The fonds consists of textual records and slides that document the life of Margaret Hall as a teacher in a small Vuntut Gwitchin community, in Old Crow, Yukon, from 1961 to 1964. The fonds is mainly composed of letters she sent to her father and family during her stay in Old Crow. The interest of the letters resides in the fact that they are full of descriptions of what Marg saw, observed and lived while in Old Crow, so it depicts a portrait of this Aboriginal community as it was at the beginning of the 1960s.
The fonds includes other records such as general instructions and guides for teachers, school reports, Superintendent's reports, lists of births and burials of Natives, Kuhlmann - Anderson tests results, press clipping's some magazine articles related to Old Crow, a series of genealogical charts, and correspondence between William Roy Hall and the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources. The fonds also includes a typewritten report from The Old Crow RCMP detachment of the involvement by the special constables in the tracking and contact with, and finally the killing of Johnson the "Mad" Trapper of Rat River in the spring of 1932, a typewritten copy of Asen Balikci's sociological study (plus the published version) and band lists of the McPherson and Old Crow bands.
Also of interest is the fact that Marg's testimony documents a new school system being implemented as well as the Government's efforts to provide Native peoples with an education. Old Crow school was operated since 1958 by the Department of Northern Affairs as a Federal school. Prior to that, it was operated by the Indian Affairs branch of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, under the supervision of the Superintendent in Victoria, B.C. From ca. 1905 to the 1940s, Roman Catholic and Anglican residential schools were established in Canada. In Alaska were developed day schools (primary grades) and residential schools as well. Many Gwitchin children went to these schools at least for few years. In 1953, the construction of government schools was facilitated by the creation of the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources of Canada.
The pictures were shot with a Leica camera by Roy Hall for whom photography was an amateur hobby. The objects they gathered while in Yukon were given to the Canadian Museum of Civilization as well as a DVD copy of the 255 digital images.
