An Indigenous man and woman photographed in a portrait studio wearing regalia. The caption indicates the people are from Moose Mountain.

Postcard views of Indigenous peoples

A selection of digitized postcards depicting Indigneous people and communities. This project is drawn from the large collection of early western Canadian postcards held by University Archives and Special Collections.

Most of the cards in this collection were produced in the first two decades of the 20th century. The collection includes posed studio portraits as well as depictions of camps, powwows, parades, totem poles, and residential schools. The original postcards may be viewed in the University Archives and Special Collections reading room. The main titles are reproduced from the text used on the original cards.

The original captions printed on the postcards have been transcribed in this project and include racist and offensive language. Archives retain this information as evidence of historical context and to document the language used by those in power. If you would like to access this collection without having to navigate the harmful language in the object descriptions, please contact UASC and we will be happy to assist you.

The site was last updated in 2001 and it was archived in 2020. It is not being updated and is not formatted for mobile browsers.

Postcard views of Indigenous peoples