Edward Curtis' portraits documented Native American culture in the early 1900s — as reservations and assimilation threatened to destroy it forever.
In 1954, an act of Congress ended federal recognition of the Klamath tribes, which meant that they lost their reservation and the accompanying human services. Their rights as a federally recognized tribe were not restored until 1986.
A Klamath woman. 1923.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
The Crow Bull Chief. 1908.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A young Jicarilla girl. 1904.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
By 1878, a U.S. Army Lieutenant named Richard Henry Pratt had set up boarding schools dedicated to re-educating Native American tribes. School rules forbade students from speaking their native languages, and mandated that they had their hair cut, wear Western attire, and that they practice Christianity.
A Crow man named Lies Sideway. 1908.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
However, during the Gold Rush, the government revoked that treaty and in 1877 forced the Cheyenne onto an Oklahoma reservation. Some Cheyenne people resisted, and escaped to Montana. In 1884, the federal government established a reservation for them there as well.
A Cheyenne woman. 1910.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
The Navajo who survived the journey were forced to live in internment camps. In 1868, a treaty between the U.S. government and the Navajo leadership established a reservation on their ancestral lands, and the once-displaced people were allowed to return to their homes.
A Navajo man. 1904.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Navajo man. 1904.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
Tribes perform the ritual at the Summer Solstice, and it includes dancing, singing, and sometimes self-mutilation. For this reason, and in an effort to suppress Indian culture and religion, the practice was banned in the U.S. and Canada. It wasn't until Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978 that Plains Indians could openly practice the Sun Dance.
Cheyenne men preparing for the Sun Dance. 1910.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Skokomish woman named Hleastunuh. 1913.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Zuni man named Si Wa Wata Wa. 1903.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Navajo chief. 1904.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
An Arikara girl. 1908.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
In 1877, the Nez Percé split into two groups: Those willing to relocate to a reservation and those who refused. Led by Chief Joseph, nearly 3,000 Nez Percé tried to flee to Canada in June 1877, but the U.S. Army pursued and forced them to surrender in October. Today, their reservation is located in central Idaho.
A Nez Percé man named Three Eagles. 1910.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Wishham woman. 1910.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Cayuse man. 1910.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
The Kittitas man Luqaiot in 1910.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Clayoquot woman paddling her canoe. 1910.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Sarsi man named Aki-tanni, meaning Two Guns, in 1927.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
The Apsaroke man Lone Tree in 1908.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Nakoaktok woman. 1914.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
In 1974, the remaining Kutenai tribe declared war on the United States. Though the tribe remained peaceful, the display earned the attention of the government, which gave the tribe 12.5 acres of land that now constitutes the Kootenai Reservation.
A Kutenai woman with her canoe. 1910.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
An Atsina man. 1908.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
An Oglala woman with her child. 1905.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
A Tewa man named Pose-a yew, meaning Dew Moving, in 1905.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
An Acoma man. 1904.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
Two Teton girls, the daughters of a chief, on horseback. 1907.Edward Curtis/Library of Congress
Edward Curtis spent much of his professional life taking pictures of Native Americans. His incredible photographs came at a great personal cost — but he fervently believed in the importance of his work.
When it came to documenting Native American culture, Curtis understood he was in a race against time. And he was determined to capture every photo he could before it was too late.
Who Was Edward Curtis?
Wikimedia CommonsAn Edward Curtis self-portrait. Circa 1889-1899.
Born in 1868 in Wisconsin, Edward Curtis' interest in Native Americans likely took off when his family relocated to the Pacific Northwest in 1887. By that point, Curtis had already shown an early aptitude for photography. Before moving with his family to Port Orchard, Washington, he had served as an apprentice photographer in St. Paul, Minnesota.
After the move to Washington, Curtis got married — and bought a share in a photography studio in Seattle. At first, Curtis spent most of his time taking pictures of society ladies. But he was far more interested in photographing Princess Angeline, the oldest daughter of Chief Sealth of the Duwamish tribe. (Seattle is named for her father.)
"I paid the princess a dollar for each picture I made," Curtis recalled. "This seemed to please her greatly, and she indicated that she preferred to spend her time having pictures taken to digging clams."
