The glass slides in this collection were taken by Margaret Lantis as part of a BIA funded project entitled, "Economic Needs of Natives in Southeastern Alaska." They were loaned a boat with crew and lived on the boat during the project. The field work was done in late summer/early fall of 1948 but the findings were never published. Lantis "surmised that [the findings were] rejected by the BIA Commissioner because he had worked only with Western Indians and thought of resources and economy solely in terms of land. I think he would have been happy if we had recommended that every Indian family receive 160 acres." The slides include economic survey statistics of the seven villages in the project, views of these villages, and activities of the people. Included are villages in southeast Alaska in the 1940s.

"In the late 1940s, Metlakatla was for outsiders one of the showplaces of Alaska, with its community-owned cannery and community-provided services: utilities, school, payment for health care. As you recall, the prop planes of that period used to stop on the Island en route between Juneau and Seattle. Although most passengers never saw the village, people who did want to visit had easy access. So much has been written about the founding and early years of Metlakatla but little about it after W.W.II. I found all the communities interesting but Metlakatla the most interesting." M. Lantis, 23, April 1980.