Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina
Date:
1932-1958
Summary:
These are the papers of Washington, D.C. attorney James E. Curry, whose legal career included work both as a government attorney and in his own private practice. The bulk of the papers reflect his private practice in the area of Indian affairs.
Scope and Contents:
The material in the collection includes documents relating to many aspects of Curry's career but most of it relates to his work with Indian tribes and the National Congress of American Indians. For the most, the collection is made up of such materials as letters exchanged with government officials, Indians, and other attorneys; copies of legal documents; published government documents; notes; and clippings and other printed materials. Of particular significance is a subject file relating to Indian affairs. It includes material concerning affairs of Alaskan natives and the Aleut (Akutan, Pribilof Islands), Apache (including Fort Sill, Jicarilla, Mescalero, San Carlos White Mountain), Arapaho (Southern), Assiniboine (Fort Belknap, Fort Peck), Bannock (including Fort Hall), Blackfeet, Caddo, Catawba, Cherokee (Eastern), Cheyenne (Northern, Southern), Chickahominy, Chickasaw, Chippewa (including Lac Courte Oreilles), Choctaw, Cochiti, Cocopa, Coeur d'Alene, Colville, Comanche, Creek, Croatan, Crow, Dakota (Big Foot, Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Devil's Lake, Flandreau, Fort Totten, Lower Brule, Mdewakanton, Oglala, Rosebud, Santee, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Standing Rock, Yankton), Delaware, Eskimo (including Gambell, Kiana), Flathead, Fox, Haida (including Kasaan), Havasupai, Hopi, Iroquois (Caughnawaga, Seneca, St. Regis), Isleta, Jemez, Kalilspel, Kansa (Kaw), Kickapoo, Kiowa, Klamath, Kutenai, Laguna, Lummi, Maricopa (Gila River, Salt River), Menominee, Missouria, Mohave (Fort Mohave), Mohave Apache (Fort McDowell), Muckleshoot, Navaho, Nez Perce, Niska, Nooksak, Omaha, Osage, Oto, Papago, Paiute (Fallon, Fort McDermitt), Moapa, Pyramid Lake, Shivwits, Walker River, Yerington), Pima (Gila River, Salt River), Potowatomi, Quinaielt, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Sandia, Sauk, Seminole (Florida, Oklahoma), Seneca, Seri, Shawnee (Eastern), Shoshoni (including Fort Hall), Sia, Spokan, Stockbridge, Taos (Pyote clan), Tesuque, Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa), Tillamook, Tlingit (including Angoon, Craig, Juneau, Kake, Ketchikan, Klawak, Klukwan, Taku, Wrangell), Tsimshian (Metlakatla), Umatilla, Ute (including Uintah-Ouray), Walapai, Washo, Wesort, Winnebago, Wyandot, Yakima, Yaqui, Yavapai, Yuma, and Zuni. There are also materials relating to Curry's work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Congress of American Indians, and material that reflects his interest in conditions and events in given locations (often filed by state) and in organizations with interest in Indians. The material relating to Curry's work in Puerto Rico has been deposited in the Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, in San Juan.
Arrangement note:
The James E. Curry Papershave been arranged into 6 series: (1) Daily Chronological Files, 1941-1955; (2) Subject Files Regarding Indian Affairs, bulk 1935-1955; (3) Miscellaneous Files Regarding Indian Affairs, bulk 1947-1953; (4) Non-Indian Affairs, n.d.; (5) Puerto Rico Work, 1941-1947; (6) Miscellany, undated.
Biographical/Historical note:
James E. Curry was trained in law in Chicago and practiced in that city from 1930 until 1936, serving part of that time as secretary of the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. From 1936 to 1938, he was an attorney with the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, being largely involved with matters of credit affecting Indians. From 1938 to 1942, he continued service with the Interior Department but worked in several capacities involving the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, the department's Consumers' Counsel Division, and the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority.
