James Alexander Teit (1864-1922)James Alexander Teit and Franz Boas
James Teit is responsible for most of the information we have about the early Interior Salish cultures from British Columbia. Teit kept excellent notes and preserved artefacts for museums in Ottawa, Chicago and New York (Mooney, 1988).Teit was born in the Shetland Islands of Scandinavian descent. When he was 19 he left for Canada, settling with his Uncle John Murray in Spences Bridge, BC, after whom the Murray Mountains, Murray Falls, and Murray River were named (Howes & Lean, 1979) . John Murray traded with the Indians in his store business.
James Teit married a Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) Native woman called Lucy Antko. Two years later Franz Boas (who was a teacher of Margaret Mead) was travelling through the area, and sought out James Teit. Boas in a letter commented as follows (Wickwire, 1979):
I left the train at Spences Bridge, which is a little dump of three or four houses and a hotel near the station...I went to see a man, a Salvation Army Warrior and big farmer...supposed to know the Indians very well. He sent me to another young man, who lives three miles up the mountain and who is married to an Indian...The young man, James, Teit is a treasure! He knows a great deal about the tribes. I engaged him right away. (p. 5)James was conversant with the Thompson language and culture as well as the Shuswap and Lillooet languages. This was on top of having a working knowledge of the Scandinavian languages, German, Dutch, French and Spanish (Howes & Lean, 1979) .Teit corresponded with Boas for many years and eventually was responsible for 2000 pages in manuscript form, and 5000 more unpublished. More remarkably he owned a wax cylinder recording machine, and spent hours recording local singers. He carefully documented the songs and took photographs of the singers. These records were sent to the National Museum of Man in Ottawa (Wickwire, 1979).
Typically an anthropologist works a few years with a cultural group and then moves on. Teit was distinctive in wanting to invest his lifetime in his study. He was a strong socialist. He organized political meetings with the tribes, worked on land claims, acted as spokesman, interpreter, and counsellor. He seems to have taken his mission to heart as is evident in this passage (Wickwire, 1979):
The belief that they are doomed to extinction seems to have a depressing effect on some of the Indians. At almost any gathering where chiefs or leading men speak, this sad, haunting belief is sure to be refered to. (p.5)There was ample reason for this pessimism, but fortunately this extinction did not take place, and Teit's valuable records are available to help the Salish Nations in understanding their past.References
Evans, D. & Foulds Brown, N. Teit, James Alexander. (1988). In The Canadian Encyclopedia (Vol. 4, p 2121). Edmonton, AB: Hurtig Publishers Ltd.
Howes, Katherine & Lean, Pat. (1979, April). An Interview with Inga Teit
Perkin, Daughter of noted ethnologist James A. Teit. Nicola Valley
Historical Quarterly, 1,4.Wickwire, Wendy. (1979, April). Jimmie Teit: Anthropologist of the People.
Nicola Valley Historical Quarterly,
Franz Boas (1858-1942)
Franz Boas' field research shifted permanently in 1886 to the Northwest Coast Indians. Their rich art and mythology further convinced him of the need to take into account psychological characteristics as well geographical environment.
"The existence of any pure race with special endowments is a myth, as is the belief that there are races all of whose members are foredoomed to eternal inferiority."To Franz Boas, the scientific approach was a thrilling way to study the primitive cultures which were fast vanishing over all the world. He felt an urgency to study these people in the field, before they were overwhelmed and contaminated by White or Western cultures.Boas visited Vancouver Island six times between 1888 and 1897.
References
Boas, F. & Teit, J. (1985). Coeur D'Alene, Flathead and Okanogan Indians. Fairfield, WA: Ye Galleon Press.
Boas, F (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2004 from http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Race/index.html
Evans, D. & Foulds Brown, N. Boas, Franz (1988). In The Canadian Encyclopedia (Vol. 1, p 244). Edmonton, AB: Hurtig Publishers Ltd.
Francis, Daniel (Ed.). (2000). Encyclopedia of British Columbia. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing.
Lagasse, Paul (Ed.) (2000). Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, New York: Columbia University Press,
Copyright (2000). Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/B/Boas-F1ra.asp
