Museum guides: Paul Commanda at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History

By Katie Hemsworth and Kirsten Greer, Departments of Geography and History, Nipissing University

Figure 1: Jako Couchi, Olaus J. Murie, W.E. Clyde Todd, and Paul Commanda (left to right) in a Peterborough freight canoe at the Bell River Crossing (now Senneterre) in Western Quebec, May 28, 1914. Courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Acknowledgement is a powerful term in academic spaces – one that’s loaded with many meanings and uses. In publications it often involves acknowledging people, institutions, and forces that helped shape the work. More broadly, acknowledgement can mean recognizing or accepting a particular truth. One attempt to engage with truths is through a land acknowledgement – a practice of delivering introductory remarks about Indigenous and colonial histories of the land on which people gather, often in an institutional setting. Acknowledgment in this regard has transformed over the past two decades or so, increasingly met with critique as it has become overly rehearsed, standardized, and often lacking necessary action beyond a statement. [i]

In all of its uses, acknowledgement is both powerful and fragile. It both reveals and obscures the complexities of knowledge production.

Yet, for those wishing to understand the historical and geographical connections between people, institutions, places, and knowledges, one useful – if always partial – place to look is in the acknowledgements and dedications sections of publications. Though often overlooked or read hastily en route to the main content, such statements can sometimes speak volumes about the role of relationship in research.  In addition to gaining an appreciation for the people who helped in some way, every so often a reader will find something they weren’t expecting.

In April 2019, in a well-worn research room tucked away in the Section of Birds at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Kirsten Greer (Nipissing University), did just that: opened a book written by a collector-naturalist whose field research was of interest to us, read the acknowledgements and dedications, and a bolt of electricity shot through her. She called me (Katie Hemsworth) over to look.

The unexpected name and face beaming up at us was Paul Commanda.

Figure 2: Paul Commanda in a canoe on Lake Temagami. Photograph courtesy of George Howards and Nipissing First Nation.

We knew the name through our work with Nipissing First Nation research partners, but we did not know very much about Paul at the time. Seeing the Commanda name at Carnegie changed the trajectory of our research that day and in the days to come. It has since led to the museum exhibit, “Our Guides Were Really Going Places: Nishnaabeg e-paamwingewaad waasa zhaawag” with which this blog is affiliated, and has created further connections through its sister-project, the Lake Nipissing Beading Project.

How did we come to be at the museum in the first place? And how did that experience intersect with other community-led research to culminate in a museum exhibit?

The places in between: A stop at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Historical-geographical research often takes us to the in-between spaces, spontaneous stops on the way to someplace else, or notes between the margins. We have learned the importance of navigating that degree of wandering; if done with care and an awareness of impact, it can open space for more nuanced stories – and ways of storytelling – about place.

In April 2019, we attended the American Association of Geographers’ Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., along with two Nipissing University graduate researchers, Kiethen Sutherland and Megan Paulin. Following a familiar impulse of academics trying to fit additional research into conference trips, we combined the conference with a visit to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). We did so in consultation with Dokis First Nation and Nipissing First Nation research collaborators whose ancestral heritage is held in the NMAI’s vast warehouse. We met with the repatriation consultation team to learn about repatriation processes through the Smithsonian, should communities wish to pursue that path in the future. We were also honoured to visit with cultural heritage materials (relations) taken from Nbisiing Nishnaabeg territory, with some Dokis and Nipissing First Nation members joining via FaceTime, and inquired about the location of other relations within the broader Smithsonian collections, including ancestral remains. We wrote about that experience in a special issue on community geography for GeoJournal (see Hemsworth et al., 2021).

Figure 3: Locating Nbisiing and Illilo cultural heritage at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Kiethen Sutherland braves the ladder while Katie Hemsworth, Megan Paulin, and Terry Snowball (NMAI Repatriation Coordinator) watch from below. Photograph by Kirsten Greer.

The timing of our Washington visit also corresponded with the American Society for Environmental History conference in Columbus, OH, so we decided to rent a car and drive to Columbus following the AAG. Pittsburgh happened to be a halfway point and, knowing the Carnegie Museum of Natural History also held collections from Nipissing lands, we decided to stop there for a brief visit. 

Figure 4: Sculpture of “Dippy” (Diplodocus carnegii), supporting the Pittsburgh Penguins in their NHL playoff run in April 2019. Photograph by Katie Hemsworth.

