This fonds consists of 630 photographs, 68 maps and 5.5 cm of textual records produced or accumulated by the federal Department of the Interior, between 1882 and 1937. The photographs include 170 reproductions of federal government issues, originally from a collection of over 2,000 lantern slides reproduced from various federal departmental sources. The majority of the images were not related to the Northwest Territories and were forwarded to the National Archives of Canada in 1990. These colour images document the scenery, town sites and local people, including Dene and Inuit of the Northwest Territories and includes many images of the Harry Snyder Canadian Expedition (1937). An album entitled "Office of District Agent, N.W.T. & Y. Branch, Fort Smith" contains 368 black and white photographs, dating predominantly from the 1920's, depicting a variety of subjects such as missions, transportation along the Mackenzie River and treaty payment. Another 91 photographs are from an incomplete copy of L.T. Burwash's report entitled, "The Eskimo, Their Country and Its Resources: Economic Survey of the East Coasts of Hudson Bay and James Bay from Richmond Gulf to Rupert House, Including the Belcher and Other Adjacent Islands", Ottawa, Department of the Interior, 1927. (Typewritten.) The report contains a diary of the trip taken by Burwash, descriptions of Inuit life, food supplies, clothing, health, the influence of trading posts, housing conditions, and mineral and animal resources in the region. Much of the report focuses on the Inuit in the regions around Little Whale River and the Belcher Islands. The photographs depict communities along eastern coasts of Hudson Bay and James Bay. The mounting of the photographs in this report suggests that this copy was a draft produced before its final publication. The photographs have been removed from the report and stored separately for preservation reasons. In addition, this report also contains 8 maps. The remaining 50 maps in this fonds date from 1882 to 1933; they were produced by the Department of the Interior. Map areas include: Great Bear Lake, Great Slave lake, Dismal Lakes, Coppermine River, Mackenzie River, Thelon River, Backs River (Back River), Camsell River, Slave River, Cameron Bay, Keewatin, and Ungava, navigational maps of Slave River, Great Slave Lake, the Mackenzie River, Artillery Lake, Lac Du Bois, Casba Lake, Campbell Lake, Sifton Lake, Thelon River, Hanbury River, Beverly Lake, Aberdeen Lake, Schultz Lake, and Baker Lake. Two items depict leased areas for petroleum and natural gas exploration in the south Great Slave Lake region. The remaining textual material dated 1921, includes one file of correspondence of O.S. Finnie, Acting Secretary for the Department of the Interior, and three files regard applications for surveying and exploration permits in the Great Slave Lake and Pine Point areas.
Canada. Department of the Interior[Illustration of ] A Hudson's Bay Company Fur "Pack."
1922 King George Cape Pond Inlet.
Summer range on Richards Island. July 1937. Showing rolling country.
R.C.M.Police Detachment at Lake Harbour. [Royal Canadian Mounted Police]
Navigational map produced by the Dept. of Interior, Topographical Survey of Canada and (0003) is of the scale 1:380,160 and is entitled "Map of Great Slave Lake: Western Sheet" [between 1923 and 1924]
Unannotated map of the Hunter Bay and Coppermine River area.
Map of the eastern part of the Great Slave Lake area, no annotations.
Map of the western part of the Great Slave Lake area, no annotations.
Map of the Camsell River.
Map of Wood Buffalo Park.
Schooner "Fort McPherson" belonging to Hudson's Bay Company frozen in at King William Land, winter 1925-26.
District agent's house - Fort Smith
Fort Chipewyan Alberta. Hudson's Bay Company landing, 1926
Scows sailing down Peace River 1921 [Alberta]
Hauling out scows. Fort Fitzgerald. 1921 [Alberta]
Scows entering Slave River. 1921
The Rambler III - hauling out - upper chutes 1921
A boat "Rambler III" at the water's edge. Lower Chutes. 1921
Old Sternwheeler "S.S. McMurray" on dry dock beside the Athabasca River, 1922