Columbia Eneutseak

Columbia Eneutseak (January 16, 1893 – August 16, 1959), also billed as Nancy Columbia and Nancy Eneutseak, was an American performer in silent films, known for writing and starring in The Way of the Eskimo (1911).

Columbia Eneutseak
A smiling young Inuit woman, wearing traditional clothing, holding a whip
Eneutseak posing with a whip, 1909
Born
Nancy Helena Columbia Palmer

(1893-01-16)January 16, 1893
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedAugust 16, 1959(1959-08-16) (aged 66)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other namesNancy Columbia, Nancy Eneutseak, Nancy Melling
Occupation(s)Performer, writer
SpouseRaymond S. Melling
ParentEsther Eneutseak (mother)
RelativesRoss Elliott (son-in-law)

Early life

Nancy Helena Columbia Palmer was born at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the daughter of Esther Eneutseak.[1] Her family were Inuit, from Labrador, part of the "Eskimo Village" ethnographic exhibit at the exposition. She was named by Bertha Honore Palmer, a white socialite and head of the exposition's Board of Lady Managers.[2]

Two women and three children, wearing Inuit clothing, smiling and grouped for a photograph
Eneutseak (center) with her mother and three siblings, 1911

Eneutseak was a child when she appeared in similar exhibits at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta in 1895, and the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901, and in traveling shows with the Barnum & Bailey and Ringling circus companies, and at Coney Island. From 1896 to 1899, she was in Labrador with her grandparents. From 1899 to 1901, she joined her family on a tour in England, Spain, France, Italy, and North Africa.[3] In 1904, she was part of the Eskimo Village at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.[4][5][6] Her name, likeness, and biography were included in school textbooks and other publications.[2][7]

Career

In 1909, Eneutseak was voted "Queen of the Carnival" at the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition in Seattle.[2][8] Soon after, Eneutseak starred in the Selig Polyscope Company's The Way of the Eskimo (1911, now lost) based on a story she wrote while she was a teenager.[9] She also appeared in Lost in the Arctic (1911), The Seminole's Sacrifice (1911), The Witch of the Everglades (1911), Life on the Border (1911), God's Country and the Woman (1916), The Flame of the Yukon (1917), and The Last of the Mohicans (1920).[3]

In 1915, after appearing at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco,[10] Eneutseak and her family moved to Santa Monica, California, to establish an "Eskimo Village" attraction on the city's Ocean Park pier; their attraction and several others were destroyed by fire in Ocean Park at the end of 1915.[3] After marriage and motherhood, she managed an apartment building in Southern California.[2][11]

Personal life

Eneutseak married projectionist Raymond S. Melling in the 1920s; they had a daughter, Esther Sue Melling, born in 1927, who married actor Ross Elliott in 1954.[12] Eneutseak had a stroke in 1948, and died in 1959, aged 66 years, in Los Angeles.[13] From 2014 to 2018, there was an exhibit about Eneutseak at the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles.[11]

References
  1. Careen, Evan (February 3, 2020). "Nancy Columbia: The first Inuit screenwriter had ties to Labrador". Saltwire. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  2. Becker, Paula (January 3, 2009). "Miss Columbia is declared Queen of the Carnival at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle on August 19, 1909". HistoryLink. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  3. Harper, Kenn; Potter, Russell (2010). "Early Arctic Films of Nancy Columbia and Esther Eneutseak" (PDF). Nimrod: The Journal of the Ernest Shackleton Autumn School. 4.
  4. Russell, Stefene (November 29, 2012). "Flashback 1904: Ice Queen". St. Louis Magazine. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  5. "Nancy Columbia, Queen of the World's Fair Esquimaux". The St Louis Republic. August 21, 1904. p. 39. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Christmas Ride with World's Fair Eskimos from Santa Claus-Land". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 11, 1904. p. 76. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Nancy Columbia, an Eskimo Girl". The Spokesman-Review. January 12, 1908. p. 56. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Blee, Lisa (2010). ""I came voluntarily to work, sing and dance": Stories from the Eskimo Village at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 101 (3/4): 126–139. ISSN 0030-8803. JSTOR 23059108.
  9. Harper, Kenn (July 3, 2014). "Nancy Columbia: Inuit star of stage, screen and camera". Above & Beyond. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  10. "Eskimo Girl at the Panama Expo". The Lexington Herald. May 5, 1915. p. 3. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Nancy Columbia & The Arctic Beyond". Velaslavasay Panorama. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  12. "Veteran TV Character Actor Ross Elliott Dies". The Courier-Journal. August 18, 1999. p. 7. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Columbia Melling, Pioneer State Resident, Dies". The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet. August 20, 1959. p. 109. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
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