Nancy Columbia & The Arctic Beyond

An Exhibit in the Lobby of the Velaslavasay Panorama, paired with the Nova Tuskhut and the 360-degree panorama Effulgence of the North

On View at The Velaslavasay Panorama from 2014-2018, was a curious exhibit on the life and Hollywood history of Nancy Columbia.  Ms. Columbia was the first Inuit to write, star, and direct a Hollywood film - 1911's “The Way of the Eskimo.”  The film has since been lost without a trace and because of this, her name and story is little known.

Nancy Columbia was born at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and grew up in a faux “Esquimaux Village” in the anthropological quarter of the Fair.  Just weeks prior to her birth, her mother and grandparents were hired and transported by boat from Zoar, a small town on the coast of Labrador in the Arctic Circle, and taken to Chicago for human exhibition.

Fair goers were meant to gawk and observe the customs and way of life of the Arctic peoples without leaving the comfort of their city block. Stardom became Nancy, who grew up on the World’s Fair circuit, moving from one “Esquimaux Village” to the next, to Paris, St. Louis, Knoxville and Buffalo, was named “Queen of the Pay Streak” in the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, Washington.  

With the invention of cinema, her career took a turn in 1910, and she pursued an acting career, appearing in films in many different roles with various non-white character backgrounds including American Indian and Japanese.  She moved to Los Angeles in 1915, where she was hired as part of an “Esquimaux Village” on the Santa Monica pier.  However, due to a disastrous fire that consumed nearly the entire pier, the exhibition was cancelled leaving her free to focus on acting.  Ms. Columbia made LA her home when she married a projectionist and began a family of her own, living out her days in Encino until her passing in 1959.

The exhibit featured stereoviews, photographs, and ephemera from several World's Fairs, highlighting the success and persistence of "Esquimaux Villages" and Arctic obsession in the 19th to 20th centuries. Objects were loaned from the collections of Kenn Harper, Dr. Russell Potter and other arctic collectors.

 

Nova Tuskhut - the only Arctic Trading Post in the Lower 48-States

Exploring visitors of the Nova Tuskhut are invited to sit and ponder their journeys or peruse the Nova Tuskhut library for a practical and educational read.

And don't forget to look out the window to watch the Arctic terrain go from day to night and back again!

 

 

 

-------RELATED EXHIBITS-------

Effulgence of the North 360-degree Arctic Panorama

The Nancy Columbia & The Arctic Beyond exhibit accompanied the Effulgence of the North panorama, which featured a 3D diorama terrain of tabular icebergs, ice islands and an ice shelf.

 

-------ASSOCIATED EVENTS-------

Forever Yours, Nancy - August 5, 2018

A 16mm filmscreening event to commemorate the exhibit Nancy Columbia and the Arctic Beyond, created in partnership with Smokehouse Films.

 

Mush! To the Movies!  - Throughout 2015

A six-part film series exploring the polar regions North and South.

 

Before Nanook: The Frozen Zone in Silent Film  - May 10, 2014

An illustrated lecture by Kenn Harper and Dr. Russell Potter on the history of the Arctic in Hollywood, including the story of Nancy Columbia and her family.

 

XYZ #7 - Glacial Garden Feast - May 9, 2014

A debut gala for the Nova Tuskhut and lobby exhibition Nancy Columbia & the Arcitc Beyond.

 

-------PRESS-------

Nunatsiaq News, June 6, 2014

 

*More information about Nancy Columbia can be found in "Early Arctic Films of Nancy Columbia and Esther Eneutseak" by Kenn Harper and Russell Potter, NIMROD 10; © 2010 by the Authors & the Ernest Shackleton Museum