MS 2028 Notebook containing North American Indian and other vocabularies collected by A.S. Gatschet and others, and miscellaneous notes and bibliographic references
Creator:
Gatschet, Albert S. (Albert Samuel), 1832-1907 Search this
The material is in the handwriting of A.S. Gatschet, in a composition book. In the same volume are numerous miscellaneous notes, many in German script; brief bibliographic notes, and notes of an apparently personal nature. There are also extracts from the Codex Wangianus, from Charles Lyell, and from others. In addition, there is a Chinese vocabulary in Chinese characters, on pages 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, and one sheet pasted in book.
Partial contents: Carib terms (obtained from Maria Antonia, a native of Rio Frio, Costa Rica (or Chulpan, native name), 6 pages. Guatuso words, 3 pages. (same source.) Apache words and sentences, page 112. Santa Ana vocabulary (additional page.) Hopi vocabulary, page 113. Jemez vocabulary, page 113. Tehua (Tewa) page 114. Isleta vocabulary, page 114. Yohuns (Yojuane) vocabulary, page 115. Notes to vocabularies, page 115. Dakota language (words, etc.) page 122-129. Apache language (words, etc.) page 130. Dakota (Santee), page 131. Hidatsa, page 132. List of American languages, pages 133-138. Nevome grammatical notes, page 148. (Kasua) vocabulary, pages 151-152. Tobikhars (Gabrieleno) vocabulary, page 153. Island of LaCruz page 154 (from California Farmer- 1836). Few Poosepatuck words, page 154. Received by A.S. Gatschet, September 6, 1875. Chibcha vocabulary pages 155-170. Arawak language of Guiana in its linguistic and ethnological relations. By D.G. Brinton (1871) - Extracts from, pages 188-190. Chabas, les Papyrus---de Berlin, 1863- vocabulary in hieroglyphic symbols, pages 194-5. Hidatsa vocabulary, pages 206-208.
Page 114- Brief discussion of location of "Tehua" (Tanoan) pueblos. Gatschet, A.S. Pages 151-52 in notebook- "Kasua" vocabulary. June, 1875. Loew, Oscar. Page 153- Brief vocabulary of the "Tobokhars, extinct tribe at the San Gabriel Mission, collected from an old sick chief, [by] Oscar Lowe, June, 1875...(Fernando Quinto, who recollects Fremont's Exped..." This is not the same as the main "Tobikhar" vocabulary from Lowe in Bureau of American Ethnology Manuscript 774. Page 113- Note on "Moqui" (Hopi) language, with brief vocabulary. Gatschet, A.S. 1 slip bound between pages 112-113 in notebook- Eleven words and phrases of the Santa Ana or Silla language. Gatschet, A.S. Pages 122-129-Dakota vocabularies. 1890's? Autograph document. Gatschet, A.S.
Contents: Carib terms (obtained from Maria Antonia (or Chulpan, native name), 6 pages. Guatuso words, 3 pages (same source) Apache words and sentences, page 112. Santa Ana vocabulary (additional page) Hopi vocabulary page 113. Jemez vocabulary page 113. Tehua (Tewa) page 114. Isleta vocabulary page 114. Yohuns (Yojuane) vocabulary page 115. Notes to vocabularies, page 115. Dakota language (words, etc.) pages 122-129. Apache language (words, etc.) page 130. Dakota (Santee) page 131. Hidatsa page 132. List of American Languages, pages 133-138. Nevome grammatical notes page 148. Kasua vocabulary pages 151-152. Tobikhars (Gabrieleno) vocabulary page 153. Island of LaCruz page 154 8from California Farmer - 1836). Few Poosepatuck words, page 154. Received from A. S. Gatschet September 6, 1875. Chibcha vocabulary pages 155-170. Arawak language of Guiana in its linguistic and ethnological relations By D. G. Brinton (1871) - Extracts from pages 188-190 Chabas, les Papyrus --- de Berlin, 1863- vocabulary in hieroglyphic symbols, page 194-5. Hidatsa vocabulary pages 206-208.
