Pauline Johnson's performance costume

The poet and performer Pauline Johnson wore this costume when she read her poems as dramatic works. She was born Tekahionwake on the Six Nations Reserve in Brantford, Ontario in 1861 to mixed-race parents. Johnson expressed her versions of traditional First Nations legends in romantic, colourful verse and prose on stages across Canada. Johnson chose Vancouver as her home in later years and passed away here in 1913. By special permission she was buried in Stanley Park near Siwash Rock where her ashes are marked by a picturesque cairn.

Pauline Johnson’s will read in part: “I bequeath to the Museum of the City of Vancouver and in order that the same may remain in the City of Vancouver my Indian Costume intact and comprising the scalps, silver brooches and all other decorations and including the skirt and bodice….”