Keith Helmuth and a long list of contributors finally complete biography, ‘Tappan Adney: From Birchbark Canoes to Indigenous Rights’
Most of the crowd gathered at Woodstock’s historic Connell House on Thursday, Oct. 24, knew something about Tappan Adney. Some know his story well. But even those like publisher and author Keith Helmuth, with a deep knowledge of the eccentric genius’s remarkable life story, are rarely shocked by new details about the artist, historian, businessman, naturalist, author, academic, adventurer, ethnographer, linguist and the eccentric old man who talked to birds and squirrels.
Helmuth and other contributors to the long-awaited biography, Tappan Adney: From Birchbark Canoes to Indigenous Rights, hosted the book launch in Woodstock by sharing stories about Adney’s journeys and the decades-long journey to complete the remarkable tale finally.
“This is the culmination of a long-term collective project by a lot of people,” said Helmuth, who partly wrote, edited and published the biography through his family firm Chapel Street Editions, in partnership with Goose Lane Editions.
Carleton County Historical Society (CCHS), which operates Connell House, hosted the event featuring Helmuth, fellow contributor and researcher Darryl Hunter, and several others.
Ian and Mary Benard even attended the event via Skype from their home in Cambridge, England. Mary is the granddaughter of George Frederick Clarke, a New Brunswick author, historian, amateur archeologist and friend of Adney.
CCHS president John Thompson welcomed attendees to the launch, noting the evening’s significance.
“This is a truly momentous event, because it’s been decades in the making,” he said.
Thompson noted Tappan Adney has been a central part of Woodstock history for the last century and a half.
Helmuth and Hunter shared readings from the book and provided details of the decades-long efforts to complete the biography.
Helmuth welcomed the Bernards via Skype, explaining Mary Benard’s essential contributions to the biography. While she didn’t personally know Adney, he explained, Mary provided the authors with intimate knowledge shared with her by her grandfather.
“She significantly helped us with the book,” Helmuth said.
Helmuth said the complete biography is the latest addition to what he referred to as the Tappan Adney “project.”
He encouraged everyone to check out the Tappan Adney room upstairs in the Connell House, adding the display includes three of the artist’s famous birchbark canoe models.
In addition to copies of the just-released biography on display and for sale in the Connell House parlour during the launch, attendees could view other publications and artwork recounting Adney’s extraordinary life.
The display included two volumes of Adney’s travel journals published by Goose Lane and Helmuth’s less detailed book penned in 2014.
It also included Adney’s own works, including the first edition of his “Bark Canoes and Skin Boats” published by the Smithsonian Institute and a paperback version of basically the same book, which has become the primary text for studying birchbark canoes.
Another publication includes photographs and text about Adneyi’s model canoes on display at the Mariner’s Museum in Virginia.
Woodstock artist Suzan Carsley’s painting on display next to the podium captured Adney’s essence and showcased Carsley’s extensive linocut exhibit encompassing Adney’s incredible devotion to nature and his Indigenous friends and sense of history still present in his old stomping grounds in Upper Woodstock.
Carsley explained her painting was based on her linocut art and inspired by Adney’s watercolour print made during his fourth visit to New Brunswick in 1893. She said that Adney’s painting, The Moose Call, depicts a moose-hunting trip he organized for men at the Museum of Natural History. It showcases Maliseet hunting guide Ambrose Lockwood from Tobique and one of the hunters in a canoe.
Carsley incorporated Adney’s poem of the same name and an example of his handwriting to her painting.
Before reading four excerpts from the biography, Helmuth and Hunter provided background about the arduous journey to make it a reality.
Helmuth explained that the idea behind Adney’s biography started in the 1980s with Jim Wheaton, husband of Adney’s granddaughter, Joan Abney Dragon.
Hunter explained that Wheaton — knowing he had background information about Francis Peabody Sharp and his daughter Minnie Bell Sharp, Adney’s wife — had contacted him in 1998 to help with research.
The connection of the Sharps to the Adney story further emphasizes the remarkable history associated with a small wooded area of Upper Woodstock. The father was known as New Brunswick’s Johnny Appleseed for his pioneering efforts on numerous apple and plum varieties. The daughter led her own distinguished life as an acclaimed music teacher and political activist, becoming the first woman to run in a federal election.
After working together for a while, Wheaton informed Hunter that he was dealing with a terminal disease and asked him to complete the biography.
Hunter, who described himself as a researcher, not an author, declined, but Wheaton found Ted Behne to continue his work. Unfortunately, Behne faced his own terminal cancer before completing the manuscript.
Hunter said the search for someone to finish the book continued. He then gestured towards Helmuth.
“We found one. And he’s still living,” said Hunter.
Helmuth and Hunter read four excerpts from the book, touching on some of Adney’s many adventures, his dedication to Indigenous culture and rights and his love and understanding of nature.
Hunter read an early chapter detailing Adney’s first encounter with Peter Jo, a 50-year-old Indigenous canoe builder.
Helmuth later explained the encounter played a central part in Adney’s life.
“His encounter of the birchbark canoe and the great woodland of New Brunswick commanded his interest and changed the direction of his life,” Helmuth said.
Hunter said the New York academic and Peter Jo became close friends, leading to Adney’s lifelong fight to preserve Indigenous culture and native rights.
In addition to writing “the book that saved the birchbark canoe from oblivion,” Adney’s efforts between 1933 and his death in 1950 laid the groundwork which later established native rights in New Brunswick.
The readings also shared how Adney, who saw himself first as an artist, devoted a significant portion of his life to building scaled models of the birchbark canoe, most of which eventually went from storage at McGill University in Montreal to the Mariner’s Museum.
The readings also described the boyhood memories of the late Leon Thornton and his encounters with the eccentric old man in Upper Woodstock.
Thornton recalled the shabbily dressed senior who seemed to be able to directly communicate with wildlife, to the point where squirrels and birds would calmly sit on his shoulder.
Helmut listed eight of Adney’s many accomplishments.
— He was the ethnographer of Indigenous material culture who saved the birchbark canoe from extinction.
— He was the linguist who pioneered the preservation of the Wolastoqey language.
— He was a major contributor to the field of New Brunswick natural history journalism and the North American conservation movement.
— He spent a year and a half reporting from the Klondike gold rush and later wrote the Klondike Stampede, a 500-page fully illustrated book that became a classic.
— He did significant research for the ethnological museum at McGill University.
— He created a legacy of artwork and a variety of genres.
— He was the historian and legal activist who introduced the 1725 Peach and Friendship Treaty into the Canadian legal system, now recognized in law as the basis for Indigenous rights.
— He spent the last years of his life working on the recognition of Indigenous rights.
The Tappan Adney biography lists C. Ted Behne and James W. Wheaton as authors, with additional chapters by Helmuth, Hunter and Nicholas N. Smith.
Helmuth noted the long list of contributors is laid out in the book.
