By Anne Hillerman
For the Journal
Edward S. Curtis' monumental work, "The North American Indian," the largest anthropological enterprise ever undertaken in the United States, became an important and controversial documentation of Native American life.
Called "the most gigantic undertaking since the making of the King James Bible" by the New York Herald in 1911, the 20 volumes of text and a parallel set of 20 portfolios featured photographs and ethnographic information about members of 80 Native nations from Oklahoma to Alaska. Curtis worked on the project, which he originally estimated might take five years, from 1907 until 1930.
In "Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian Project in the Field," editor Mick Gidley takes the reader with Curtis and his associates on their adventures. Curtis took nearly all of the thousands of photographs reproduced as photogravures in the books.
Many of his photos were widely exhibited in museums and galleries, published in magazines and newspapers and sold separately as art in their own right. His images defined "Indian" for decades.
Curtis himself organized much of the fieldwork, employing helpers of all sorts, collecting masses of folklore, even creating cylinder recordings of music and film footage. Curtis also contributed written text to the project, especially in the early and later years of the project. He was constantly on the lookout for publicity opportunities and funding.
This new book sheds light on Curtis' methods and opinions and on the prevailing belief in the nation at the time concerning the "vanishing race" of Native Americans. It features a variety of stories, letters and observations from Curtis himself and his associates who worked on the project that offer interesting insights into the project and its times. Gidley is a professor of American literature at the University of Leeds, one of the largest universities in the United Kingdom.
The book begins with a thoughtful, well-written 30 page introduction to Curtis, his work and the state of Native Americans at the time of the project. After that, Gidley presents a wide array of reminiscences, reports, field notes, letters and eyewitness accounts by newspaper and magazine reporters during the time. Some of the entries refer to specific Indian and photo shoots and, as I read, I wished I had the photos under discussion in front of me. The book includes not only Curtis' own recollections but those of the project's chief assistants and memories of members of the photographer's family who sometimes went along with him. The information, like "The North American Indian" itself, is organized according to regions of the United States. The final chapter, "Generally Speaking," includes some of Curtis' lecture notes.
The book also has an extensive list of sources and a good index. It features a slim sleeve of photos, many of them of Curtis and his assistants. New Mexico readers will be interested to see two photographs of San Ildefonso Pueblo, one of what Curtis calls a "Tablita Dance, 1905," and a portrait of an unnamed man in ceremonial garb called "The Offering."
The chapter of tribes of the Southwest has a separate section "Among the Pueblos," which includes an excerpt from an article Curtis wrote for Scribners magazine about the Pueblo people. The essay reads like a travelogue. In it he writes, "You, who say there is nothing old in our country, turn your eyes for one year from Europe and go to the land of an ancient primitive civilization. The trails are rarely traveled, and you will go again."
The information in this well-researched little volume sheds light on the views of Curtis and his contemporaries concerning their work and the Native peoples they worked with. Some of the selections give the reader a good idea of the adventures and challenges the men faced. The book would be more accessible to readers, however, if it had been better designed. The typeface is small and uninviting and the editor's introductions to each except, often extensive, are presented in a difficult to read italic script.
north 
...go to bookmarks
E-mail Story
Print Friendly