In 1945, Curry returned to Washington and set up private practice, also maintaining for a time an office in Puerto Rico. In Washington, he became the attorney for the National Congress of American Indians and from that time until the 1950s his practice increasingly involved representation of American Indian tribes, mostly in claims against the federal government. In this work, for a time, he was involved in business relations with a New York Law firm that included Henry Cohen, Felix Cohen, and Jonathan Bingham.
He also often worked closely with lawyers who lived near the tribes he represented, William L. Paul, Jr., of Alaska, for example. This aspect of his practice--representing Indian tribes--was largely broken up during the early 1950s when the Commissioner of Indian Affairs began to use his powers to disapprove contracts between Curry and the tribes. In 1952 and 1953, his official relationship with the National Congress of American Indians was also ended. After this, while Curry continued until his death to act as a consultant in Indian claims with which he had earlier been involved, his career and life developed in a different direction.
Related Materials:
Additional material relating to James E. Curry can be found in the records of the National Congress of American Indians, also located at the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center.
Provenance:
The Curry papers were originally donated to the National Anthropological Archives by James E. Curry's daughter Mrs. Aileen Curry-Cloonan in December 1973. In 2007 The Curry papers were transferred from the National Anthropological Archives to the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center along with several other records concerning American Indian law and political rights.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive 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).
Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadbast materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Genre/Form:
Notes
Letters
Clippings
Legal documents
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); James E. Curry papers, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Images depict the Seneca Iroquois Indians on the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York.
Scope and Contents:
The Keppler collection consists primarily of informal portraits of Seneca men and women made in 1900, 1904, 1905, 1908 and 1910. Keppler made most of these photographs on the Cattaraugus Reservation (including a photograph of Edward Cornplanter's Indian and Minstrel show) but also on the Tonawanda, Onondaga, and Allegany Reservations. Aside from the portraits, the photographs depict Seneca dwellings and ceremonials. Also by Keppler is a group of photographs depicting Seneca and Cayuga athletes playing lacrosse and standing for a group portrait. These he made in 1902 at the Crescent Athletic Club in New York City. In New York State, he also photographed Oneida, Onondaga, and Tuscarora individuals. The collection includes several potraits of Keppler and approximately 15 photographs dated ca. 1937 of the interior of Keppler's home. The latter showcase Keppler's American Indian object collection. He also made portraits of Native sitters in his home. There are several photographs in the collection that Keppler did not make. Among them is an 1886 print by Camillus S. Fly entitled "Council between General Crook and Geronimo," and studio portrait made before 1870 of a group of Kiowa sitters, including Lone Wolf and his wife, and full-length studio portrait of a Shoshone or Bannock man dating ca. 1870. Some of the negatives are later copy negatives.
Arrangement note:
Negatives Arranged by negative number (N18567-N18589, N21231-N21314, N21803-N21806, N23071, N23087, N23089, N23091, N23093, N23095-N23096, N23106-N23114, N34852, N36800-N36801, N37887)
Prints Arranged by print number (P00277, P01535-P01536, P01622, P01625, P01652, P01737-P01738, P02640, P10029, P12499-P12518, P13246-P13247, P13252-P13253, P13256, P13258, P13756, P16081, P16084, P16111, P16112, P16114, P25274-P25295, P37581)
Biographical/Historical note:
Udo J. Keppler, who changed his name to Joseph W. Keppler, Jr. in honor of his father, was a political cartoonist for Puck Magazine and an avid collector of Indian artifacts, as well as being an Indian activist. This interest led him to an association with George G. Heye, director of the Museum of the American Indian. Keppler often acted as an intermediary between other collectors and Native artisans, facilitating the expansion of the Iroquois collection of the Museum of the American Indian and others. He was elected honorary chief of the Seneca in 1899 and given the name Gy-ant-wa-ka.
