These negatives were originally cataloged as "Blackfoot" but it has since been determined that the photographs were shot among the Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) community. Further research has led to the likelihood that the negatives were made by Orlando Scott (O. S.) Goff around 1894. Goff, a prominent Western photographer in his time traveled between Forts Custer and Assiniboine in Montana during the late 1880s and 1890s. In 1894 Goff accompanied the 10th Cavalry, stationed at Fort Custer, on a camping trip that took them through the Crow Reservation.
The photographs in this subseries include images of Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) encampments and horses along the Bighorn river; portraits of Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) men, women and children including Chiefs Medicine Crow, Plenty Coups and Bell Rock; and a series of photographs at a dance outdoors, possibly a 4th of July celebration. There is also a photograph of an officer of the 10th cavalry, likely shot at Fort Custer.
Related Materials:
There are photographic prints in the Bud Lake and Randy Brewer Crow Indian Photograph Collection (Lot 035) at the Montana Historical Society that appear to have been made by O.S. Goff at the same time. These were part of a scrapbook labeled "taken on a camping trip of 10th Cav. from Ft. Custer, Montana, 1894-95," and kept by William Henry Hay.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Joseph A. Imhof photograph collection, image #, NMAI.AC.142; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