Contents: Tanoan. Gatschet, A. S. Brief discussion of location of "Tehua" (Tanoan) pueblos. 1/3 page, page 114. Barbareno Chumash. Loew, Oscar. "Kasua" vocabulary. June, 1875. Pages 151-52 in notebook. Gabrielino. Loew, Oscar. Brief vocabulary of "Tobikhars, extinct tribe at the San Gabriel Mission, collected from an old sick chief, [by] Oscar Loew, June, 1875...(Fernando Quinto. who recollects Fremont's Exped..." Page 153 in notebook. This is not the same as the main "Tobikhar" vocabulary from Loew in Bureau of American Ethnology Manuscript 774. Hopi. Gatschet, A. S. Note on "Moqui" (Hopi) language, with brief vocabulary. Page 113 (1/4 page) in notebook. Page 113 on Microfilm Negative Reel 11 (Hopi manuscript reel). Sia. Gatschet, A. S. Eleven words and phrases of the Santa Ana or Silla language. 1 slip, bound between pages 112-113 in notebook. Dakota Gatschet, A. S. Dakota vocabularies. [1890s ?] Autograph document. 7 pages.
Photographs documenting Native American Public Programs events, including images of Native American artists and examples of their work during demonstrations and lectures at the National Museum of Natural History. Photographs were mostly made by Smithsonian photographers, including Carl C. Hansen, Richard Strauss, Chip Clark, Laurie Minor-Penland, Eric Long, Alan Hart, Rick Vargas, Dane Penland, and Christina Taccone. Included are a large number of photographs of Don Tenoso (Hunkpapa), an artist-in-residence at the National Museum of Natural History, and performances by James Luna (Luiseno/Digueno), Guillermo Gomez-Pena (Chicano), and Coco Fusco. Crafts and arts depicted include beadwork, basket weaving, dollmaking, peyote fanmaking, weaving, hand games, quilting, clothing making, leatherwork, woodcarving, saddlemaking, sculpture, painting, story-telling, and performance art. There are also images of Dolores Lewis Garcia and Emma Lewis Garcia (daughters of Acoma potter Lucy M. Lewis) and their pottery, Joallyn Archambault with artists, and the 1990 American Indian Theater Company reception.
Other depicted artists include Maynard White Owl Lavadour (Cayuse/Nez Perce), Evangeline Talshaftewa (Hopi), Lisa Fritzler (Crow), Marian Hanssen, Vanessa Morgan (Kiowa/Pima), Marty Good Bear (Mandan/Hidatsa), Katie Henio and Sarah Adeky (Navajo), Geneva Lofton and Lee Dixon (Luiseno), Chris Devers (Luiseno), Mary Good Bear (Mandan), Robert and Alice Little Man (Kiowa), Lisa Watt (Seneca), Jay McGirt (Creek), Bill Crouse (Seneca), Kevin Johnny-John (Onondaga), Rose Anderson (Pomo), Francys Sherman and Margaret Hill (Mono), Thelene Albert and Annie Bourke (White Mountain Apache), Bob Tenequer (Laguna), Jimmy Abeyeta (Navajo), Lou Ann Reed (Acoma), Melissa Peterson (Makah), Jennifer and Kallie Keams Musial (Navajo), Joyce Growing Thunder-Fogarty and Juanita Fogarty (Assiniboine/Sioux), David Neel (Kwakiutal), Mervin Ringlero (Pima), Jhon Goes-In-Center (Oglala), D. Montour (Delaware/Mohawk), Rikki Francisco (Pima), Annie Antone (Papago), Angie Reano-Owen (Santo Domingo Pueblo), Carol Vigil (Jemez), Gregg Baurland (Miniconjou), Greg Colfax (Makah), Lydia Whirlwind-Soldier (Sicangu Dakota), Martin Red Bear (Oglala), Michael Rogers (Paiute), Alta Rogers (Yurok/Paiute), Dorothy Stanley (Miwok), Lisa Little Chief (Dakota), Tom Haukaas (Sicangu Dakota), Nora Navanjo-Morsie (Santa Clara Tewa), Seneca Women's Singing Society, Molly Blankenship and Martha Ross (Eastern Cherokee), Julia Parker (Miwok/Pomo), Candy and Claudia Cellicion (Zuni), Sally and Lorraine Black (Navajo), Carmen Quinto-Plunkett (Tlingit), Ina McNeil (Hunkpapa), and Ellen and Faye Quandelancy (Zuni), and Rikki Francisco (Pima).
Biographical/Historical note:
Native American Public Programs was founded in 1989 as a part of the Department of Education in the National Museum of Natural History. Under the directorship of Aleta Ringlero, its main activity was the arranging of demonstrations by Native American artists and craftsmen in the exhibition areas of the museum.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 91-26
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Audio of James Luna's lecture for the Native American Public Programs office held in National Anthropological Archives in MS 7514.