Biographical / Historical:
Born Udo J. Keppler, Joseph W. Keppler (1872-1956), or "Kep," was the son of Joseph Keppler, the great political cartoonist and founder and publisher of the popular and highly influential magazine, Puck. The younger Keppler was born in St. Louis, Missouri and educated in Munich, Germany and New York City. Like his father, he too was a political cartoonist. He became the art director at Puck and, when his father died in 1894, took over as publisher. Joseph W. Keppler ran the magazine until he sold it in 1914. The younger Keppler's two great interests in life were said to be Puck and American Indians. Evidently, Keppler's deep interest in Indians and Indian affairs developed out of his desire to collect Indian objects and his friendship with Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse, an early advocate for Native rights. Through Converse, Keppler built friendships with Iroquois living on reservations in New York State and Canada, but especially with Senecas living on the Cattaraugus and Tonawanda reservations in New York. At Converse's funeral in 1903, the 31-year-old Keppler was adopted by the Seneca Nation and made a member of the Wolf Clan. Like Converse, Keppler served as an advocate for Senecas. Most importantly, he worked to help defeat or modify plans to allot Iroquois reservations in New York State. Keppler became a major collector of American Indian objects and his passion to collect led to an association with George G. Heye. In 1901, Heye apparently accompanied Keppler to the Seneca and Cattaraugus Reservations; this trip might have been Heye's first to a Native community. From 1927 to 1942, Keppler served on the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation board of trustrees and for a time was also the Museum's vice president. In 1944, Keppler and his (second) wife Vera left New York and moved to California. Keppler died in La Jolla, California, at the age of 84.
Restrictions:
Access is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment.
Rights:
Restricted: Cultural Sensitivity
Genre/Form:
Photographic prints
Black-and-white negatives
Photographs
Citation:
Joseph W. Keppler, Jr. collction of negatives and photographs, National Museum of the American Indian Archives, Smithsonian Institution (negative, slide or catalog number).
The bulk of the collection consists of portraits of identified Native Americans and some government officials and interpreters. It includes cabinet cards, other mounted prints, newspaper articles, illustrations, and a photographic postcard. Depicted individuals include American Horse, Oglala; Black Hawk, Sauk; Bob Tail, Cheyenne; Crowfoot, Hunkpapa; Gaul, Hunkpapa; Geronimo, Chiricahua; John Grass, Teton; Chief Joseph, Nez Perce; Little Wound, Oglala; Medicine Bull, Hunkpapa; Osceola, Seminole; Ouray, Ute; Litte Raven, Arapaho; Plenty Coups, Crow; Pocahontas, Powhatan; Rain in the Face, Hunkpapa; Red Cloud, Oglala; Red Iron, Dakota; Short Man, Piegan; Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa; Standing On Prairie, Siouan; Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), Mohawk; Two Guns White Calf, Piegan; Two Moon, Cheyenne; and Washakie, Shoshoni.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 87-2P
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot 87-2P, United States National Museum Department of Anthropology photograph collection relating to Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Basin Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Negatives
Copy prints
Place:
Yosemite National Park (Calif.)
Washington (D.C.)
Florida
Yellowstone National Park
Colorado
Date:
mid-19th - early 20th century
Scope and Contents note:
Copies of photogaphs selected from the George Eastman House collection by Bureau of American Ethnology archivist Margaret Blaker in 1962. Many of the photographs are individual or group portraits of American Indians and some highlight pottery, baskets, and cradleboards. There are also images of American Indian dwellings, including tipis and hogans; pueblos; dances; and an encampment during the Modoc War and Plains Indian prisoners at Fort Marion, Florida (1870s).
Expedition photos in the collection were made on T. O. Selfridgeʹs Darien Expedition (1870-1871), the Wheeler surveys (1871-1874), and the Hayden Geological Survey (1871). The collection also includes portraits of Frederick Douglass, Sitting Bull, and John A. Logan; and images from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; Company F of New York's 140th Volunteer Infantry; and the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R79
Reproduction Note:
Copy negatives made by George Eastman House, 1962.
Copy prints made by the Smithsonian, 1962-1963.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds vintage prints for many of the photographs copied in this collection, including in Photo lot 4501, Photo Lot 4605, and Photo Lot 90-1.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
The images were acquired for reference purposes and cannot be reproduced. Copies may be obtained from George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film.
