Colonial Encounters of First Peoples and First Anthropologists in British Columbia, Canada

The earliest professional anthropological fieldwork undertaken within the Canadian province of British Columbia was by Harlan Smith, 1897-1899, sponsored by Franz Boas’ Jesup North Pacific Expedition. Smith’s professional publications from this work, prepared in the “objective scientific” mode of discourse of the time, contrast with his unpublished personal letters and notes that preserve names, personalities, and communications with First Nations people assisting his research. A controversial part of Smith’s assignment was to collect human skulls from graves, over objections from families, because measuring skulls was a rewarded part of anthropological science at the time. These plundered skulls alienated First Nations from anthropology, an attitude persisting today.