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Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868–1952)
Atsina Camp
Courtesy of the Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Library of Congress

 

 

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Library of Congress
Washington DC
United States

Curtis’ The North American Indian
19071930

The production of The North American Indian—from taking the photographs and interviewing Indian tribes to the final production of 20 massive volumes of photogravures—took 30 years. The photographer, Edward S. Curtis (18691952), travelled across America over 100 times documenting Indian tribes from all regions in his research for this timely, but now largely unknown encyclopaedia. He saw the need to document the lives and culture of the Indian people on a hitherto unrealised scale.

Curtis ran a successful photographic studio in Seattle, which aided in funding the publications (which outstripped Curtis’ funds). In 1906 J. Pierpont Morgan, the New York financier and philanthropist, was persuaded to underwrite The North American Indian. His son, also J. Pierpont Morgan, continued to support it. In total the Morgans committed $400,000 to the project, but even this funding was not enough to offset the huge costs of the publication. Curtis was heavily committed to raising other funding for the publication from a variety of sources over the life of the project.  

Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868–1952)
Geronimo Apache
Courtesy of the Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Library of Congress
Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868–1952)
A Nakoaktok Chief's Daughter
Courtesy of the Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Library of Congress


The North American Indian
project probably commenced in 1903 or 1904. Curtis’ greatest achievement was in documenting the mythology and religion of the Indian people, which had largely been undocumented. As well as photographing and writing down their songs and stories, he also recorded them on Edison wax cylinders and was the first person to record them on film.  

Alhough people criticised Curtis for his careful crafting of images of the Indian people, he was ahead of his time in documenting their life. The scale of his project and the beauty of his creation are testament to his vision and commitment.