Four film reels featuring the work of renowned Tsimshian ethnographer and Hereditary Chief Gusgai’in have been discovered in Kitwanga.
Also known as William Beynon, Gusgai’in is recognized as one of the most important and detailed Tsimshian historians of his time.
For four decades, Beynon recorded and translated the Nation’s historical and cultural knowledge, ensuring it would be preserved for years to come.
Much of Beynon’s work, which also includes both Nisga’a and Gitxsan accounts, is stored in museums and used to advise academic studies.
It is unclear whether or not the new tapes, discovered on the Tea Creek Farm, contain new footage, or that which has already been circulated.
Jacob Beaton, the owner of the Farm, says he is working with the Royal BC Museum to determine whether or not their contents have been digitized.
He says he hopes to make the tapes more readily available to Indigenous people seeking to learn about their culture.
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