Dolls made by Don Tenoso for the Native American Public Programs office held in Department of Anthropology collections in accession 390905.
Additional photographs of Tenoso held in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in SIA2009-2222 and 90-13726.
Photo Lot 91-26, Native American Public Programs photograph collection relating to Native American artists and art, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
Beginning with the first Festival in 1967, Native American presentations demonstrated the vitality of craft traditions, culinary arts, song and dance, and folklore. The 1974 Native American program marked the fifth year in a series of regional programs, to culminate in the Bicentennial Festival in 1976 with a comprehensive national program. More than 90 participants joined the Festival, primarily from the Western States of California, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Colorado; special programs on sports and games brought tribal members from elsewhere in the country.
Among the tribes participating in the 1974 Festival were (from California) the Tolowa, Pomo, Hoopa, Yurok, Karok, Luiseno, Maidu, Cahuilla, as well as (from the Basin and Plateau States) Paiute, Shoshone, Kaibab, Northern Ute, Ute Mountain, Southern Ute, and Nez Perce. Sports and games were presented by Creek, Cherokee, Eskimo, Acoma, Athabaskan, Jemez, and Laguna participants. Pomo basket makers, Karok netmakers, Yurok canoe carvers, a Tolowa reed boat weaver, and cooks from Yurok, Hoopa, Karok and Cahuilla tribes of California demonstrated crafts and foodways.
Performances took place in a California plank house and a Basin/Plateau tipi, with workshops and discussions in a Learning Center, and sports and games in a dedicated area. The Learning Center was a multimedia venue designed as an introduction to contemporary Indian communities and their traditional backgrounds. Such topics as the Indian Family, Native Community, and Contributions to America were discussed by participants, while Festival visitors could attend language classes, learn Indian songs, and view photographs of contemporary and historic Native Americans.
Carole Parker served as program coordinator, assisted by Thomas Kavanagh; the California program was coordinated by Joy Sundberg (Yurok); the Basin/Plateau program, by Jim Jefferson (Southern Ute); and the sports and games, by Matt Waconda and Ethan Bigpond. The multi-year program was shaped by the Native Americans Advisory Group, including Louis Bruce, Clydia Nahwooksy, Dell Hymes, William Sturtevant, Samuel Stanley, Herman Viola, Carnes Burson, and Robert Byington. Major sponsors for the 1974 program included the Public Information Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of the Army, the Coalition of Eastern Native Americans and the Louisiana Pacific Redwood Corporation.
The following year (1975) saw the last regional Native American program, with the Bicentennial Festival providing a national overview, including some participants who returned from previous years.
Participants:
California
Tolowa
Sheryl Bommelyn, dancer
Loren Bommelyn, dancer
Kara Brundin, dancer
Brenda Green, dancer
John Green, dancer, singer
Carl James, dancer
Samuel Lopez, 1886-1977, singer
Billy Richards, dancer
Mark Richards, dancer
Marvin Richards, dancer, singer
Nicole Richards, dancer, cook
Don Stunrick, dancer
Pomo
Elsie Allen, 1899-1990, basket maker
Dewey Barnes, 1932-2006, fishtrap maker
Rose Barnes, 1929-, dancer
Elvina Brown, dancer
James Brown II, dancer
James Brown III, dancer
Kenneth Fred, 1929-, singer, dancer
Bernadine Hopper, 1918-1999, dancer
Nelson Hopper, Pomo, shell jeweler, Finley, California
Hoopa
Eleanor Abbott, basket maker
Warren Abbott, dancer
Anthony Risling, 1912-2004, fishnet maker
Yurok
George Blake, bow maker, Eureka, California
Ella Johnson, basket maker
Sam Jones, 1913-1996, salmon cook
Walter Lara, Yurok, canoe carver, Eureka, California
Ella Norris, 1892-1982, Wiyot-Yurok, salmon cook, Crescent City, California
Josephine Peters, 1923-2011, jeweler
Pamela Peters, dancer
Mark Sundberg, dancer
Lisa Sundberg, cook, dancer
Tom Williams, canoe carver
Karok
Francis Davis, Sr., 1929-, fishnet maker
Luiseno
Villiana Hyde, 1903-1994, discussant
Maidu
Gladys Mankins, 1912-1985, bead worker, dancer
Seymore Smith, 1891-, singer
Cahuilla
Katherine Saubel, cook
Basin/Plateau
Paiute
Marie Brown, bead worker, cook
Stannard Frank, 1923-1989, discussant
Lily George, 1911-1977, Paiute, tule boat maker, Ely, Nevada
Gordon Joe, 1955-, Acoma, track runner, Paraje, New Mexico
Athabaskan
Fred Titus, sports
Jemez
Steven Gachupin, 1942-, Jemez, track coach, Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico
Laguna
Emmet Hunt, 1948-, Laguna-Acoma, cross country coach, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Bruce Allen Romero, 1959-, track, Paguate, New Mexico
Meldon R. Sanchez, 1959-, runner, San Fidel, New Mexico
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1974 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
At each annual Festival, Native Americans brought their traditional cultures to the National Mall. The 1972 Indian presentation focused on tribes from the southwestern region of the United States. Visitors could see various examples of the lifestyles and crafts of Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache tribes from Arizona and New Mexico, and meet some seventy-five members of these tribes. "Museum Guide" signs invited comparison of the Festival's view with the exhibits of American Indian artifacts and lifestyles in the National Museum of Natural History.
