Select an image to enlarge. Photos by Benjamin A. Haldane. Uploaded by National Archives and Records Administration’s Pacific Alaska Region (Anchorage). Public domain. Originally sourced from Wikimedia Commons.
Benjamin Haldane was a Tsimshian photographer who opened his own studio in his hometown of Metlakatla, Alaska at the age of 25.
As well as serving his community as a merchant and village secretary, Haldane was a talented musician who went on to lead the Metlakatla Concert Band.
The fact that you’ll find dozens of Haldane’s portraits on Wikimedia Commons today is a miracle made possible by Dennis Dunne, who recovered over 150 of Haldane’s glass plate negatives from a local dump in the 1990s.
It’s a shame these stunning portraits — capturing a unique era of history in an equally unique place — could’ve easily been lost to time forever.