Collection search - Richard White material [textual record, graphic material]

Record information – Brief
1
Richard White material [textual record, graphic material]

Hierarchical level:

Sub-series

Date:

1901-2006.

Reference:

R11967-3-9-E

Type of material:

Textual material, Photographs

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

3692154

Context of this record:

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Alika Podolinsky Webber fonds

Montagnais-Naskapi (Innu) Anthropological Research

Richard White material
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Record information – Details

Sub-series includes:

22 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1901-2006.

Place of creation:

Newfoundland and Labrador

Added country of publication:

Massachusetts, Pennsylvania

Extent:

11.5 cm of textual records.
1 photograph : b&w.

Language of material:

English

Added language of material:

English, Inuktitut

Scope and content:

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The sub-series comprises the papers of Richard White, a trader at Voisey's Bay and Kauk in northern Labrador. His correspondence includes letters concerning his employment as a private detective in New England; correspondence with P. Hettasch and F. W. Peacock of the Moravian mission in Nain; and correspondence with anthropologist Frank G. Speck concerning collecting specimens and artifacts for anthropological research. His trapping, hunting, and fur trading activities are documented by price lists, invoices, game regulations, and a manual on "Fox Catching Methods" by W. A. Hadley. Another file reveals his participation in the Baffin Island Gold Exploration Syndicate, which hoped to find gold on the island based on the reports of earlier explorers. There are several manuscripts of stories of events in northern Labrador, apparently written by White, for possible publication in British or North American periodicals. These include stories of Ostinitsu, a chief of the Innu of the Barren Grounds; a bear cub sent to the London zoo; Inuit sled dogs; and encounters with wolves. White's five year diary holds brief entries for the years 1947 to 1950, ending in October 1950, and holds enclosed a photograph of George and Charles Markham of Verona, New Jersey, 1944.

In addition to original Richard White material, the sub-series also includes notes and correspondence pertaining to the anthropological research of Frank G. Speck and the collecting done for Speck by White. The correspondents include Alika Podolinsky Webber, Ray Webber, John R. Grimes, Edmund Carpenter, Marc Hammond, and Mrs. Frank Speck.

Provenance:

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White, Richard, 1878-1950

Biography/Administrative history:

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White, Richard, 1878-1950 : Richard White was born in 1878. After working as a private detective in New England, he moved to northern Labrador in 1908. He established stores at Nain and Voisey's Bay in the years before the First World War. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Vancouver on 9 October 1918 for service in Siberia and was discharged as a lance corporal on 15 June 1919. In his absence overseas, his wife Ruth had died of Spanish flu when the epidemic struck Hebron, Labrador. White returned to Labrador in 1919 and, over the next forty years, kept stores or trading posts at Voisey's Bay and Kauk, trading with local Innu and Inuit. He also kept a fox ranch under the name of the "North Labrador Live Fox Depot". In addition to these activities, White would also obtain clothing, tools, and other items from the Innu and Inuit of Labrador on behalf of museums and anthropologists in the United States, such as Frank Speck, for their anthropological research and collections.

White had married again in 1920 to Judy-Pauline Hunter, an Inuit woman from Nain. He was known to the Innu as "Mishta Uait". Richard White died in 1950. His trading post at Voisey's Bay is now a registered heritage structure in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Additional information:

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Custodial history:

Richard White's papers were given to Alika Podolinsky Webber in 1960 by his widow, Mrs. Mike Solomon. His papers had been left in a leather briefcase in the attic of his house since his death in 1950.

Source:

Private
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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R11967] 2

[Consultation 90 Open]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R11967] 2

[Consultation 90 Open]

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