Indians of North America -- Great Basin Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Albums
Photographs
Date:
circa 1877
Scope and Contents note:
Albums probably assembled by William Henry Jackson, mostly containing portraits of Native American delegates in Washington, D.C. and photographs made on US Geological Surveys (including the Hayden and Powell surveys). Photographs from the field include John K. Hillers' photographs of the Southwest, photographs of Fort Laramie (possibly by Alexander Gardner), Orloff R. Westmann's photographs of Taos Pueblo, and Jackson's photographs of Crow, Shoshoni, Pawnee, and Nez Perce Tribes and related sites. Most of the photographs were made circa 1860s-1870s.
The albums were probably by Jackson while working under Ferdinand V. Hayden for the United States Geological Survey of the Territories. The reason for their creation is uncertain, though it may have been a project set up by Hayden or a continuation of William Henry Blackmore's tradition of publishing albums. Some of the albums include captions pasted from Jackson's Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians (1877) while others have handwritten captions.
Biographical/Historical note:
William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) was an American painter, photographer and explorer. Born in New York, he sold drawings and retouched photographs from an early age. After serving in the Civil War, he opened a photography studio in Omaha, Nebraska, with his brother Edward. As photographer for the US Geological and Geographical Surveys (1870-1878), he documented the American west and published the first photographs of Yellowstone. When the surveys lost funding in 1879, Jackson opened a studio in Denver, Colorado, and also worked for various railroad companies. Many of Jackson's photographs were displayed at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago (1893), for which he was the official photographer.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 4420
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Original negatives for many of the photographs in this collection can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the BAE historical negatives.
The National Museum of the American Indian Archives holds William Henry Jackson photographs and negatives.
Additional Jackson photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4605, MS 4801, Photo Lot 14, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 29, Photo Lot 37, Photo Lot 40, Photo Lot 60, Photo Lot 93, Photo lot 143, Photo Lot 87-2P, Photo Lot 87-20, and Photo Lot 90-1.
Correspondence from Jackson held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4517, MS 4881, MS 4821, and collections of personal papers.
Photo Lot 4420, William Henry Jackson photograph albums based on his Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The General Photograph collections contains photographs depicting people, events, and activities related to the historical and contemporary lives of Native peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Scope and Contents:
The General Photograph collections is comprised of individual small collections of photographs that were acquired by the Archive Center from various sources. These small collections are presented together under a single collection for easy access and depict the historical and contemporary lives of Native peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Arrangement:
This collection is organized in folders by accession numbers.
Biographical / Historical:
The photographs in this collection were shot by a variety of photographers and depict many different people and scenes. For specific biographical and historical notes please see individual photographs listed in this guide.
Provenance:
The National Museum of the American Indian and its predecessor, Museum of the American Indian, acquired the photographs in this collection from 1916 to the present.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive 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).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive 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.
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); General Photograph collections, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection consists of 43 photographic prints of Native American peoples from throughout North America. Dating from 1882 to 1913, the images in this collection document a variety of Native American communities and events, including the U.S. Indian Congress which took place at the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska. Photographers include Frank A. Rinehart, Adolph F. Muhr, and Roland W. Reed, as well as a series of images by an unknown photographer who also documented American Indian life.
Scope and Contents:
The Frank A. Rinehart and Roland W. Reed photograph collection consists of 43 photographic prints of Native American peoples at the turn of the twentieth century. Dating from 1882 to 1913, the images in this collection document a variety of Native American communities and events, including the U.S. Indian Congress which took place at the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska. This exposition, also referred to as the 1898 World's Fair, was held in Omaha, Nebraska from June through October, 1898. Attending the U.S. Indian Congress at the fair were over 500 American Indian delegates representing more than 35 Native communities from throughout the United States.
In addition to the Rinehart and Muhr 1898 photographs are also a number of staged portrait images created by Roland W. Reed in the early decades of the twentieth century. Traveling throughout the U.S. West and Canada, Reed photographed Native communities ranging from Minnesota to Montana and Canada, and extending to Arizona in the Southwest U.S.
