At the beginning of the 20th century, Edward S. Curtis set out to document what he saw as a disappearing race: the Native American. From 1907 to 1930, Curtis took more than 2,000 photos of 80 tribes stretching from the Great Plains to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. He then published and sold these photos, along with narrative text, in 20 volumes of work known as “The North American Indian”. It is one of the most significant collections of its kind, “probably the most important photographic document of its age and its topic,” said Jeffrey Garrett, associate university librarian for Special Libraries at Northwestern University. But “there is still a lot of reluctance to accept the Curtis images as being historically valid”, Garrett said. For starters, all the images were staged. “These are not snapshots,” Garrett said. “There is a clear lack of spontaneity. People were instructed to dress up for the shot, so they're in their tribal finery”. Some also perceive the collection as patronizing, a white man’s idealized view of Native Americans at the time.
In the early 1900s, Edward S. Curtis spent more than 20 years documenting American Indian tribes. This is a man from the Apsaroke tribe in 1908. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Noatak child in 1928. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
An Apache girl in 1906. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Tsawatenok girl in 1914. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Zuni man in 1903. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Koskimo man in 1914. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Mandan man in 1908. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
An Ogalala man in 1907. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Kato woman in 1924. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Pomo man in 1924. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Taos girl in 1905. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Hahuamis in 1914. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Mohave in 1907. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Wishham in 1910. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
This portrait was taken in Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, the westernmost point of the continent, in 1928. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
“Star White” was pictured in Santa Clara, California, in 1905. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
Masselow, a Kalispel chief, in 1910. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
Yellow Hawk, a Yanktonai, in 1908. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A young Umatilla in 1910. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Cahuilla woman in 1924. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Kittitas man in 1910. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Quilcene in 1912. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce in 1903. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Quinault woman in 1912. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
Nova, a Walpi, in 1906. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Sarsi woman in 1926. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Chukchansi man in 1924. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
A Qahatika woman in 1907. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
An Acoma man in 1904. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
Tlahleelis, a Koprino, in 1914. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)
07 Sep 2014 12:57:00,
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