Between 1928 and 1934, the French-American anthropologist, artist, and writer Paul Coze (1903-1974) made four trips across western Canada collecting ethnographic objects for the Musée d’Ethnographie (Trocadero) in Paris and the Heye Foundation in New York.
An ardent admirer of Native American cultures, Coze helped organize the Cercle Wakanda, a group of Parisian “Indian hobbyists” who staged theatrical productions on Aboriginal themes. He also assembled a substantial private collection of ethnographic material from the Canadian Plains and Subarctic.
These photos from Provincial Archives of Alberta that he shot documenting everyday life of Native Americans in Western Canada in the early 1930s.
Cree girl playing with a child suspended in a small hammock, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanCree men, women and children participating in a ceremony, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanCree woman carrying domestic supplies, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanCree woman smoking beside racks of drying meat, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanCree women performing the round dance, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanCree women working on a large moose hide, Waterhen River area, Northern SaskatchewanCree women working on a large moose hide, Waterhen River area, Northern SaskatchewanDancers going to a pow-wowDressing a horse for a ceremony, Nakoda summer camp near Banff, AlbertaKamaistit inside a sweat lodge, Waterhen River Cree, Northern SaskatchewanKousahpatsican smoking his pipe, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanKousahpatsican smoking his pipe, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanNakoda riders Rocky Mountains, AlbertaOdjindja-Tchintchan, Nakoda medicine-man, near Banff, AlbertaPaul Coze greeting Wanhinkpe, Nakoda chief, Near Banff, AlbertaPipe ceremony at Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanPreparing for a ceremony, Southern SaskatchewanRepairing a crack in a birch bark canoe with hot resin, Waterhen River Cree, Northern SaskatchewanSquatipew, Cree, Star Blanket Band, Fort Qu’Appelle, South SaskatchewanBlackfoot woman with hide-scraping tools, AlbertaBlackfoot woman, AlbertaUnidentified man and child, Nakoda summer camp near Banff, AlbertaUnidentified Plains Cree at a powwow in Fort Qu’Appelle, SaskatchewanUnidentified Plains Cree at a powwow in Fort Qu’Appelle, SaskatchewanWomen arranging their tepees, Southern SaskatchewanWomen cooking over an open fire, Nakoda summer camp near Banff, AlbertaWomen scraping a large hide, Nakoda summer camp near Banff, AlbertaYoung couple beside a lake, Waterhen River Area, Northern SaskatchewanYoung couple beside a lake, Waterhen River Area, Northern SaskatchewanYoung Cree woman between two elders, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanYoung Cree woman with birch bark container, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanYoung man inside a tepee holding pipe , Southern SaskatchewanYoung men in ceremonial dresses, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanAshatcheway, a Cree medicine man, smoking an effigy pipe, Waterhen River Area, Northern SaskatchewanBlue Bird and her sister, near Banff, AlbertaBlue Bird, Nakoda girl, near Banff, AlbertaBlue Bird, Nakoda girl, near Banff, AlbertaCeremonial offering, Waterhen River, Northern SaskatchewanCeremony being observed by visitors, Southern SaskatchewanChief Two Bears beside his tepee, Southern SaskatchewanCree and Métis men performing the pipe ceremony, Waterhen River, Northern Saskatchewan
(Photos by Paul Coze via Provincial Archives of Alberta)
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