This collection also consists of 18 photographs contemporary to those of Rinehart and Reed, dating approximately 1882 – 1904. The photographer(s) of these images is unknown. Although specific communities are not identified, many images appear to portray Northern Plains and Central Plains American Indian peoples.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into three series, organized by photographer, and then regionally by location or culture group. Series 1: Frank A. Rinehart photographs, Series 2: Roland W. Reed photographs, Series 3: Unknown photographer
Biographical / Historical:
Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) was born in Illinois, opened a photography studio in Omaha, Nebraska in 1885 or 1886, and is best known for his work as the official photographer of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha. In addition to portrait photographs of Native American delegates attending the U.S. Indian Congress of 1898, Rinehart as official exposition photographer also documented the broader exhibits and events that took place at the 1898 Omaha World's Fair.
Adolph R. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913) worked as Frank A. Rinehart's assistant at the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, creating a photographic record of the events and attendees. While Rinehart documented many of the outdoor sham-battles, dance scenes, and other events related to the U.S. Indian Congress, Muhr was responsible for the majority of the posed delegate portraits. Muhr in later years worked with photographer Edward S. Curtis in Seattle, until Muhr's death in 1913.
Roland W. Reed (1864-1934) was born in Wisconsin, and is best known for traveling widely throughout the western United States and Canada, photographing Native American communities. Having apprenticed with photographer Daniel Dutro in 1890s Montana, Reed later ran photography studios in both Ortonville and Bemidji, Minnesota in the early 1900s. Over the next few decades he continued to document the lives and cultures of Native peoples, opening photography studios in Kalispell, Montana in 1909, and later in San Diego, California in 1915. Many of Reed's photographs are clearly staged, representing romanticized and stereotyped images of what Reed believed Native American life to be. He died in Colorado in 1934.
Related Materials:
The NMAI Archive Center collections also include an album of 18 photographic prints of Frank A. Rinehart's U.S. Indian Congress images: U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition photograph album, NMAI.AC.118.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by the Dakota County Historical Society, South St. Paul, MN, in 2013.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive 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).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive 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.
Topic:
Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition (1898 : Omaha, Neb.) -- Photographs Search this
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Frank A. Rinehart and Roland W. Reed photograph collection, NMAI.AC.289; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Photographic portrait of Goyathlay (Geronimo, 1825-1909; Chiricahua Apache). Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska, 1898.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive 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 Archive 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); Frank A. Rinehart and Roland W. Reed photograph collection, NMAI.AC.289; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This photograph album contains 18 photographic portraits of American Indian delegates at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska, 1898. Frank A. Rinehart and Adolph F. Muhr's photographs of the Exposition are considered one of the most comprehensive photo documentations of American Indian leaders at the turn of the century.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains 18 photographs arranged in an album. The photographs depict portraits of American Indians delegates at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition held in Omaha, Nebraska, between June 1 and October 31, 1898. During the Congress, Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) and/or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913) photographed more than 500 delegates and groups representing the estimated thirty-five tribes represented at the Exposition.
The photographs that Rinehart and Muhr shot during the Exposition depict the largest gathering of American Indian leaders at the turn of the century. This collection contains only 18 of the hundreds of photographs that Rinehart and Muhr shot at the event.
The photographers assigned the photograph titles.
Biographical / Historical:
The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition World's Fair was held in Omaha, Nebraska from June 1 to October 1898. Over 500 Indian delegates from over thirty-five different tribes were present at the Fair.
James Mooney (Bureau of Ethnology) and Captain William A. Mercer organized and managed the Indian Congress in conjunction with the Exposition. It included "living exhibitions," with mock Indian villages and demonstrations of dances, daily activities, and sham battles.
The official photographer of the U.S. Indian Congress was Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) with his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Rinehart shot the majority of the outdoor battles, dance scenes, and events, while Muhr photographed the majority of the delegate portraits. Rinehart copyrighted the photographs under his own name in 1899 and 1900. The Rinehart and Muhr photographs are considered one of the most comprehensive photo documentations of American Indian leaders at the turn of the century.