After paying our respects to the famous Dippy statue outside the museum entrance, we went inside and were greeted by Steve Rogers, Collection Manager of Birds Section. Kirsten and Steve had been in touch since 2013 about the Carnegie ornithological collections pertaining to what is known as the “Near North” region of Ontario and specifically the lands around Lake Nipissing in Robinson Huron Treaty (1850) territory. Steve was also familiar with Lake Nipissing and the surrounding lands from his many fishing and hunting trips to the region with his father, a family tradition spanning several decades.

At Carnegie MNH, we were interested in viewing any material or digital connections to Nbisiing lands. These included visiting with bird skins from the region and inquiring about other animal and plant relations of the Nbisiing (taken with and without permission), field books of collectors and scientists who had passed through Nbisiing Nishnaabeg and Robinson Huron Treaty territory, and databases that might not be publicly accessible online.

Figure 5: Kirsten Greer and Stephen Rogers (CMNH) looking for Carnegie naturalists’ historical field notebooks related to Nbisiing Nishnaabeg territory. Photograph by Katie Hemsworth.

Carnegie Northern Expeditions and the legacy of Paul Commanda

While there, Steve showed us the diorama gallery, inspired by various expeditions led by the Carnegie Museum in the early twentieth century. One expedition, which led to the creation of a diorama at the CMNH, was nicknamed the “Blue Goose Expedition”.[ii] The Blue Goose diorama (1925) was one of seven dioramas created between 1923-1933 that are now part of The Art of the Diorama exhibition at Carnegie. The Blue Goose Expedition was just one of 25 known as Carnegie’s “Northern Expeditions” across Ontario, Quebec, and Labrador between 1901-1958.

Figure 6: Blue Goose Diorama (1925) at Carnegie Museum, part of "The Art of the Diorama" Exhibition. Photograph by Kirsten Greer.

Figure 7: Curatorial description accompanying the Blue Goose diorama. Photograph by Kirsten Greer.

After viewing the gallery, we spent time in a research room of the Birds Section where Steve showed us how to locate place-based collections in the iDigBio database to find where other natural history specimens from the region might be located. He also opened a large wooden cabinet of field notebooks from Carnegie naturalists, including W. E. Clyde Todd. When Steve heard we were interested in Todd’s work, he brought out Birds of the Labrador Peninsula and Adjacent Areas, the book in which Kirsten found the dedication acknowledging the work of Paul Commanda.[iii]

Figure 8: Jako Couchi, Olaus J. Murie, W.E. Clyde Todd, and Paul Commanda (left to right) in a Peterborough freight canoe at the Bell River Crossing (now Senneterre) in Western Quebec, May 28, 1914. Courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Fluent in Nishnaabemwin, French, and English, Paul Commanda was a well-respected and much-requested guide across Nishnaabeg lands (and beyond). He met naturalist Clyde Todd in 1912 and served as head guide for seven of the Northern Expeditions. Commanda did not live to see his dedication in Clyde’s book. Due to the inaccessibility of scientific publications, relatively few people in the community likely knew about the book dedication until this exhibit, although some of his family members were aware and have graciously shared stories and other historical materials.

The visit to Carnegie has since led to new research trajectories about Paul Commanda and his family, including but not limited to the traveling exhibit, curated by Joan McLeod Shabogesic (Nipissing First Nation), Naomi Hehn (North Bay Museum), and Kirsten Greer (Nipissing University) with the help of an incredible team. Many of these trajectories are interwoven with past and ongoing research by Glenna Beaucage (former Culture and Heritage Manager, Nipissing First Nation) and Katrina Srigley (Professor of History at Nipissing University), who are currently co-authoring a book that extends existing work on Nbisiing cultural history.[iv]

Our exhibit would also not be possible without Joan McLeod Shabogesic (Councillor and former Lands Manager, Nipissing First Nation), who holds an honorary doctorate from Nipissing University. Joan has long been interested in Nbisiing histories, including those tied to Semo (Simon) Commanda’s family. Semo, former NFN Chief and an expert guide for Canadian Pacific Railway, was Paul Commanda’s father. Following her research on Semo, Joan had also begun research on Paul’s daughters, Josephine and Princess Red Rock.

