Introduction

The Geological Survey of Canada began sending survey parties to explore, map and document this vast country more than 150 years ago. Their mandate went far beyond registering landforms and mineral deposits; geologists in the field were instructed to observe and record virtually everything they came across.

Almost as soon as photography was invented, they began taking cameras, with their fragile glass plates, into the wilderness with them. As a result, the Survey has amassed a priceless collection of over half a million images preserving a record of the land they have studied, and relating it to the life and natural processes it supported.

Among those thousands of photographs is a rich archive of images of Canada's Aboriginal peoples. The earliest reveal individuals, families and nations in transition; behind them a shattering collision with expansionist European civilization, before them an unrecognisable future in which their place is uncertain. These photographs constitute an irreplaceable record of an encounter between peoples, and the best of them recognise and salute the heart and soul of the stranger.

Because of the timing of the introduction of photography and the Survey's exploration of the country, the collection's greatest depth is in images from western Canada and the Arctic.

This book provides a small sample of the collection, demonstrating its range of subject and detail. It also provides a list of materials in the Survey's library for reading in anthropology, archaeology, ethnography, exploration, history, policy and politics.

The names of many of the people in these photographs have been lost. If you can identify any of them, we would be very pleased to hear from you.

The Geological Survey of Canada invites you to make use of its holdings for research, educational, artistic and commercial purposes. You will find information about access to the collections at the back of the book.

Bibliography

Editor's note:
The text accompanying the photographs is presented exactly as it was originally written by Geological Survey officers. In some cases they used terms which convey attitudes and assumptions about native people that are no longer acceptable. In the interests of historical accuracy, however, we have left the text unaltered.

Citation:
Stevens, John A., 1949-
Encounters: Early Images of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples, from the library collections of the Geological Survey of Canada. Burnstown, Ont. : General Store Publishing House, c1996.

To order a copy of Encounters, please send your requests to: