Library archives throughout North America are filled with amazing photograph collections that offer us a glimpse into the past unlike any other medium. One such collection is the Edward Sheriff Curtis Collection at the Library of Congress.
Curtis was a professional photographer who captured an unprecedented amount of photographs of North American indigenous cultures in the early 1900s. Curtis grew fascinated with Native American tribes and traveled across the United States and Canada taking tens of thousands of photographs. Funded by wealthy business magnate J.P. Morgan, Curtis was able to visit every corner of the continent and took the photographs for a 20-volume book project called The North American Indian.
Over a 30 year period, Curtis not only took photographs but also wrote and recorded native language and oral history, much like an anthropologist would.
Curtis said of his work, “The passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other…Consequently the information that is to be gathered, for the benefit of future generations, respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost for all time.”
Man of the Crow tribe on horseback, in 1908.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Hupa spear fisherman watches for salmon, in 1923.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
An Apsaroke shaman, in 1908.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
A mother and child of the Crow tribe, in 1908.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
A Kutenai duck hunter, in 1910.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Group of men of the Navajo tribe in the Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, in 1904.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Medicine Crow, of the Apsaroke tribe, in 1908.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Two Piegan girls gather the goldenrod plant, in 1910.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Piegan chiefs, in 1900.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Sioux chiefs, in 1905.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
A Hidatsa man with an eagle, in 1908.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Hollow Horn Bear, a Brulé man, in 1907.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
A girl of the Jicarrilla Apache people, in 1910.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
A girl of the Wishran tribe, in 1910.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Dancers of the Qagyuhl tribe, in 1914.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
Kwakiutl people in canoes in British Columbia, in 1914.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
A Kwakiutwl wedding party arrives on shore in canoes, in 1914.
Curtis Collection / Library of Congress
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