Fonds consists of photographs (negatives, contact prints, selected enlargements, and slides) created and accumulated in the course of the Stirling County Study directed by Leighton. The fonds consists primarily of prints and negatives taken by chief photographer John Collier Jr. which depict Digby County, Nova Scotia, including the communities of Digby, Bear River, Cape St. Marys, Freeport, Westport, Weymouth, and numerous others. Includes images of traditional industries (agriculture, fishing, logging, and family businesses), family, social, and religious events, schools, churches, housing, residents, and general views and landscapes. Other photographs include aerial views of the study site taken by the Royal Canadian Air Force; scenes of Digby County from various sources; the Navajo community at Fruitland, New Mexico, USA, relating to a parallel study at Cornell University; and a small number of photographs accumulated by Leighton during his travels to Europe and Africa. Fonds also includes 16mm film reels containing mostly raw footage and work prints relating to the study in Digby and parallel studies in Nigeria and New York, as well as two documentary films shot by Leighton; one film entitled "Porpoise Oil" was produced in collaboration with the Mi'kmaq of the Bear River Reserve in 1936 and features a re-enactment of traditional hunting methods.
Leighton, Alexander H.