File consists of correspondence from 1966 and 1967 between Wilson Duff and K.O.L. Burridge, of the Pitt Rivers Museum, regarding Haida potlatch masks. Included is correspondence from 1902 between Franz Boas and E.B. Tylor, which notes a discussion between Charles Edenshaw and John Swanton. The file also consists of b&w photos of the masks and the article "The Haidas," from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, dated June-November 1882.

File consists of photographs of a memorial potlatch hosted by hereditary chief Laurence and Amelia Poutlas at Bella Coola. Jensen was asked to photograph the event by Andrea Laforet for the Canadian Museum of Civilisation, as the museum had been involved in research for the potlatch, which was the first to be held in the area in a long time.

Series consists of photographs documenting events in various communities throughout British Columbia and Washington State. These include community photographs in Mt. Currie; the Salish Linguistic Conference in Oman, Washington State; a Robert Davidson Pole Raising; coverage of NWC artifacts at the National Museum of Copenhagen in Denmark; coverage of 1992 Nuxalk Potlatch at Bella Coola for Canadian Museum of Civilization; and photographs of a Haida bentwood box.

Between working on language and education projects, Jensen was often hired by communities to document important events, such as pole-raisings, conferences and potlatches. This series consists of the photographs taken at those events.

Mrs. Kitty Ferry's Potlatch, Alert Bay. October 15, 1977.
Side 1

File contains a combination of images of Kwakwaka'wakw artifacts housed in various museums and images of historical Kwakwaka'wakw villages on Vancouver Island and along the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. Artifacts include totem poles, bentwood boxes, carvings, masks, and Kwakwaka'wakw artwork such as paintings and drawings. There are historical photographs of the following villages: Gwat'sinuxw (Quatsino), Kwikwasutinuxw (Gilford Island), A'wa'etlala Village (Knight's Inlet), Mamalikala (Village Island), Wiwekalu Village of T'la'mataxw (Campbell River), Kwixa Village (Salmon River), Dunaxda'xw Village (New Vancouver), and Gwa'sala Village (Smith Inlet). The textual records include information about some of the photographs, identifying items such as the people, the villages, and/or the artifacts depicted in the photographs.

Dark image of the fire and carvings at the potlatch.

File consists of images from a Kwakiutl potlatch for artists Tony Hunt, in Alert Bay, BC.

The series contains records created during a number of visits and projects completed with the Kwakwaka'wakw of Alert Bay.

After meeting David Grubb at the Salish Conferences in the early 1970s, Jensen was invited by Grubb to attend a potlatch on Gilford Island, just off Alert Bay. It was the first potlatch that she attended, and Jensen photographed it in black and white without flash.

Around the same time, Gloria Cranmer Webster began involving her UBC colleague Powell in discussions on the development of a Kwak’wala orthography. The two worked on this project during their breaks at work, with the main end goal to create accurate labels for artefacts at the museum, then located in the basement of the library on campus.

In 1975, after she moved back to Alert Bay, Webster contacted Powell and asked him to assist her in the creation of a language and culture book for Kwak’wala speaking people. Powell travelled to Alert Bay, the first of many trips to do such work. Over the next few years, Powell and Jensen were invited to Alert Bay on a number of occasions to attend potlatches, pole raisings, and other community events. Jensen photographed the events, as well as other aspects of the community such as the day care and band school.

In 1980 Webster, on behalf of the U’Mista Cultural Centre, secured salaries for both Jensen and Powell for one full year. They were hired to produce language and culture books, but in reality helped with many other aspects leading to the opening of the Centre. They rented a house in the village and lived there full time for the year, immersing themselves in the community, and creating a body of records that integrates both work and community life. Jensen had permission to photograph extensively, and these are all included in this series. Powell did linguistic research and worked with teachers from both the band school and the provincial school that were located in the village. Jensen also photographed language and culture lessons to be used in the books being produced. During the year they lived in Alert Bay, they produced 12 language books and a teacher’s manual for U’mista.

In 1982 Powell and Jensen purchased a house in Alert Bay, further cementing their intentions to maintain connections to the community. They continued to attend and photograph events and potlatches between projects.

In 1983 the Kwak’wala Teacher Training Program (KTTP) was developed by Powell and Jensen. The program was a college credit course for local area teachers to train them to lead language and culture lessons in their classes. Jensen and Powell divided their teaching duties, involving another teacher named Joy Wild. The program was successful for two years.

Over the next 20 years many of their visits were social in nature, although they continued to keep a detailed record of the events they attended. In 2001 they completed a CD-ROM for the Learning Kwak’wala series. This project had been ongoing for some time.

The series also contains photographic records of two events that took place outside the realm of the language projects. The Canadian Museum of Civilisation hired Doug Cranmer to carve a new Wakas Pole to replace the decaying version in Stanley Park and contacted Jensen to document the event. The second set of photographs records a trip organised by U’Mista Cultural Centre for scholars and experts to visit Mimkwamlis (Village Island) and T’sadzis’nukwakme’ (New Vancouver).

The records kept in this series consist of recordings, photographs, research notes, draft teaching aids, and copies of completed resources for both children’s education and the KTTP.

The series consists of eleven sub-series:
A. U’Mista research/background
B. Research materials
C. Field notes
D. Publications
E. Kwak’wala teacher training program
F. Kwak’wala CD-ROM project
G. Kwak’wala photographs
H. Potlatch photographs.
I. Wakas pole raising in Stanley Park 1987 photographs
J. Trip to Village Island and Tzatsisnukomi (New Vancouver) photographs 2005.
K. Audio recordings

Image of a girl at a potlatch in North Vancouver.

Image of a girl at a potlatch in North Vancouver.

Image of a girl at a potlatch in North Vancouver.

Image of a girl at a potlatch in North Vancouver.

Image of a girl at a potlatch in North Vancouver.

Consists of audio cassettes and transcripts of the photo identification session involving Sue Rowley (curator of public archaeology at the Museum of Anthropology), Vickie Jensen, and Doreen Jensen (Gitxsan artist and curator). The session took place over two days, March 12, 2002 and April 9, 2002 with the goal of identifying the events and people in the photographs of Mary Johnson’s bitxw (divorce potlatch).

Photograph of dancers at an indoor potlatch or other event, likely in or near Alert Bay, BC.