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.
This series 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.
Copy negatives include N21545, N37515, N37516, N37517, N37518, N41416. Photographic prints include P13105, P13108-P13117, P13119, P13121-P13128, P13130-P13163, P13174-P13176, P13178-P13193
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Captain Allyn Capron photograph collection, image #, NMAI.AC.152; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
