Noel Stewart to Alice Ravenhill (Dec.15, 1940)
The artistic abilities of boys in St. George's Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C.
First correspondence between Noel Stewart and Alice Ravenhill. Mention made of the latter's students' propensity for art and especially illustrating the legends of their people (Thompson Tribe). Mr. Stewart asks for a report from Mrs. Ravenhill of the British Columbia Indian Arts and Crafts Welfare Society.
Noel Stewart
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
Dec.15, 1940
Noel Stewart to Alice Ravenhill (Dec.21, 1940)
Noel Stewart writing Alice Ravenhill to share more news of his work at St. George's, including having sent off a booklet of about 35 stories written and illustrated by his students to an American publisher and having prepared an "Indian School Primer with all Indian illustrations" that is being held by his superiors due to lack of funds and interest, it being during WWII. He also mentions several aspects of different stories involving the Animal People and Mr. Coyote, as well as how most of the other teachers and administrators at St. George's are not supportive of his art-based education initiatives.
Noel Stewart
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
Dec.21, 1940
Noel Stewart to Alice Ravenhill (Dec.29, 1940)
Noel Stewart's efforts to promote and publish his student's visual and written at St. George's Indian Residential School.
Noel Stewart writing to Alice Ravenhill to update her further on more efforts he has taken to publish his student's written and visual artwork in venues like the Family Herald and Vancouver Province. He wonders briefly how he would react were his and his students' roles reversed and he as a student at St. George's instead of a teacher.
Noel Stewart
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
Dec.29, 1940
Noel Stewart to Alice Ravenhill (Jan.16, 1941)
Noel Stewart sends 16 illustrations and their accompanying stories to Alice Ravenhill for the BCIACWS to review. He expresses his frustration with American publishers for discouraging stories with religious content, but thinks that those regarding the Animal People will sell well in Canada as a little booklet. Also, he brings to her attention the Kamloops Indian Residential school and its 300 students, as a possible venue for further support and arts-based initiatives.
Noel Stewart
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
Jan.16, 1941
Noel Stewart to Alice Ravenhill (Jan.7, 1941)
Noel Stewart replies affirmatively to Alice Ravenhill's request for him to send the BCIACWS a copy of the booklet of Indian legends he and his students at St. George's prepared and illustrated. He assures her that they are not expecting payment for their work and thanks her for her efforts in helping to facilitate the creativity of his students.
Noel Stewart
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
Jan.7, 1941
Noel Stewart to Alice Ravenhill (July 26, 1941)
Stewart, in reply to Ravenhill’s previous inquiry as to providing artwork from his pupils for an art show in Victoria, indicates that all their art is currently out being sold or displayed elsewhere. He mentions almost meeting up with Anthony Walsh, but the latter’s bus didn’t stop. Stewart informs her he has been made the acting Principal at St. George’s and complains about his predecessor, Ft. Lett. He informs her which printer he used to produce “Meet Mr. Coyote” and how they facilitated the images by using linoleum cuts.
Noel Stewart
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
July 26, 1941
Noel Stewart to Alice Ravenhill (Sept.4, 1941)
Stewart writes to inform Ravenhill that as acting Principal of St. George’s Indian Residential School, he has just received a visit from several high-ranking government officials from Ottawa. He tells her that there is less and less time devoted to crafts at the school, largely because he and other interested teachers are swamped with work due to chronic understaffing.
Noel Stewart
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/1/R19)
Sept.4, 1941
Scrapbook of the Society for the Furtherance of BC Indian Arts and Crafts
News clippings
A scrapbook that contains a variety of news clippings, photographs, and drawings that demonstrate the social impact that the British Columbia Indian Arts and Crafts Welfare Society (previously known as the Society for the Furtherance of BC Indian Arts and Crafts) had in their quest to encourage and enable arts-based education initiatives in the province's Indian Residential Schools, between 1939 and 1941.
The Society for the Furtherance of B.C. Indian Arts and Crafts
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
1939-1941
SFBCIAC Scrapbook, Page Twenty-Eight
Two news clippings announcing the publication of "Meet Mr. Coyote," a series of ten legends belonging to the Thompson Tribe near Lytton, B.C. that was illustrated by Aboriginal students in Noel Stewart's junior class at St. George's Indian Residential School.
The Society for the Furtherance of B.C. Indian Arts and Crafts
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
Victoria Daily Times
Dec.13, 1941
SFBCIAC Scrapbook, Page Twenty-Nine
Further clippings relating to the publication and successful reception of "Meet Mr. Coyote," a series of ten legends belonging to the Thompson Tribe that was illustrated by Noel Stewart's students at St. George's Indian Residential School at Lytton, B.C. and published by the British Columbia Indian Arts and Crafts Welfare Society in 1941.
The Society for Furtherance of B.C. Indian Arts and Crafts
Royal BC Museum, BC Archives (F/I/R19)
The Daily Province; The Kamloops Sentinel
Dec.24, 1941