Christopher W. Smith on Tsimshian Master Carver Samuel Elwitt

In 2018, Vancouver-based scholar and writer Christopher W. Smith identified several unattributed Northwest Coast objects using the Reciprocal Research Network, a digital database that enables the simultaneous search of cultural objects in museums across North America. Smith was able to pinpoint the works as those of Samuel Elwitt (c.1834–1919), a disabled and prolific master carver from Kitselas First Nation who created objects to be sold to collectors or used by communities along the Skeena River in northwestern British Columbia.

From monumental poles to carved spoons, Elwitt’s works were esteemed by Indigenous peoples and settler collectors alike, but have been broadly misidentified, despite being acquired by a number of prominent institutions. Smith’s research untangles historic intersectional discrimination and uneven museum cataloguing practices to affirm Elwitt’s historical significance and to return knowledge of his work to his community.

This event is made possible with support from the Friends of Native Art.