The Fred R. Meyer collection consists primarily of lantern slides and glass plates negatives made by Meyer among the Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) and Pikuni (Piegan) communities in Montana on the Crow and Blackfeet Reservations, circa 1900. Additional photographs were made in North Dakota, California and Alaska, among other locations.
Scope and Contents:
The Meyer collection consists primarily of lantern slide and glass plates negatives made by Meyer among the Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) and Pikuni (Piegan) in Montana on the Crow and Blackfeet Reservations, perhaps in 1902 and in 1904. The Apsáalooke and Pikuni lantern slides and negatives are mostly informal, outdoor portraits of men and women in traditional clothing, but they also depict camps and ceremonials and even buffalo herds. In addition, there are depictions of Ute, Niitsitapii (Blackfoot/Blackfeet), Nimi'ipuu (Nez Perce), Numakiki (Mandan), and Ojibwa individuals. He made the Numakiki photographs on the Fort Berthold Rerservation in North Dakota. The collection also contains landscape views made in Yosemite Valley, California, and British Columbia and cityscapes of Juneau, Alaska. Although Meyer likely photographed the vast majority of the items in the collection, it is unlikely that he created all of them. For example, there are many studio portraits that an amateur such as Meyer lacked the studio space, equipment, and experience to make. In addition, there is at least one glass plate negative of a Fred Miller Crow Reservation photograph and several that appear to be by Cree photographer Richard Throssel, who also made photographs on the Crow Reservation. The five prints (one of these--assigned a print number--is in fact a newspaper clipping announcing the death of Ka-Be-Na-Gway-Wence or Meet-Ka-Be-Nah-Gway) are certainly not by Meyer. Of interest here is a photograph depicting Goyathlay (Geronimo) in later life wearing traditional Chiricahua Apache clothing, including his headdress. Most of the negatives are on glass but some of them are film copies of the glass negatives and lantern slides.
Arrangement note:
Arranged intelectually into five series geographically and by community. Within each series, lantern slides and negatives are arranged by catalog number.
Series 1: Montana: Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke), Pikuni (Piegan), Niitsitapii (Blackfoot/Blackfeet); Series 2: North Dakota: Numakiki (Mandan); Series 3: Alaska and Canada; Series 4: California, Yosemite National Park; Series 5: Miscellaneous and Non-Meyer photographs.
Biographical/Historical note:
Relatively little is known about Fred R. Meyer (1874-1939), but from his photographic record it is clear that he was an amateur photographer who traveled extensively throughout the western United States, particularly in Montana and North Dakota possibly from 1890 to 1915. A handful of his Montana photographs were given to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center by Meyer's friend William P. Sargent. Meyer's notations on the versos of these prints are dated either 1902 or 1904. According to the Historical Center's records, Meyer was a surveyor but other sources indicate that he (also) worked as a butcher. It has also been suggested that he was associated in some way (perhaps as a clerk) with the Indian agencies that served the Apsáalooke, Pikuni, and Numakiki reservations. He apparently also photographed in Pine Ridge in 1907 and collected objects in Wyoming and Montana. On January 19, 1914, he gave a lantern slide lecture at the Rochester Historical Society entitled "Indian Life and Customs in the Great Northwest," and it appears that he was either originally from or eventually settled in Rochester. In addition, in 1913 he may have corresponded with Joseph Keppler. In the letter, he thanks Keppler for a book and a gun and states that he was pleased to give Keppler the medicine teeth, some of which he also planned to give to "Mr. Pepper" (George Pepper?).
Provenance:
Gift of Mrs. Fred R. (Hattie M.) Meyer.
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).
Some photographs are restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
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.
Topic:
Crow Indians -- Montana -- Crow Indian Reservation -- Photographs Search this
Piegan Indians -- Montana -- Great Blackfeet Reservation -- Photographs Search this
Mandan Indians -- North Dakota -- Fort Berthold Indian Reservation -- Photographs Search this
Genre/Form:
Black-and-white negatives
Lantern slides
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Fred R. Meyer photograph collection, image #, NMAI.AC.032; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Indians of North America -- Great Basin Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Negatives (photographic)
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.
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.
National Museum of the American Indian (U.S.) Search this
Extent:
1 Photograph
Container:
Photo-folder 2017.0007
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Photographs
Date:
1905
Scope and Contents:
One Keystone View Company stereograph depicting six Chiefs riding in President Theodore Roosevelt's inauguration parade on March 4, 1905. Individuals depicted include Goyathlay (Geronimo; Chiricahua Apache), Quanah Parker (Comanche), Buckskin Charlie (Ute), Hollow Horn Bear (Brule Sioux), American Horse (Oglala Lakota), and Little Plume (Piegan Blackfeet). The photo was probably shot by B. L. Singley.
Provenance:
The photograph was donated by Ken Maley in 2017.
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); General Photograph collections, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Left to right: Little Plume (Pikuni Blackfeet/Piegan), Buckskin Charley (Ute), Geronimo (Chiricahua Apache), Quanah Parker (Comanche) Hollow Horn Bear (Sicangu Lakota/Brulé Sioux), and American Horse (Oglala Lakota).
Series Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. On-site access to the collection requires an appointment.
Series Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Series Citation:
Photo Lot 59, Library of Congress Copyright Office photographs, Series 2: Edward S. Curtis, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Charles Dudley Arnold was the official photographer for the 1901 Pan-American expsition in Buffalo, NY. Includes portraits and other photographs of individuals and groups, probably mostly made at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 59, Library of Congress Copyright Office photographs of Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