Once Joan helped identify these family connections, our team was able to draw on existing research related to Josephine, including oral history recordings, to learn more about Paul Commanda and his guiding experiences. The Guides exhibit and the Lake Nipissing Beading Project are therefore connected in all kinds of relationships: family, land, decolonial research, cultural arts practice, and more. One connective feature – in many ways – is beadwork.

Beading histories

Josephine Commanda Beaucage, a master beader for the Nbisiing community and an educator who traveled across Ontario to teach Indigenous students, was a major source of inspiration for the Lake Nipissing Beading Project, led by beadwork artist Carrie Allison. The community-based project emerged in response to the social and spatial challenges of a global pandemic. The result is a critical reimagining of Lake Nipissing – and a form of “counter-mapping”[v] that speaks back to colonial map imagery – in the form of a 5-metre installation made up of 444 individually beaded pieces by members of Nipissing First Nation, Dokis First Nation, and participants across Turtle Island.

For the Guides exhibit, Carrie also beaded a replica of a snow goose as an art-creation intervention challenging the colonial histories of the Blue Goose Diorama and evoking new understandings of repatriation. Inspired by the stories Kiethen Sutherland (Kashechewan First Nation) shared in his MES thesis about the historical importance of the snow goose hunt to his family and community, the exhibit team dedicated the beaded snow goose to Kiethen’s kookum (grandmother), who recently passed into the spirit world.

Figure 9: Kiethen Sutherland and the life-sized snow goose beaded by Carrie Allison. Photograph by Kirsten Greer.

Reflection: unsettling collections, rebuilding connections

For most museums, the histories of collecting are inextricable from colonial practices of exploration, discovery, and erasure, including the expeditions Carnegie funded in the name of scientific knowledge production and preservation. Language matters – everywhere, but especially in these colonial spaces. We have learned that colonialism pervades not just in the acts of collecting and displaying of museum artifacts, but also in our own reactions to them.

Historians and other academics can likely relate to the emotional charge that comes from making unexpected connections with and through the research – even if, in the case of our research and knowing what we know now, the connections should not have been all that surprising. Our shocked response, especially in a museum named for a man whose philanthropy was paternalistic at best, and white supremacist at worst,[vi] further shows the reverberations of colonialism today. The very presence of a Nbisiing name and image, in a space that so often erased Indigenous names, people, and lands from its record-keeping, is still uncommon. Meeting Paul Commanda in this way felt like a call to action for our larger partnership.

As two settler-geographers whose disciplinary and ancestral histories are inextricable from imperialism and colonialism, we are careful to avoid using the term “discovery” to describe what came of our research trip to Carnegie. We may not have personally known these connections and histories when we went to the Museum of Natural History; however, that does not mean those connections were not known by past and present members of Nipissing and Dokis First Nations – dibaajimowen (stories) passed down through elders and knowledge keepers and family members, or by the lands and waters that hold story in their own ways.

Reflecting on our impromptu trip to Carnegie Museum, and particularly how the research lines, stories, and creative practices have since merged together through the Guides Exhibit and Lake Nipissing Beading Project, it all felt a bit serendipitous. However, when relationship is at the centre of community and forms the foundation of our research partnership, it is perhaps no surprise at all that these stories would reunite in new forms.

The exhibit will make its way to several museums across northern Ontario in 2022-2023 before returning to Nbisiing Nishnaabeg territory. Please join us over this blog series to hear from other collaborators who have made their own unique contributions to the project.

Acknowledgements

Figure 10: Nbisiing sunset seen from Shabogesic Beach. Photograph by Katie Hemsworth.

Acknowledgement, dedication, and remembrance need not be restricted to a brief passage in a book (or a final section of a blog… even if this one isn’t very brief!). The Guides exhibit is one example of how to build on a seemingly small nod to a few people, turning it into an ongoing community project of remembrance. The exhibit is itself a form of acknowledgement.

That said, in the spirit of using this digital space to further reflect on the people who guided us in the organizing of an exhibit, we wish to thank the many researchers, artists, curators, designers, and community leaders in our place-based partnership for helping guide this research and the resulting traveling exhibit. We invite readers to visit the Team section of our website to read our team members’ bios, as there are many contributors!

