Dorinda Sturdy, born in 1894, was on the teaching staff of the Norway House Indian Residential School, in Norway House, Manitoba, (Methodist Church of Canada, later United Church of Canada), in 1921 at least, and a teacher from 1922 – 1924 at the Indian Day School Methodist Church (later United Church) at Island Lake, Manitoba. Both communities are in northern Manitoba.

In the summer of 1922 Miss Sturdy traveled by canoe from Norway House to Island Lake in the party of missionary Rev. Roscoe Chapin, his wife Etta, and his father Roscoe Chapin Sr., along with Aboriginal people from Northern Manitoba. The 250 mile journey included 33 portages and took a week to complete.  The journey is recorded in the Album which also documents her time at Island Lake.  All of the photos in this fonds are from the album.

The provenance of the photographs is not certain. Some photos in the album are identical to photos credited to Rev. Roscoe Chapin (See Archives of Manitoba ‘Roscoe Tramner Chapin Fonds). Which of them is the photographer is an unanswered question. There is evidence that Sturdy was a photographer: she is photographed with a camera and there are self-portraits in which she is obviously triggering the camera (see Sturdy Fonds 121). The more intimate photographs of her bedroom and cabin interior would also suggest she took these images. (See Sturdy fonds 113). There are photos taken of Chapin. Photos in which Sturdy and Chapin appear together (see Sturdy fonds 070), indicate that the collection could include photographs from other sources as well.

Please contact the Archives regarding requests for copies or use of these images.

Selected Photos

This is a sampling of the photos in the album.  All the images have been digitized and are available. Content in the descriptions includes notations from identical photographs in the Archives of Manitoba Chapin Fonds. Contact the Archivist for other images.

Number of Images in the Fonds: 147

Number of Images in this Gallery: 50