As in previous years, participants were carefully selected through a continuing fieldwork program. Important criteria in their selection were a knowledge of their tribe and their skills in a particular artistic area. The fieldwork that went into the Indian participation at the Festival sought out people who could best represent the Iiving aspects of Indian culture. A potter was invited to the Festival because there was stiII a demand for Pueblo-made pottery, for instance, not because pottery was something Indians used to do in the past. There were dancers on the Mall, not because that was the visible and best-known image of Indians, but because the dancers and songs continued to play a vital part in Indian life today.
Clydia Nahwooksy served as Indian Awareness Program Director and Tom Kavanagh as Program Assistant. The program was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and Americans for Indian Opportunity.
Participants:
Joselita Ray, 1901-, Acoma, potter, Acomita, New Mexico
Edwin Declay, Apache, dancer, White River, Arizona
Lonnie Ethlbah, Apache, dancer, White River, Arizona
Matthew Ethlbah, Apache, dancer, White River, Arizona
Paul Ethlbah, Apache, singer, White River, Arizona
Carol Gatewood, 1955-, Apache, discussant, McNary, Arizona
Daisy Johnson, 1904-1983, Apache, basket maker, White River, Arizona
Eva Paxson, Apache, bead worker
Edgar Perry, Apache, discussant, Fort Apache, Arizona
Colin Tessay, Apache, dancer, White River, Arizona
Bernard Dawahoya, 1936-2010, Hopi, silversmith, Second Mesa, Arizona
Edwin Kaye, Hopi, katchina doll carver, San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico
Alice Sekaquaptewa, Hopi, piki bread maker
Abbott Sekaquaptewa, Hopi, discussant
Evangeline Talaftewa, Hopi, basket maker
Wilson Williams, Hopi, weaver
Elenore Abeita, Isleta, bread baker, Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico
Carlotta Juancho, Isleta, bread baker, Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico
Juana Marie Pecos, 1922-, Jemez, embroidery worker, Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico
Ann Dailey, Laguna, dancer, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Elizabeth Fox, Laguna, dancer, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Chris Luther, Laguna, dancer, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Donald Montoya, Laguna, discussant, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Gerald Pedro, Laguna, dancer, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Patricia Pino, Laguna, dancer, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
David Ruben, Laguna, singer, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico
Ada Bluehouse, Navajo, weaver, Window Rock, Arizona
Jordon Hattie, 1951-, Zuni, singer, Zuni, New Mexico
Kathline Hattie, 1953-, Zuni, dancer, Zuni, New Mexico
Randolph Lalio, 1952-, Zuni, dancer, Zuni, New Mexico
Robert Tsabetsaye, 1920-1980, Zuni, silversmith, Zuni, New Mexico
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1972 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
This album contains 85 photographic prints taken by Frank Churchill between December 1903 and 1906, with the bulk being taken in 1903 and 1904. The album was later compiled and captioned by Clara Churchill. Some of the photographs were also later hand colored by Clara Churchill. The majority of the photographs were taken among the A:shiwi (Zuni), Hopi, Navajo (Dine), and Pueblo peoples of New Mexico during Frank Churchill's assignment as U.S. Indian Inspector to visit Indian day schools and boarding schools in Arizona and New Mexico. See album P23360 for additional photographs taken at the same locations during this time.
