Teit, James Alexander National Historic Person

Spences Bridge, British Columbia
"James Teit Spences bridge; British Columbia". [Extrait des notes d'Edward Sapir = From Edward Sapir's notes] © Edward Sapir / Musée canadien de l'histoire | Canadian Museum of History / no. de contrôle 18454 | control no. 18454
Portrait of James Teit, Spences Bridge, BC
© Edward Sapir / Musée canadien de l'histoire | Canadian Museum of History / no. de contrôle 18454 | control no. 18454
"James Teit Spences bridge; British Columbia". [Extrait des notes d'Edward Sapir = From Edward Sapir's notes] © Edward Sapir / Musée canadien de l'histoire | Canadian Museum of History / no. de contrôle 18454 | control no. 18454Portrait de James Teit de la réserve indienne de Spences Bridge, Colombie-Britannique [graphic material] = Portrait of James Teit from Spences Bridge Indian Reserve, British Columbia © Fonds Marius Barbeau / Musée canadien de l'histoire | Canadian Museum of History / no. de contrôle 18463 | control no. 18463
Address : Spences Bridge, British Columbia

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1994-11-24
Life Date: 1864 to 1922

Other Name(s):
  • Teit, James Alexander  (Designation Name)
Research Report Number: 1994-049

Importance: Influential ethnographer of interior Salish tribes

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  Spences Bridge, British Columbia

James Teit was the leading ethnographer of the Interior Salish of Southern British Columbia. A Shetlander of Norse ancestry, he came to Spences Bridge in 1884, and married into the Nlaka'pamux Nation. Encouraged by Franz Boas, a German-American anthropologist who visited the area in 1894, Teit excelled in recording the oral traditions and mythology of the Salish, and also of the Dene and Kootenay. A hunting guide and champion of Native land rights, he was Special Agent for the Allied Tribes of British Columbia. His works helped preserve an Aboriginal world view for posterity.