Tsin-is-tum (Jennie Michel), Clatsop woman

Title

Tsin-is-tum (Jennie Michel), Clatsop woman

Description

A photograph of Tsin-is-tum, also known as Jennie Michel, who was commonly called the "Last of the Clatsops." This image which was probably taken around 1900 at her home near Seaside, Oregon. She is holding a reed mat (or possibly a piece of thatch), next to bundle of reed canes and a lean-to thatched with more reeds. Tsin-is-tum lived from circa 1814-1905. Around 1900, she became well known as a source of Oregon coast Native knowledge as well as for the memories, handed down from her parents, of the visit of Lewis and Clark to Oregon in 1805-6. Photographs of Tsin-is-tum were sold as souvenirs to tourists for many years. They often included erroneous captions, such as those on this example, which states she was a 102-year-old woman named Pricess Jennie Marshall, the Last of the Clatsops. The designation as "the Last" of her tribe was based on 19th century white notions about what it meant to be a member of a tribe: only "full-blooded" tribal members were counted, even though intermarriage between tribes had always existed on the Oregon coast. There are, in fact, still Clatsop peoples alive today.

[Front] Marshell [sic] age 102 [Back] 'Princess' Jennie Marshell [sic] The last of the Clatsops

Identifier

PUApic_012692

Creator

Saari, photographer

Subject

Native Americans

Women

Houses

Michel, Jennie, approximately 1815-1905

Tsin-in-tum, approximately 1815-1905

Clatsop Indians -- Photographs

Spatial Coverage

Seaside, Oregon

Language

English

Rights

Online access to this image is for research and educational purposes only. To inquire about permissions, order a reproduction, or for more information, please contact the Pacific University Archives at archives@pacificu.edu.

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Date Created

circa 1900

Date

1900/1905

Medium

card photographs

Source

Photo Image Collection, Pacific University Archives

Type

Still Image