If you missed getting to see the exhibit about Frenchtown history and CTUIR métis family photos and art when it was at Whitman College in the fall, now’s your chance. The exhibit has moved to the gallery space at Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, where it will be on display through May 3, 2025. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm. Admission is 12$.
Despite the differences between the two gallery spaces, the team at Tamástslikt was able to include almost everything from the original exhibit. The 252 images in the projection are also viewable online, and you can still listen to the oral histories that accompany the life-size portraits.
Stay tuned — we’ll be sure to let you know once the programming schedule has been finalized.
I’ve been spending a lot of time with the photographs of Major Lee Moorhouse recently. There are over 7,000 Moorhouse images online at Oregon Digital, and another 250 or so at the Smithsonian.
Moorhouse is best known for his portraits of Plateau people, and unlike many of his contemporaries, often included the names of the individuals portrayed. He used his back yard as a photo studio and Tribal members would come sit for portraits. His photographs were respected as documentary truths and widely exhibited.
Browsing through them, however, I was once again struck by the absence of métis names. I can think of several possible explanations for this. Perhaps there are more métis people than is apparent from the names, because if a person had two names, Moorhouse preferred to record the native name, in keeping with his ethnographic approach. Or perhaps he didn’t seek out métis models, for the same reason. In any case, here is an example of a métis descendant who did pose for Moorhouse in about 1913.
Note how these three photos of Lou French hint at ways in which the constructed ethnographic portrait could also contain elements of collaboration.
Fig 1. Lou French. Moorhouse collected regalia from many different tribes and would combine elements in his portraits. Note the difference between Lou French’s dress in this image and in the one below.
Fig. 2 : Lou French postcard. This postcard image was taken as part of the same session. Lou French sent it to her cousin Martha with the inscription, “You know who I am.” Fortunately in this case, we do.
Fig. 3. Lou also had her portrait taken at the photography studio. In this portrait from approximately the same period, she chose to pose with the bouffant hair and pigeon-breasted bodice typical of the Gibson girl era.
Tune in next week for a picture puzzle — exactly who is Mrs. Wilson ?
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© Sarah Hurlburt for the Frenchtown Historical Foundation