We are grateful to all who shared stories that animated the research and exhibit. A special gchi-miigwech to members of Nipissing and Dokis First Nations, as well as collaborators from Mushkegowuk lands, for assisting with research and communications related to the project. We want to specifically acknowledge the descendants of Paul Commanda, including Audrey Harney and George Howards (and extended families), for sharing so generously. We also appreciate feedback from members of the Nipissing FN Research Steering Committee.

Hiy hiy to artist Carrie Allison for creating the stunning beaded snow goose as an art intervention responding to the Carnegie Museum’s snow goose diorama, which further links this project to the Lake Nipissing Beading Project (LNBP). Carrie and the team dedicated the beaded snow goose to Kiethen Sutherland’s kookum (grandmother). This dedication has since taken on new meaning, as Kiethen’s kookum recently journeyed into the spirit world. Her stories, shared by Kiethen in his MES thesis and this exhibit, enriched the research for our project and showed us the importance of care and relationship with the land and all our relations. Miigwech.

We are thankful to have received funding through Canada Heritage’s Museum Assistance Program, SSHRC, Nipissing University, and Dr. Greer’s Canada Research Chair. We are deeply grateful to Naomi Hehn (North Bay Museum) for guiding our team through the complex process of mobilizing research through a museum exhibit, and to Casey Monkelbaan and Grace Armstrong for research and exhibition assistance. Many thanks to Steve Rogers for giving us a tour of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History ornithological collections, volunteering his time digitizing and sharing records, and consulting on the traveling museum exhibit. Thanks Will Knight (Ingenium) for careful editing and exhibition guidance. We thank Queen’s University research partners, Matt Rogalsky and Laura Cameron, for producing a sound installation that enlivens the exhibit with sonic atmosphere with bird recordings provided by Cornell University Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library. Special thanks to Raymond Brand for graphic design and Ryan Hehn for website and IT assistance.

We appreciate everyone involved in the First Nation community opening of the Guides and LNBP exhibits in August. Gchi-miigwech to Suzanne Campeau Whiteduck and Bob Goulais for emceeing, June Commanda for opening ceremony, Glenna Beaucage for smudging and speaking, Sarah McGowan and NUSU for event assistance. Gchi-miigwech to Chief Scott McLeod (Nipissing FN), Joan McLeod Shabogesic, Carrie Allison, Nipissing University President Kevin Wamsley, Naomi Hehn, Kirsten Greer, and Katrina Srigley for heartfelt speeches.

Our team is grateful to live and collaborate on Nbisiing Nishnaabeg territory, protected by the Robinson Huron Treaty (1850), with all our relations. We offer respect and gratitude to the communities, waters, and territories connected through this travelling exhibit.

[i] See, for example, Vowel, Chelsea. “Beyond Territorial Acknowledgments.” âpihtawikosisân, 2016. http://apihtawikosisan.com/2016/09/beyond-territorial-acknowledgments/.

[ii] At the time, naturalists thought the blue goose and snow goose were two separate species; however, it later became evident that they are two colours of the same species.

[iii] Todd, W. E. Clyde. Birds of the Labrador Peninsula, and Adjacent Areas : a Distributional List. Toronto: Published in association with Carnegie Museum by University of Toronto Press, 1963.

[iv] See also The Nipissing Warriors (2017) documentary, produced by Srigley and Beaucage in association with Regan Pictures: https://www.nipissingu.ca/academics/faculty-arts-and-science/history/warriors.

[v] On counter-mapping, see: Peluso, Nancy Lee. “Whose Woods Are These? Counter-Mapping Forest Territories in Kalimantan, Indonesia.” Antipode 27, no. 4 (October 1, 1995): 383–406. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1467-8330.1995.TB00286.X; Hunt, Dallas, and Shaun A. Stevenson. “Decolonizing Geographies of Power: Indigenous Digital Counter-Mapping Practices on Turtle Island.” Settler Colonial Studies 7, no. 3 (2017): 372–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2016.1186311; Iralu, Elspeth. “Putting Indian Country on the Map: Indigenous Practices of Spatial Justice.” Antipode 53, no. 5 (September 1, 2021): 1485–1502. https://doi.org/10.1111/ANTI.12734. Loften, Adam, and Emmanuel Vaughn-Lee. Counter Mapping. United States: Emergence Magazine, 2019. https://emergencemagazine.org/film/counter-mapping.

[vi] See, for example, McShane, Ian. “Carnegie Cultural Philanthropy and the 1933 Australian Museums Inquiry.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2398736.