |
Wenzel, Abra |
title |
The Grey Nuns Northwest Territory Collection: embroidery in the Mackenzie Valley |
title_short |
The Grey Nuns Northwest Territory Collection: embroidery in the Mackenzie Valley |
title_full |
The Grey Nuns Northwest Territory Collection: embroidery in the Mackenzie Valley |
title_fullStr |
The Grey Nuns Northwest Territory Collection: embroidery in the Mackenzie Valley |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Grey Nuns Northwest Territory Collection: embroidery in the Mackenzie Valley |
title_sort |
grey nuns northwest territory collection: embroidery in the mackenzie valley |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/7508 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-117.653,-117.653,61.350,61.350) ENVELOPE(-126.070,-126.070,52.666,52.666) |
geographic |
Canada Fort Providence Indian Mackenzie River Mackenzie Valley Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
geographic_facet |
Canada Fort Providence Indian Mackenzie River Mackenzie Valley Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
genre |
Fort Providence Mackenzie river Mackenzie Valley Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
genre_facet |
Fort Providence Mackenzie river Mackenzie Valley Northwest Territories Yellowknife |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/7508 |
op_rights |
Available to the World Wide Web http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
_version_ |
1766003747198074880 |