Ola Noatak by Edward S. Curtis, ca. 1927

The photographs of Óla Noatak and Noatak Child are portraits of the wife and one of the children of Paul Ivanoff, Curtis' interpreter during his 1927 field trip. They lived on Nunivak Island where Paul was the local representative of the Lomen Reindeer Corporation, one of the enterprises that had been introduced. Paul, half-Russian and half-Eskimo, spoke not only the Nunivak language but several of the mainland languages as well. Curtis' daughter Beth Curtis Magnuson wrote about meeting Óla Noatak, noting that "Mrs Paul is charming, quite bashful and shy." Both mother and child wear traditional fur parkas in the two images. The child's fingers are positioned in a manner that may indicate his dexterity in playing string games, a favorite pastime among many Alaskan natives.