Related Materials:
The Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas has a large collection of Frank Rinehart photographs from U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, including the original glass plate negatives.
The National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center also holds other photographs shot by Rinehart and Muhr at Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, including collection NMAI.AC.119.
Provenance:
Donated by Margaret Cross in 2001.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive 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).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive 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.
Topic:
Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition (1898 : Omaha, Neb.) -- Photographs Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Photograph albums
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition photograph album, Photo Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection contains 44 photographs in a photo album and 12 loose prints that depict American Indian leaders circa 1898 to 1901. The bulk of the photographs were shot at the Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, 1898 and the Greater America Exposition, 1899, both held in Omaha, Nebraska.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains 44 photographs in a photo album and 12 loose prints that depict American Indian leaders circa 1898 to 1901. The bulk of the photographs depict photographic portraits and scenes of sham battles shot at the Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska, from June 1 to October 31, 1898. Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) and his assistant Adolph F. Muhr were the official photographers. During the Indian Congress they photographed more than 500 individuals and groups representing the estimated thirty-six tribes represented at the Exposition. Rinehart shot the majority of the outdoor battles, dance scenes, and events, while Muhr photographed the majority of the delegate portraits. Rinehart copyrighted the photographs under his own name in 1899 and 1900.
Other photographs in this collection are photographic portraits of American Indian leaders that were photographed by Herman Heyn and James Matzen at the Greater America Exposition in Omaha in 1899. Heyn copyrighted the photographs under his own name in 1899.
Finally, the collection also contains 7 loose photomechanical prints depicting portraits by photographer William Henry Jackson. These prints were colorized and published under Jackson's company the Detroit Photographic Co. Other loose color photomechanical prints include portraits shot by photographer William H. Rau (1855-1920) for the Chicago Inter-Ocean Newspaper in 1901.
The photograph titles were assigned by the photographers.
Arrangement:
The photographs in the album are in original order. The loose prints are organized into 3 folders.
Biographical / Historical:
Byron Harvey, III (1932-2005) was an anthropologist and collector specializing in southwestern American Indian tribes. He was the great-grandson of Frederick Harvey, best known as the founder of the Fred Harvey Company that ran a successful chain of gift shops, restaurants, and hotels known as Harvey Houses. The Company also amassed a collection of American Indian art and sold many collections to museums including the Museum of the American Indian (NMAI's predecessor museum).
The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition World's Fair was held in Omaha, Nebraska from June 1 to October 1898. Over 500 Indian delegates from over thirty-five different tribes were present at the Fair. James Mooney (Bureau of Ethnology) and Captain William A. Mercer organized and managed the Indian Congress in conjunction with the Exposition. It included "living exhibitions," with mock Indian villages and demonstrations of dances, daily activities, and sham battles.
The official photographer of the U.S. Indian Congress was Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) with his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). The Rinehart and Muhr photographs are considered one of the most comprehensive photo documentations of American Indian leaders at the turn of the century.
After the Trans-Mississippi Exposition ended, the Greater America Exposition opened on the same fair grounds from July 1, 1899 to October 31, 1899. Herman Heyn and James Matzen won the contract to be the official photographer of the new Exposition. This Exposition featured many of the same buildings and set up as the Trans-Mississippi Exposition of the previous year.
Related Materials:
The Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas has a large collection of Frank Rinehart photographs from U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, including the original glass plate negatives.
The National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center also holds other photographs shot by Rinehart and Muhr at Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, including collection NMAI.AC.118.
Provenance:
Donated by Byron Harvey, III in 1966.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive 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).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive 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.