In 1898, Curtis' photograph of Native Americans on the Puget Sound won a gold medal and the grand prize at an exhibition put on by the National Photographic Society. That same year, while photographing Mt. Rainier, Curtis ran into a group of lost scientists. They included George Bird Grinnell, an expert on Native American cultures, who was interested in Curtis' work.
Edward Curtis/Wikimedia CommonsPrincess Angeline in 1896.
The existence of Edward Curtis' pictures — that is, his iconic collection of Native American portraits — is arguably due to this chance meeting. Their quick friendship led to Curtis being appointed as the official photographer for the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899, where he'd photograph Eskimo settlements. The following year, Curtis was asked to visit the Piegan Blackfeet people in Montana — a life-changing experience.
"It was at the start of my concerted effort to learn about the Plains Indians and to photograph their lives," Curtis later wrote. "I was intensely affected."
Curtis would go on to take more than 40,000 photos of Native Americans.
Inside Edward Curtis' Mission To Take Native American Pictures
Edward Curtis/Library of CongressIn later prints of this photo, Curtis and his assistants removed the clock. They sought to erase traces of modernity in Native American pictures.
This trip marked the beginning of Curtis' most ambitious project: a nearly comprehensive record of the Indigenous peoples of America and their disappearing way of life.
In 1906, he approached banker and financier J.P. Morgan and asked him to back his project. While Morgan initially turned him down, Curtis was able to persuade him by showing him the stunning photos he had already taken. Morgan agreed to sponsor Curtis by paying out $75,000 over the course of five years in exchange for 25 sets of volumes and 500 original prints.
But just when Curtis started producing volumes of The North American Indian, Morgan died suddenly in 1913. And although J.P. Morgan Jr. contributed to Curtis' work, he didn't offer nearly as much money.
Curtis' work took about 30 years to complete — and it wreaked havoc on his mental health along the way. It also ruined his marriage. His wife filed for divorce in 1916 and won his Seattle photography studio in the process.
But Curtis pressed on. He hoped to photograph every Indigenous tribe in North America — a nearly impossible task, especially in the early 20th century.
His project ultimately yielded 40,000 pictures of nearly 100 tribes. He reproduced around 2,200 of them for his 20-volume set, The North American Indian, which was published between 1907 and 1930.
Almost immediately after the first volume was published, it was considered a masterpiece and elicited rave reviews. The New York Herald crowed that The North American Indian was "the most gigantic undertaking since the making of the King James edition of the Bible."
The Legacy Of Edward Curtis' Photos Today
Curtis had a reputation for romanticizing Native American culture. He photographed his subjects in ceremonial wear that was not regularly worn and used wigs to hide modern haircuts.
To Curtis, this was an important strategy. In the introduction of his first volume of work, Curtis wrote: "The information that is to be gathered... respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost."
In other words, Curtis felt he was in a race against time. He had to photograph Native Americans and their traditions while they still existed — and insisted on doing so even when "time" had the upper hand. He also recorded more than 10,000 examples of songs, music, and speech in more than 80 tribes, most of which were in their native languages.
However, Curtis' attempt to capture the past has attracted criticism today. Joe D. Horse Capture — the associate curator at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. — suggested that Curtis had a "romanticized idea" of Native Americans.
"It was unsmiling and sepia-toned," Capture said in an interview with The New York Times. "What he was trying to portray didn't exist anymore, so he recreated it."
Indeed, Curtis often went to great lengths to preserve the traditional look of his Native American portraits. Sometimes, he and his assistants even retouched the images to take out traces of modernity. Notably, they removed the image of a clock in Curtis' photograph "In a Piegan Lodge."
This complicated legacy was recently examined at a 2018 exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). SAM described the exhibit — titled Double Exposure — as "150 images by a historic photographer, alongside immersive experiences from three contemporary artists. Across a spectrum of media rooted in lens-based processes, all four artists contribute to a complex and ever-expanding portrait of Native America."
Double Exposure, SAM went on, "offers an opportunity to explore Indigenous identities from multiple, sometimes conflicting, viewpoints."
Despite the controversy around Edward Curtis' photos, they certainly capture something beautiful. Curtis' pictures of Native Americans present a vision of land, people, and tradition that is rarely seen today.
After looking at these Edward Curtis photos, see what Native Americans actually look like today in these incredible portraits from Project 562. Then, see turn-of-the-century Native American photography in vivid color.
