Description

Richard White, Jr. (1878-1950) was a trader, Innu and Inuit Curio dealer, and fox and mink farm breeder at Voisey's Bay, Labrador. He operated at Voisey's Bay continuously between 1919 and 1950. Between 1927 and 1950 he collected artifacts for Frank G. Speck who was a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. It is likely that all of the artifacts in the ROM's Frank Speck collection identified as from the Barren Ground band were collected by Richard White, Jr. and sent to Frank Speck. In some cases, White had the Innu make up artifacts that had fallen out of use.
Following Frank Speck's death in 1950, the ROM's Frank Speck collection was stored at the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and sold by Mrs. Speck to the ROM in 1958.