Topic:
Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition (1898 : Omaha, Neb.) -- Photographs Search this
Greater America Exposition (1899 : Omaha, Neb.) Search this
Genre/Form:
Photograph albums
Photographs
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Byron Harvey, III Collection of Exposition and Portrait photographs, P#####; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Photographs collected by Willis G. Tilton, a dealer in artifacts and photographs relating to Native Americans. Many of the photographs were made by Field Columbian Museum photographer Charles Carpenter at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904; many others were created by various photographers for Field Museum publications. Notable subjects include Big Foot, dead in the snow at the Wounded Knee battlefield; Arapaho and Cheyenne social dances; Hopi ceremonies; a reenactment of the shooting of Sitting Bull; Sun Dances (Arapaho, Assiniboin, Gros Ventre, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Ponca); and views of the United States Indian School Building and Pawnee people at the the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. Other photographs include portraits and images of artifacts, basket weaving, cradles, dress, dwelling, tipis and other dwellings, and tree burials. There are also some photographs of Henry Field's expedition to Iraq in 1934 (Field museum anthropological expedition to the Near East), work elephants in Burma, Pipestone Quarry in Minnesota, a church in the Yucatan, and a rickshaw and cart in Ceylon.
Biographical/Historical note:
Willis G. Tilton was a dealer and owner of the store, Tilton Indian Relics, in Topeka, Kansas.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 89-8, NAA Photo Lot 135
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Photographs in the Tilton Collection, previously filed in Photo Lot 135, have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 89-8. These photographs were also purchased by the Bureau of American Ethnology from Willis G. Tilton and form part of this collection.
Associated photographs still held in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Most photographs included in the card catalog of copy negatives and in the reference file prints by tribe.
Additional photographs by Dorsey held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4721 and Photo Lot 24.
Correspondence from Dorsey held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4821, records of the Bureau of American Ethnology, the J.C. Pilling Papers, and the Ales Hrdlicka Papers.
Additional photographs by Nelson held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 171, Photo Lot 133, Photo Lot 24, and the BAE historical negatives.
Additional Maude photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 90-1 and Photo Lot 24.
Additional E. E. Hall photographs held in National Anthropological Archives MS 4978 and Photo Lot 24.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds Nelson's field reports (SIA Acc. 97-123) and the Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection (SIA RU007364).
See others in:
Willis G. Tilton photograph collection of American Indians, circa 1880-1930 (bulk 1899-1904)
This collection includes prints and photographic negatives collected by Captain Allyn K. Capron. Many of the photographs were taken in the Fort Sill area in Oklahoma throughout Capron's time serving there. While a few of these photographs depict Capron, the majority of the Fort Sill photographs feature Native American prisoners of war. This collection also contains portraits taken by Frank A. Rinehart and Adolph F. Muhr during the 1898 U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska. In addition, this collection contains rare photographs from a 1900 Niimíipuu (Nez Perce) and Umatilla delegation visit led by Chief Joseph to Washington, DC. Additional assorted photographs, which were collected by Capron and taken among several communities in Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Florida by various photographers, are also included.
The communities represented within this collection include the Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke), Assiniboine (Stoney), Southern Inunaina (Arapaho), Kiowa, Pikuni (Piegan) [Blackfeet Nation, Browning, Montana], Apache, Chiricahua Apache, Oglala Lakota (Oglala Sioux), Cayuse, Sihasapa Lakota (Blackfoot Sioux), Niimíipuu (Nez Perce), Umatilla, Potawatomi, Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache (New Mexico), Southern Plains, and Hunkpapa Lakota (Hunkpapa Sioux), with a few individuals identified simply as Sioux.
Scope and Contents:
This collection includes photographic prints and negatives collected by Capron and arranged into four series.
Series 1: Fort Sill and surrounding areas, 1885-1896, includes 6 copy negatives and 73 photographic prints. These photographs were taken by George A. Addison (George Anthony Addison), Ella M. Roff (Ellen M. Roff/E. M. Roff), and unknown photographers in Alabama and Oklahoma,in Fort Sill and surrounding areas, between 1885-1896. Some notable scenes include Geronimo and his family, individuals rounding up calves, non-native soldiers, Kiowa tipis, Niuam (Comanche) men shooting bows, the 12th Infantry of Apache Indians, and the Fort Sill Commanding Officers' quarters. Captain Allyn Capron is pictured in a few of the Fort Sill photographs. The indigenous communities depicted include the Southern Plains, Chiricahua Apache, Apache, Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache (New Mexico), Niuam (Comanche), Kiowa, and Potawatomi.
