Children as Catalyst of Conversion

When the Jesuits came to King Island in the early 1900s, they largly focused on the children as an entry point for westernizing and converting the entire community to Catholocism. 

The photographs in this exhibit and much of the background research that accompanies them come the archives of the the Oregon Province of Jesuits. This exhibit also drew from the writings of Paul Tiulana, a King Islander born in 1921 on the island who wrote in the 1980s about his community's heritage. Thus, with the exception of Tiulana's writings, much of the information about and all of the images of the King Islanders presented here come to us through a Jesuit perspective. The diary of LaFortune, S.J. was referenced, in addition to newspaper clippings from Washington State from the same time period. 

This is a collection of photographs taken by Jesuit Joseph M. Treca in 1916. The photographs provide a snapshot of the King Islander community while they were in Nome.