Autograph inscriptions from two Ojibwe ministers and chiefs, 1837-8

Two autograph inscriptions by Ojibwe leaders Peter Jones and John Sunday on excised album pages, with accompanying lithograph portrait mounted to facing page. 10" x 8", with minor soiling and some chipping to edges.

John Sunday (c. 1795-1875), also known as Shahwundais or Shawundais, was a Mississauga Ojibwe chief and a Methodist minister. He was ordained in 1836 and became a missionary among the Indians of central Canada. He traveled to England in 1837, when this autograph would have been obtained. He was received by Queen Victoria as a chief of his people in order to petition for the land title of his group First Nations people.

Dated March 28th, 1837, in Manchester, England, the album page offered here contains a bilingual inscription of John 13:34 in English and Ojibwe. Facing Sunday's inscription is a lithographed portrait of him tipped onto the facing page, engraved by James Thomson from a portrait by William Gush, where he is depicted wearing a medal presented by Queen Victoria.

Peter Jones (1802-1856), known as Kahkewāquonāby in Ojibwe and Desagondensta in Mohawk, was an Ojibwe Methodist minister, translator, and chief, and likely the most well-known indigenous Canadian of his era. He converted at the age of 21 and became a powerful advocate for the First Nations people of Upper Canada. He visited England three times to petition for the rights of his people: in 1831-2, 1838, and 1845. A photograph of Jones on his final tour is believed to be the earliest known photograph of a North American Indian.

Written in Burnley, England, on April 14, 1838, the autograph inscription offered here is from his second tour, and has a brief bilingual statement in English and Ojibwe: "Ahnahmeatahmatoweshenone. Pray for us." Jones has signed it below with his name in English and Ojibwe.

Paired together, this two inscriptions are quite remarkable, as it was Jones who initially converted John Sunday to Christianity in 1826. They also are significant not simply as autographs, but as artifacts of indigenous performativity: in order to retain basic rights as well as long-established land title, English-speaking First Nations leaders were brought to England to petition political leaders, and while they were there used the opportunity to fundraise and to advocate for their people. They did this by traveling, giving lectures, and signing autographs, as these inscriptions record.

Manuscript material by Jones is appears infrequently on the market, and is represented in institutional collections. However, there are no catalogued records - either insitutional or commercial - of any manuscript material in the hand of John Sunday.