Series 2: Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, 1898, includes 1 copy negative and 7 photographic prints taken in Omaha, Nebraska by Frank A. Rinehart and Adolph F. Muhr in 1898. The photographs depict scenes from the Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition and include portraits of individuals belonging to the Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke), Assiniboine (Stoney), Southern Inunaina (Arapaho), Kiowa, Chiricahua Apache, Oglala Lakota (Oglala Sioux) communities, with a few individuals identified only as Sioux. A delegation of Apache prisoners of war, including Geronimo, were brought from Fort Sill to attend the exposition.
Series 3: Assorted Photographs by Various Photographers, 1872-1900, includes includes 1 copy negative and 28 photographic prints taken by Frank A. Rinehart, Adolph F. Muhr, Alexander Gardner, David F. Barry (David Francis Barry/D. F. Barry), and unknown photographers throughout the United States between 1872-1900. This series contains photographs taken among the Sioux, Pikuni (Piegan) [Blackfeet Nation, Browning, Montana], Apache, Chiricahua Apache, Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke), Sihasapa Lakota (Blackfoot Sioux), Hunkpapa Lakota (Hunkpapa Sioux), Nimi'ipuu (Nez Perce), Umatilla, Nimi'ipuu (Nez Perce), and Cayuse communities. The locations for the shoots include Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, and Washington, DC. The subjects of this series include individual portraits, communities, and landscapes, with notable individuals including Naiche (Natchez), Goyathlay (Geronimo), Chief John Grass (Pe-ji or Pah-Zhe), and Theodore Roosevelt.
Series 4: Niimíipuu (Nez Perce) and Umatilla delegation visit to Washington, D.C.,1900, includes 8 rare photographic prints of a joint Niimíipuu (Nez Perce) and Umatilla delegation visit to Washington, D.C. in 1900. The delegates appearing in this series includes Cayuse delegate Chief Paul Showaway and Niimíipuu (Nez Perce) delegates Chief Joseph (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt), Stephen J. Reuben, and Chief Peo Peo Tholekt (Peopeotahlikt/Peo Peo T'olikt/Peo-Peo-Ta-Lakt/George Peo-peo-tah-likt/Bird Alighting). Stephen J. Reuben was Chief Joseph's nephew, and acted as an interpreter for this visit. This series was possibly photographed outside of 1111 Masachussets Avenue, Washington, D.C. Additional identifications were provided by Nakia Williamson-Cloud, Nez Perce Tribe Cultural Resource Program, 2003.
Copy negatives include N21545, N37515-N37518, N41416, N41418, N41459. Photographic prints include P13092-P13095, P13097, P3101-P13203.
Arrangement:
Arranged intellectually into four series. Series 1: Fort Sill and surrounding areas, 1885-1896; Series 2: Trans-Mississippi International Exposition, 1898; Series 3: Assorted Photographs by Various Photographers, 1872-1900; Series 4: Niimíipuu (Nez Perce) and Umatilla delegation visit to Washington, D.C., 1900.
Biographical / Historical:
Captain Allyn K. Capron, a graduate of West Point, was a Rough Rider who served as Lieutenant and Captain in the U.S. Army. In 1886, Geronimo and 341 other Chiricahua Apache prisoners of war were captured and brought to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. It was here that Capron served under Hugh L. Scott, who was in charge of Geronimo's band of Apache Indians from 1894 to 1897. As a lieutenant, between 1895-1896, Capron commanded Troop L of the Seventh Cavalry, U.S.A at Fort Sill; this unit consisted entirely of Apache Indians. He was in charge also of Geronimo, whom he often quoted within his letters written from Fort Sill. Capron died from the effects of exposure during the Spanish American War in 1898.
Provenance:
Gift of Agness Kissam Capron, wife of Captain Allyn Capron, 1938.
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).
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.
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Captain Allyn Capron photograph collection, image #, NMAI.AC.152; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
