The Joseph-Fidèle Bernard photographs from Alaska consists of negatives taken by Bernard in 1921 among the Inupiaq (Alaska Inupiat Eskimo) and Siberian Yu'pik communities. Bernard was an artic trader, trapper and captain of the schooner "Teddy Bear."
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of 11 black and white glass negatives, taken by Joseph-Fidèle Bernard in 1921, along with 11 copy negatives (acetate) made by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in the 1960's. The images include scenes of daily life in Nome, Alaska among the Inupiaq (Alaskan Inupiat Eskimo) community. The majority of the image are portraits of men, women and children. None of those photographed have been identified. In additon to the photographs in Nome, there is one view of a Siberian Yu'pik vilage in East Cape, Siberia, and one view of a kayak storage location in Cape of Prince of Wales, Alaska.
Arrangement:
The negatives are arranged in original catalog number order; N08110-N08120.
Biographical / Historical:
Born in 1878 in Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Canada, Joseph-Fidèle Bernard was an arctic trader, trapper and captain/owner of the schooner "Teddy Bear"(based in Nome, Alaska). He assisted Canadian ethnologist/explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) and anthropologist Diamond Jenness (1886-1969) on their travels in Alaska and upper Canada. Bernard was in Coronation Gulf in 1910 and remained there for extended periods between 1910-1914, trading for furs and ethnographic objects. Nearby Bernard Harbour is named for him. In 1921, Bernard and the Teddy Bear became locked in the ice on their way from Nome to Wrangell Island to rescue members of Stefansson's party. Bernard later settled in Cordova, Alaska, where he was harbor master. He died in 1972 in Sitka.
Related Materials:
Additional collections with Joseph F. Bernard materials iclude the
Joseph F. Bernard papers, 1900-1970, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library and the Joseph-Fidele Bernard photograph collection, 1901-1923, at the Alaska State Library.
Provenance:
This collection was likley a purchase from Joseph-Fidèle Bernard around 1923 by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Joseph-Fidèle Bernard photographs from Alaska, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Microfilm of the Benjamin Stone collection of photographs relating to Britain and Europe, North America, South America, Africa, India, and Australasia. Prints made from the microfilm are mostly of portraits of American Indians and some field images relating to delegations, expeditions, dwellings, and the 1862 Sioux uprising in Minnesota. They include depictions of Arikara, Ojibwa, Miniconjou, Dakota, Pawnee, Winnebago, Iroquois, Ute, Blackfoot, Cree, Crow, Salish, and Kootenai Indians. There are also images of buildings, boats, railroads, and scenic views from around America, as well as the Smithsonian Castle in 1871 and Chicago after the Great Fire. Photographers represented include B. H. Gurnsey, Joel Emmons Whitney, and Adrian J. Ebell.
Biographical/Historical note:
Sir John Benjamin Stone (1838-1914) was born in Birmingham, England, to a glass-making family, a profession he briefly joined before starting a career in politics. He was elected representative of the Duddlestone Ward on the Birmingham Town Coucil in 1869, later becoming Mayor Cutton (1886-1891) and Member of Parliament for East Birmingham (1895-1910). Inspired by a love of antiquities, Stone began to collect and then make photographs during his international travels to East Asia, the West Indies, Africa, and North and South America. As the first president of the Birmingham Photographic Society, he encouraged the development of the Warwickshire Photographic Survey. Additionally, he helped found the National Photographic Record Association, and served as President of the organization. During his time in Parliament, Stone made a photographic survey of the Palace of Westminster and was official photographer for the Coronation of King Geroge V in 1910. His photographs were published in the two-volume Sir Benjamin Stone's Pictures (1905).
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R4859
Reproduction Note:
Prints made by the Smithsonian Institution, 1969.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Some photographs have been separated into Photo Lot 24. These photographs are represented by item-level descriptions linked to this record.
Contained in:
Numbered manuscripts 1850s-1980s (some earlier)
See others in:
Copies of photographs in the Benjamin Stone collection, circa 1862-1907 (bulk circa 1862-1871)
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Copy prints of photographs in the Birmingham Public Library in Birmngham, England. Reference copies can be made for Smithsonian Institution staff only. Permission to publish and other prints can be obtained from the Birmingham Public Library.
Victoria Island: Camp 13 km north of Oterkvik Point, 10 km north of coast at Coronation Gulf, upper camp area. Gentle south-facing slope., Nunavut, Canada, North America
Victoria Island: Oterkvik Point vicinity. Region N of camp; ca. 12 km north of Coronation Gulf coast, 15 km north of point., Nunavut, Canada, North America
