The Collectors

Map of Hudson's Bay Company Trading Posts

Many of the staff of the Hudson's Bay Company, factors, traders and clerks stationed in forts and trading posts in the far north of Canada, were Scots or had links with Scotland. Their response to Wilson’s request was patriotically generous, and for almost five years, between 1858 and 1862, consignments of Northern Athapaskan and Inuit artefacts were shipped to the museum, usually without charge. The objects were listed by the collectors, who gave their cultural origin and function. The Hudson’s Bay Company men chiefly involved were George Barnston at Norway House, James Hargrave at York Factory, Robert Campbell at Fort Chipewyan, and Bernard Ross at Fort Simpson. The greatest contribution was made by Ross, whose interest led him to send written accounts of Indian crafts, such as quillworking. The number of ‘series’ i.e. groups of one type of article, such as moccasins, showing the process of manufacture, are nearly all due to his intelligent response to the Museum’s requirements.

Bernard Rogan Ross (1827 - 1874)

Bernard Rogan Ross (1827-1874) was chief trader for the HBC in the Mackenzie River District from 1858 to 1862 (Bowsfield, 1972). Ross took particular interest in the natural sciences and studied geology, flora, fauna and culture of the Canadian Arctic and Subarctic (Lindsay 1987).

An Ulster-Scot born and educated in Londonderry, Ross was first posted by the HBC to Norway House in 1843 and he quickly rose through the ranks of the Company. In 1856 he was appointed Chief Trader and, from 1858 to 1862, assigned to Fort Simpson in charge of the Mackenzie District. Ross retired in 1871.

During his tenure as Chief Trader at Fort Simpson Ross made valuable natural history collections. Ross’s Goose (Chen rossii) was named in his honour. Although better known for his contributions to natural history than to fur trading, Ross became a founding fellow of the Anthropological Society in 1863, and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1864 in addition to several other learned societies.

References:

Bowsfield, H. 1972 Bernard Rogan Ross. In, M. La Terreur (ed.), Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. X: 1871-1880. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 629

Lindsay, D. 1987 The Hudson’s Bay Company-Smithsonian Connection and Fur Trade Intellectual Life: Bernard Rogan Ross, A Case Study. In, B.G. Trigger et al (eds) Le Castor Fait Tout: Selected Papers of the Fifth North America Fur Trade Conference, 1985. Montreal: Lake St Louis Historical Society, pp. 587-617.