The Reverend John Henry Keen (1851-1950) was a missionary in Canada. He translated scriptures into Haida. Keen wrote on insects he had discovered and he had a species of mouse and bat named after him. In 1898 Keen sold a number of items to the British Museum including a model totem[1] and an explanation of the model pole's meaning.[2] The explanation was invaluable when the museum later bought a very similar full size totem pole[2] which is now on display in the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court at the museum in London.
John Henry Keen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1851 |
| Died | 1950 |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Natural History and translation |
| Title | Reverend |
Biography
John Henry Keen was born in England on 1851 and he graduated from a Bible College in Islington in 1873[3] In 1874 he was sent by the Bishop of London[4] as a missionary at Moose Fort in Ontario. He was ordained by the Bishop of Moosonee in 1877.
From 1882 to 1889 he was in London where he was first a curate at Spitalfields and later in Islington. In 1890 he left again for Canada where he was based at the northern end of Graham Island in British Columbia. He lived at a village called Massett where several families would share a longhouse which typically had totem poles outside (illustrated).
In Masset Keen took an interest in natural history. In 1891 he published his first paper on local beetles (Some British Columbian Coleoptera) and sent off 46 samples for identification to the British Museum.[3] In 1894 he first described the Northwestern Deer Mouse which was named Keen's Mouse or Peromyscus keeni in his honour.[5] He was also the first to scientifically described a type of brown mouse eared bat. This animal is now called Keen's Myotis (Myotis keenii Trouessart).[6] In 1896 he also found the first type specimen of what is now known to be a sub-species of Northern Saw-whet Owl.
In the 1890's there were visits from the English Charles Frederick Newcombe, George Dorsey from Chicago and a Scottish guide named James Deans. These people were travelling to gather artefacts that might be of ethnographic interest. Their methods varied, but they frequently held little regard for the native Canadians. Keen had to angrily take them to task after he travelled to confirm for himself that visitors had not only raided graves but also not restored them to there former state. Keen found hair and coffins strewn about from where they had dug to steal skulls and bones. Keen wrote to complain about the desecration and challenged Dean to name his accomplices although he was clear that the benefactor of their work was the Field Columbian Museum and that the perpetrators were Americans. George Dorsey was known for his haste in finding artefacts was told of Keen's letter to the "Daily Colonist" and he argued that Keen's anger should be ignored.[7]
Keen had not ignored his mission and whilst in Canada he translated the Book of Common Prayer into the local language of Haida. Keen returned on leave in 1898 and his translated prayer book was published in 1899 in London by the Missionary Society.[5] Sadly the book went out of print as the people it was intended to be read by, were dying out. It is estimated that before the Europeans arrived there were 10,000 people who spoke Haida. By 1900 there were about 700.[8] Keen was to go on to translate the gospels of Luke and John and the Acts from the New Testament into Haida.[3] There were thought to be only about 30 people in 1999 who spoke the Haida language,[9]
Keen was also preserving the culture as in 1898 the British Museum bought a number of artefacts including a model of a house and an attached totem pole which had been carved by John Gwaytihl.[1] The museum also bought 44 other objects from Keen and they received a description of the story that the totem pole was intended to tell. By some coincidence the museum acquired a complete 39 foot high totem pole that differed only slightly from the model in 1903.[10] The museum now not only has the pole but it has a description of its significance and symbols.[2] The museum bought the pole from Charles Frederick Newcombe.[10]
Keen returned to Canada again in 1899, but this time he was based at Metlakatla; where he stayed until 1913.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Totem-pole / model building/structure / model". British Museum. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ^ a b c Joyce R.A., T.A. (1903). "A Totem Pole in the British Museum". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: 90-. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ a b c Hatch, Melville H. (1957). "A Biographical Memoir of Rev. Keen". The Coleopterists Bulletin. XI: 62–64. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Note: There are two possible Bishops of London, the obvious one and the one in Ontario
- ^ a b c Beolens, Bo; et al. (2009). The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals p.220. JHU Press. p. 574.
{{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in:|last=(help) - ^ "Keen's myotis". State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ^ Cole, John (1995). Captured heritage: the scramble for Northwest Coast artifacts p175. UBC Press.
- ^ The Book of Common Prayer in Haida, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1899, accessed 16 November 2010,
- ^ "Alaska Native Language Population and Speaker Statistics". 1 January 1999. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
- ^ a b "Totem-pole". British Museum. Retrieved 8 November 2010.