Zuni photographs were taken in December 1903 and May 1906 include—Frank Cushing house; Mrs. Churchill sketching; School Superintendent D.D. Graham's office; Graham selling/buying beads and surrounded by children; bead maker "Zuni Dick" (Tsinahe/Tsanahe) making beads; new Zuni school (built in 1905); women carrying water; Navajo visitors for the Shaliko dance; various views of the pueblo including ovens, houses, waffle gardens, church ruins and sheep corrals. Additional views of Zuni include Toyalone Mountain in the background. Photographs in Arizona and among the Navajo include—Hubbells ranch in Ganado; Charles Watchman and his wife in Fort Defiance; Keams Canyon Indian School on Christmas Day (1903). Photographs in Hopi were taken in Oraibi, Walpi, and other villages. Oraibi photographs include—Hopi man spinning cotton; Basket weavers; children putting on their shoes; woman with children. Additional Hopi photographs include—Woman carrying a bundle of clay for pottery; views of children and houses in Walpi; a young woman with "butterfly whorl" hairdressing.
Photographs in Isleta Pueblo include—Chili peppers drying; women with pottery; old mission church; Isleta Indian School children; Miss Turner (teacher) with boy pupils; Mary Maruja (Isleta Pueblo); Mary Chiwiwii (Isleta Pueblo), a pottery maker; and Pueblo game "Tash-a-le-way." Additional Pueblo photographs include—views in Acoma, Chemita and Jemez Pueblos; Pedro Cajete and his daughter in K'apovi (Santa Clara); and corn grinding in Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan).
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:
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 Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Frank C. and Clara G. Churchill collection, NMAI.AC.058, National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This scrapbook includes articles, newspaper clippings, letters and photographs from various events and marches Grace participated in regarding the fight for returning surplus lands to Native peoples. These events and materials include--Fishing Rights March (1970) in Yelm, Washington with the McCloud family; Fort Lawton "Surplus" March (1970) in Seattle, Washington; Pit River versus P.G..E. (1970) in Big Bend, California; DQU, Deganawidah Quetzalcoatl University founding (1971) in Davis, California; and documentation as National Commitee Director for the "Return Surplus Lands to Indian People".
Separated Materials:
The cover and back of the scrapbook binder are in Box 12 since they are oversized.
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 users to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, 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.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Grace F. Thorpe Collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This lot consists of three photographs. One photograph depicts a Hopi Chief by photographer Norman Rhodes Garrett, Prescott, Arizona, circa 1950. The second photo is a negative depicting a Jemez Buffalo Dancer Felix Frague photographed by Ralph Anderson in New Mexico on August 15, 1940. The third photograph is of an unidentified man.
Provenance:
Gift of Neal McKinley, 2014.
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.
The Edward S. Curtis photogravure plates and proofs for The North American Indian include photogravure printing plates and associated proofs made from Curtis photographs and used in the publication of The North American Indian volumes 1-9 and 12-19. The bulk of the images are portraits, though there are also images of everyday items, ceremonial artifacts, and camps.
Scope and Contents:
The collection comprises 183 photogravure plates (101 folio and 82 octavo) and 96 associated proofs used in the printing of The North American Indian volumes 1-9 and 12-19. The original photographs used to make the photogravures were made circa 1903-1926 and the photogravure plates were made in 1907-1930. The bulk are portraits, though there are also images of everyday items, ceremonial artifacts, and camps. About half of the proofs in the collection are originals used for Curtis's publication, though the collection also includes proofs made in the process of later publication by the Classic Gravure Company (circa 1980). Vintage proofs include handwritten notes, likely made by Curtis Studio employees in Seattle and Los Angeles. Many of the photogravure plates do not have matching proofs; in particular, there are no proofs for the octavo plates.
Arrangement:
The plates and proofs are arranged by the volume of The North American Indian in which they were published. They are described in this finding aid by the caption and plate number with which they were published.
Biographical / Historical:
Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) was an American photographer best known for his monumental and now-controversial project, the twenty-volume publication The North American Indian. Here he sought to document in words and pictures the "vanishing race" of American Indians.
Born in Wisconsin in 1868, Edward Curtis grew up on his family's farm in Le Sueur County, Minnesota, from 1874 to 1887. In 1887, he and his father Johnson Curtis settled on a plot near what is now Port Orchard, Washington, and the rest of the family joined them the following year. When Johnson Curtis died within a month of the family's arrival, the burden of providing for his mother and siblings fell to 20-year-old Edward, and Edward set out to do so through his photography. In 1891, Curtis moved to the booming city of Seattle and bought into a joint photo studio with Rasmus Rothi. Less than a year later, he formed "Curtis and Guptill, Photographers and Photoengravers" with Thomas Guptill; the enterprise quickly became a premier portrait studio for Seattle's elite. In 1895, Curtis made his first "Indian photograph" depicting Princess Angeline, daughter of the chief for whom Seattle had been named. The following year he earned his first medal from the National Photographic Convention for his "genre studies."
