Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Joseph C. Farber photographs of Native American life

Online Media

Catalog Data

Creator:
Farber, Joseph C., 1903-  Search this
Names:
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) -- Exhibitions.  Search this
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.). Department of Anthropology  Search this
Gorman, R. C. (Rudolph Carl), 1932-2005  Search this
Extent:
6,000 Contact prints (circa 6000 contact prints (proof sheets))
6,000 Acetate negatives (circa)
8 Color transparencies
1,000 Items (circa 1000 enlarged prints: silver gelatin (some mounted for exhibition))
Culture:
Arctic peoples  Search this
Pikuni Blackfeet (Piegan)  Search this
Onondaga  Search this
Taos Indians  Search this
Quinault  Search this
Tlingit  Search this
Akimel O'odham (Pima)  Search this
Tewa Pueblos  Search this
Indians of North America -- Great Plains  Search this
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New  Search this
Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa)  Search this
DinĂ© (Navajo)  Search this
Eskimos  Search this
Sioux  Search this
Lummi  Search this
Haida  Search this
Indians of North America -- Plateau  Search this
Kootenai (Kutenai)  Search this
Kiowa  Search this
Mojave (Mohave)  Search this
Miccosukee Seminole (Mikasuki)  Search this
Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America  Search this
Niitsitapii (Blackfoot/Blackfeet)  Search this
Chehalis  Search this
Apache  Search this
Athapascan Indians  Search this
Cocopa  Search this
Niuam (Comanche)  Search this
Cherokee  Search this
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)  Search this
Pueblo  Search this
Acoma Pueblo  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Contact prints
Acetate negatives
Color transparencies
Photographs
Place:
North Carolina
New York
New Mexico
Montana
South Dakota
Oklahoma
Arizona
California
Florida
Minnesota
Alaska
Alberta
Washington (State)
Barrow, Point (Alaska)
Yuma County (Ariz.)
Taos (N.M.)
Date:
circa 1970-1975
Scope and Contents note:
Photographs made as part of Joseph C. Farber's project to document modern NAtive American everyday life. Represented tribes include the Acoma, Apache, Blackfoot, Chehalis, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cocopa, Dakota, Eskimo, Haida, Kiowa, Kutenai, Lummi, Mohave, Mohawk, Navaho, Northern Athabascan, Onandaga, Pima, Pueblo, Quinalt, Seminole, Taos, Tlingit, and Zuni. Subject coverage is broad and varies from tribe to tribe. Included are portraits, as well as totem poles, carving, weaving, pottery, painitng, landscapes, boats and canoes, ceremonial regalia, camps, classes and vocational training, homes and traditional dwellings, construction projects, rodeos and powwows, dances, industries (including lumber), herding and ranching, agriculture, stores and storefronts, cliff dwellings, parades, crab cleaning, fishing, games, health care, legal processes, music, office work, sewing, vending, and a funeral. There are also photographs of R. C. Gorman (and a letter from Gorman to Farber) and Fritz Shoulder (some in color). Farber's travels included Alaska (Point Barrow, Dead Horse, Glacier Bay, Haines, Hoona, Hydaberg, Ketchikan, Mount McKinley, Prudhoe Bay, Saxman, and Sitka); Alberta (Blackfeet Reservation); Arizona (Canyon de Chelly, Cocopa Reservation, Flagstaff, Kayenta, Monument Valley, Pima Reservation, Quechan Reservation, Mojave Reservation, and Yuma); California (Alcatraz, Oakland, and San Francisco); Florida (Big Cypress Reservation; Miccosukee Reservation); Minnesota (Minneapolis and Nett Lake); Montana (Northern Cheyenne Reservation); New Mexico (Acoma, Gallup, Navajo Forest, Picuris, Puye, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Santa Fe, Taos, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, and Tesuque); New York (New York City and Onandaga Reservation); North Carolina (Cherokee Reservation); Oklahoma (Anadarko, Apache, Lawton, Stilwell, and Tahlequah); South Dakota (Rosebud and Wounded Knee); and Washington (Lummi Reservation, Nisqually River, Puyallup River, and Quinalt Reservation).
Biographical/Historical note:
Joseph C. Farber (1903-1994) was a successful New York businessman and professional photographer. He studied with Edward Steichen at the New York Camera Club in the 1920s. The prints in this collection resulted from a five-year project that involved travelling to Native communities throughout the United States to document modern Native American life. The project resulted in a book, Native Americans: 500 Years After (1975), as well as exhibits, including one in the National Museum of Natural History in 1976-1977.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 78-1, NAA ACC 95-3
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Farber's photographs, previously located in Photo Lot 95-3 have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 78-1. These photographs were also made by Joseph C. Farber and form part of this collection.
The National Museum of American History Archives Center holds the Joseph Farber Papers and Photographs, circa 1962-1990.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Photographs published in Farber's books still under copyright. Reproduction permission from artist's estate.
Topic:
Dwellings  Search this
Vocational education  Search this
Canoes and canoeing  Search this
Boats and boating  Search this
Indians of North America -- Northeast  Search this
Dance  Search this
Powwows  Search this
Rodeos  Search this
Building  Search this
handicrafts  Search this
Totem poles  Search this
Indians of North America -- Southern states  Search this
Agriculture  Search this
Livestock  Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo Lot 78-1, Joseph C. Farber photographs of Native American life, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NAA.PhotoLot.78-1
See more items in:
Joseph C. Farber photographs of Native American life
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw381bc3276-6acf-4c9a-ac8c-9b59ad173f56
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-naa-photolot-78-1