John Henry Keen

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John Henry Keen
Born1851
England
Died1950
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Anglican missionary, ethnographer and naturalist

John Henry Keen (1851–1950) was an Anglican missionary in Canada, known for translating

scriptures into Haida. While serving as a missionary, he also contributed to Canada's natural history
, writing on insects he discovered; he had a species of mouse and bat named after him.

Early years and ordination

John Henry Keen was born in England in 1851; he graduated from a

Moose Fort in Ontario. He was ordained by John Horden, Bishop of Moosonee
in 1877.

1880s and 1890s

From 1882 to 1889, he was in London, where he was first a curate at

Massett where several families would share a longhouse
which typically had totem poles outside.

A totem pole, sold to the British Museum by Charles F. Newcombe, which Keen helped to interpret.

Whilst in Canada Keen translated the Book of Common Prayer into Haida; he later translated the gospels of Luke and John and the Acts of the Apostles.[1]

In Masset, Keen took an interest in natural history. In 1891, he published his first paper on local beetles (Some British Columbian Coleoptera) and sent off 46 samples for identification to the British Museum.[1] In 1894 he first described the Northwestern deer mouse, which was named Keen's mouse, or Peromyscus keeni, in his honour.[2] He was also the first to scientifically describe a type of brown mouse eared bat. This animal is now called Keen's myotis (Myotis keenii Trouessart).[3] In 1896 he also found the first type specimen of what is now known to be a sub-species of northern saw-whet owl.

Keen returned on leave in 1898 and his translated prayer book was published in 1899 in London by the Missionary Society.[2] The book went out of print as a result of its intended audience dying out. It is estimated that before the Europeans arrived, there were 10,000 people who spoke Haida. By 1900, there were about 700.[4] There were thought to be only about 30 people in 1999 who spoke the Haida language,[5]

Artifacts

In the 1890s there were visits from the English

Field Columbian Museum and that the perpetrators were Americans. George Dorsey was known for his haste in finding artefacts was told of Keen's letter to the "Daily Colonist and he argued that Keen's anger should be ignored.[6]

The British Museum bought a number of artefacts from Keen, including a model of a house and an attached totem pole which had been carved by John Gwaytihl.[7] The museum also bought another 44 objects and received a description of the story that the totem pole was intended to tell. By coincidence the museum acquired a complete 39-foot-high totem pole that differed only slightly from the model in 1903.[8] The museum now not only has the pole but it has a description of its significance and symbols.[9] The museum bought the pole from Charles Frederick Newcombe.[8]

20th century activities

Keen returned to Canada again in 1899, but this time he was based at Metlakatla, where he stayed until 1913.[2]

Keen died in 1950.

References

  1. ^
    JSTOR 3999009
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 9780801895333
    .
  3. ^ "Keen's myotis". State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  4. ^ The Book of Common Prayer in Haida, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1899, accessed 16 November 2010,
  5. ^ "Alaska Native Language Population and Speaker Statistics". 1 January 1999. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  6. ISBN 9780774805377
    .
  7. ^ "Totem-pole / model building/structure / model". British Museum. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  8. ^ a b "Totem-pole". British Museum. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  9. JSTOR 2842995
    .
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