In 1899, Edward Curtis joined the Harriman Alaska Expedition as official photographer, a position which allowed him to learn from anthropologists C. Hart Merriam and George Bird Grinnell while documenting the landscapes and peoples of the Alaskan coast. This expedition and the resulting friendship with Grinnell helped to foster Curtis's ultimate goal to "form a comprehensive and permanent record of all the important tribes of the United States and Alaska that still retain to a considerable degree their primitive customs and traditions" (General Introduction, The North American Indian). Curtis made several trips to reservations from 1900 to 1904, including a trip with Grinnell to Montana in 1900 and multiple trips to the Southwest, including the Hopi Reservation. He also hired Adolph Muhr, former assistant to Omaha photographer Frank A. Rinehart, to manage the Curtis studio in his absence, a decision which would prove more and more fruitful as Curtis spent less and less time in Seattle.
In 1906, Curtis struck a deal with financier J. P. Morgan, whereby Morgan would support a company – The North American Indian, Inc. – with $15,000 for five years, by which time the project was expected to have ended. Systematic fieldwork for the publication began in earnest that summer season, with Curtis accompanied by a team of ethnological researchers and American Indian assistants. Arguably the most important member of Curtis' field team was William Myers, a former newspaperman who collected much of the ethnological data and completed most of the writing for the project. The first volume, covering Navajo and Apache peoples, was published at the end of 1907, but already Morgan's funding was incapable of meeting Curtis's needs. Despite heaping praise from society's elite, Curtis spent much of his time struggling to find people and institutions willing to subscribe to the expensive set of volumes. After the initial five years, only eight of the proposed twenty volumes had been completed. Fieldwork and publication continued with the support of J. P. Morgan, but Curtis's home life suffered because of his prolonged absences.
In 1919, Curtis's wife Clara was awarded a divorce settlement which included the entire Curtis studio in Seattle. Exhausted and bankrupt, Edward Curtis moved with his daughter Beth Magnuson to Los Angeles, where they operated a new Curtis Studio and continued work on the volumes; volume 12 was published
in 1922. The constant financial strain forced Myers to leave the North American Indian team after volume 18 (fieldwork in 1926) and Curtis made his last trip to photograph and gather data for volume 20 in 1927. After the final volumes were published in 1930, Curtis almost completely faded from public notice until his work was "rediscovered" and popularized in the 1970s.
Curtis's "salvage ethnology," as scholar Mick Gidley describes it, was mildly controversial even during his life and has become ever more so as his legacy deepens. In his quest to photograph pre-colonial Indian life through a twentieth-century lens, he often manipulated and constructed history as much as he recorded it: he staged reenactments, added props, and removed evidence of twentieth-century influences on "primitive" life. Curtis's work continues to shape popular conceptions of American Indians and so, while problematic, his legacy--his vision of American Indian life--continues to be relevant.
Related Materials:
NMAI also holds Edward Curtis photographs documenting the Harriman Expedition (1899) as well as platinum prints and photogravures of the images published in The North American Indian.
The Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives holds Edward Curtis prints submitted for copyright (Photo Lot 59) as well as many of his original negatives, photographs, and papers.
Steve Kern donated photogravure plates to the Center for Creative Photography and the Seattle Art Museum at the same time that he donated this set to MAI.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Steven and Arlene Kern to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, in 1984.
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 broadcast 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.
Topic:
Indians of North America -- Pictorial works Search this
Genre/Form:
Photogravures
Photographs
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Edward S. Curtis photogravure plates and proofs for The North American Indian, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with funding from the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 319, Folder 8
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1988
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:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
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:
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.
Collection 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.
This series includes one folio plate (and associated proof) and three octavo plates depicting pottery from Laguna Pueblo, the remains of a church at Gyuwisa, a Jemez Pueblo governor, and a Kewa (Santo Domingo Pueblo) man. The proof was made by the North American Indian, Inc.
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:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast 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.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Edward S. Curtis photogravure plates and proofs for The North American Indian, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
This collection was processed with funding from the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
