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Photograph

Igorot child and Inuit child at Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909

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The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) was a world's fair held in Seattle in 1909, publicizing the development of the Pacific Northwest. The fairgrounds became the campus of the University of Washington.

One of the most popular attractions at the AYPE was the "Igorrote Village," a simulated village of the Igorot (previously spelled Igorrote), a diverse group of Indigenous peoples living in a mountainous northern area of Luzon in the Philippines. Igorot performers constructed the village themselves, and were paid to put on shows of "traditional" dances, crafts, and mock fights. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, exhibitions of Indigenous peoples at world's fairs were common, as colonial powers used them to influence opinions about colonized peoples and show off the claimed benefits of imperialism.

This image shows an Igorot and Inuit child posing for a photograph. In addition to the Igorrote Village, the AYPE also featured an "Eskimo Village," staffed by performers from Alaska and northern Canada. The Inuit child pictured is Norman Smith (right), brother of Miss Columbia, who was named "Queen of the Pay Streak" and most beautiful woman at the AYPE.

Caption on image: x1109, [Photographer's mark:] F.H. Nowell, Official Photographer, Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Copyright 1909 by A.M. Baber

Caption information source: "Professor Jimmie Igloo and Dr. Boombang Meet the Heathens," by Josh Reid, Pacific Northwest Quarterly Vol. 101, No. 3/4, retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/23059107.
Caption information source: “Colonial Ethnology and the Igorrote Village at the AYP,” by Jon Olivera, Pacific Northwest Quarterly Vol. 101., No. 3/4, retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/23059109.
ID Number: 1990.73.19
Date: 1909
Creator(s): Nowell, Frank H., 1864-1950, Photographer
Physical Description: 1 glass plate negative : b&w ; 8 x 10 in.
Additional Information: View the finding aid for this collection at https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv75935
Credit: MOHAI, Frank H. Nowell Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Photographs, 1990.73.19
Copyright: No Known Copyright