Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Pearl Keenan fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on provenance.
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
Copied 1990, 1992, 1998, 2004 (originally created [ca. 1905-1954]) (Creation)
- Creator
- Keenan, Pearl, ca. 1918-
Physical description area
Physical description
260 photographs : b&w copy negs
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Pearl Keenan was born around 1918 at 12-Mile, near Teslin, to George Geddes and Annie (nee Sidney). Her mother was Tlingit and her father Scottish-Canadian and she was raised, along with her five siblings, in the traditional way of hunting, trapping and speaking their language. Pearl was a young woman of twenty-two years, helping her family raise mink and grow vegetables on a homestead outside of Teslin when the Alaska Highway came through the community in 1942. She married Hugh Balfour Keenan (1921-1999) in 1947 and they raised 3 children - Hugh, Dave and Karen. Pearl lived in British Columbia for a period and while there she worked as a home/school coordinator in the public school system and counselled inmates in prison in the Vancouver area. In the Yukon she has taught the Tlingit language and operated summer camps for children, always teaching the value of First Nations traditions. She was the Yukon Commissioner for Expo '86 in Vancouver and was Chancellor of Yukon College, 1993-2000. As an elder Pearl has sat on many boards and committees including the Yukon First Nations Elders' Council, First Nations Education Commission, Skookum Jim Friendship Centre, and the Yukon College Elders Advisory Council to the Vice President of First Nations Programs and Services. Pearl's Tlingit name is T'aakú Tláa which means "Mother of the Taku River".
Custodial history
Tim Coonen lent photographs (accession 90/29) from the Pearl Keenan Collection at the George Johnston Museum. Pearl Keenan lent photographs (accession 92/37) to Dick North for copying at Yukon Archives for the Yukon Historical and Museums Association 1992 Alaska Highway Fiftieth Anniversary Project.
Scope and content
The fonds consists of six accessions with a total of 260 copy negs with reference prints. The photographs were taken predominantly in the Teslin, Yukon area and include many images of Geddes and Keenan family members, friends and neighbours at work and play. Thirty-nine photographs, 1942-1943, depict the construction of the Alaska Highway around Teslin and include images of the Nisutlin Bridge, Brook's Brook, Johnsons Crossing, Teslin airport and camps (90/29). Nine photographs (ca. 1924-1942) are of the Keenan-Geddes family at their home at 12-Mile near Teslin, scenes of the Johnsons Crossing and Nisutlin Bay bridges, July 1 celebrations at Teslin, and U.S. Army Major Austin at the Keenan homestead (92/37). Six photographs (5 from postcards), ca. 1917-1930, depict the first Roman Catholic Church in Atlin, the Caribou Hotel, Constable Teale, Chooutla School, Susie Taylor and sternwheelers Tutshi and Gleaner (98/66). Ninety-four photographs, ca. 1905-1954, depict the Geddes family in Teslin and Livingstone Creek, First Nations people in Teslin and Ross River, images of Atlin, Iron Creek, Teslin built boats, sternwheelers, a mink ranch at 12-Mile, Hootalinqua River and Teslin Lake (2002/132). One hundred and seven photographs, ca. 1918-1937, depict the Geddes family at their 12-Mile Homestead, First Nations people in Teslin and Carcross, and images of Iron Creek and Livingstone Creek (2004/7). Five photographs capture a view of the Whitehorse waterfront, scenic views and a dog team on a frozen lake (2004/80).
Notes area
Physical condition
Five of the photographs are from photograph postcards.
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
If photographs from accession 90/29 are copied, the credit line should read: Yukon Archives, George Johnston Museum/Pearl Keenan collection, 90/29 #_. The remaining photographs are not to be used for commercial or Internet use without permission of the donor in her lifetime. Permission after her lifetime to come from her children, Karen or Dave Keenan.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Caption list available for photographs in accession 92/37. Caption list available for photographs in accession 2004/7 . Caption list available for photographs in accession 90/29. Caption list available for photographs in accession 2002/132