The series consists primarily of material accumulated and/or created by Gillian Darling Kovanic during her travels abroad, both as a student of anthropology and a filmmaker. This series includes field research conducted by Kovanic with the Kalash in Pakistan, the Kom/Kati tribes in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Orissa in India, the Haida on the Queen Charlotte Islands [Haida Gwaii], British Columbia and the Kwakwaka’wakw in Alert Bay, British Columbia. Much of her fieldwork is made up of a study of the languages and cultural practices of the people being studied.

Included in the series are eleven field notebooks, a handwritten Kalash’a dictionary, a notebook containing information on the ethnographic materials collected by Darling, which now reside with the Royal Ontario Museum, and approximately 4502 photographs, including slides, negatives, prints and digital photos. Also included are a number of academic and popular articles collected by Kovanic, which compliment her field research, including a unique, handwritten article by Wazir Ali Shah, secretary to the last ruler of Chital, Mehtar, in 1977, which was written after the original manuscript was lost. The series also contains published material, comprised of a teaching kit titled “Kalash Bread-making: From Field to Feast” and the Wakhi Language Book by Haqiqat Ali.

File contains images of canoes from various Northwest Coast First Nations communities including Tsimshian, Haida, Nuxalk, Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth.

File contains images of the First Nation artists involved with the Through My Eyes exhibit. The images show them looking at objects in the Vancouver Museum's collection. The artists shown in the photographs are Cyril Carpenter, Ben Davidson, Robert Davidson, Norman Tait, Isabel Rorick, Doreen Jensen, Judge Alfred Scow, Lyle Wilson, Dolly Watts, Bill Reid, Glen Tallio, Richard Hunt, Terry Starr, Tim Paul, Richard Summer, Dempsey Bob, Jim Hart, and William White.

File contains correspondence and art packages. The two art packages consists of Northwest Coast Art and The Whale House of the Chilkat. These packages contain historic photographs with full explanations, as well as high lighting the design elements. They were published by the Alaska State Museum.

File consists of images of First Nations adults and children in Bella Coola, Klemtu, Bella Bella, Haida Gwaii, and Hartley Bay, BC.