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Edward S. Curtis was a professional photographer in Seattle who devoted his life to documenting what was perceived to be a vanishing race. These photogravures taken Edward S. Curtis were originally published in volumes of The North American Indian and displayed at the Memphis Brooks Museum in 2006. These primary historical documents are presented as part of the record of the past and reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times and of the photographer.
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Publication Arikara medicine ceremony - Dance of the black-tail deer(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1908) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "The two dark figures are painted in a manner suggesting the elk, the others the antelope." source Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Spokan camp(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1910) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "The scene is the narrow bench some hundreds of feet above the level of Spokane river, on its northern bank and a few miles above its confluence with the Columbia." source Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Lower Columbia(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1910) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "The Columbia near its mouth spreads in a broad estuary between shores now low and flat and again bold and wooded. The conflict between winds, tides, and current sometimes raises seas that threaten even power-driven craft, and the natives who formerly swarmed in this region were necessarily clever canoemen." Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication On Klickitat River (a)(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1910) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "Klickitat river flows through what was the territory of the Klickitat, a bold, roving, gypsy-like group of Shahaptian bands. See Volume VII, page 37. The picture, which shows one of a succession of beautiful scenes near the mouth of this stream, accompanies Volume VII for the reason that the land at its junction with the Columbia was formerly Chinookan territory, and in fact it was never altogether given up to the Klickitat." source Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Columbia near Wind River(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1910) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "The Chinookan tribes of the Columbia obtained their canoes for the greater part from the coast tribes of Washington. The woman in the picture is the daughter of the former Cascade chief Tamahl, quoted in Volume VII, pages 26-28." source Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Assiniboin camp(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1908) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Publication Arikara medicine ceremony - Dance of the fraternity(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1908) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "After each order has performed its dance about the sacred cedar, the entire fraternity, group by group, emerges from the lodge and dances." source The Library of Congres, American Memory websitePublication Middle Columbia(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1910) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "This picture was made a few miles above the Cascades of the Columbia." source Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Sunset in Navaho-land(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1904) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Indian people seen in silhoutte against a setting sun.Publication On Spokane River(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1910) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "Spokane river, from a short distance below its head in Coeur d?Alene lake to its confluence with the Columbia, flows through the midst of what was the territory of the Spokan Indians. The character of the country through which the stream passes for some miles above its mouth is well shown in the picture. Northward from the stream lie the mountains among which the three Spokan tribes hunted deer and gathered their supplies of roots." source: Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Village of the Kalispel(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1911) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "The Kalispel, who now number about a hundred, are scattered along the eastern side of the Pend d'Oreille river in eastern Washington. In the summer they assemble in their picturesque village, consisting of a few wooden houses and a dozen or more canvas-covered tipis, at the edge of a camas meadow opposite the town of Cusick." source: Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Waiting in the forest - Cheyenne(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1910) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "At dusk in the neighborhood of the large encampments young men, closely wrapped in non-comittal blankets or white cotton sheets, may be seen gliding about the tipis or standing motionless in the shadow of the trees, each one alert for the opportunity to steal a meeting with his sweetheart." source: Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Little Sioux - Arikara(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1908) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Little Sioux is shown in profile with the lower half of the image faded.Publication Yellow Owl - Mandan(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1908) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "A face approaching the type of pure Mandan. The neck ornament consists of beads and cylindrical bones, and from the eagle-feather war-bonnet hang numerous weasel-tails." source Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication War-party's farewell - Atsina(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1908) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952A war party looks down on a village of tipisPublication Mountain fastness - Apsaroke(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1905) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "The Apsaroke lived much among the mountains, and nowhere do they seem more at home than on the streams and in the cañons of their forested ranges." source Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Two Leggings - Apsaroke(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1908) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "A biographical sketch of this warrior will be found in Volume IV, page 207." Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Medicine-man(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1907) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "Invocation and supplication enter so much into the life of the Indian that this picture of the grim old warrior invoking the Mysteries is most characteristic. The subject of the illustration is Slow Bull, whose biography is given in Volume III, page 189" source Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Winter camp - Sioux(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1908) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "With the coming of winter the plains tribes pitched their camps in forested valleys, where they not only were protected from the fierce winds of the plains, but had an ample supply of fuel at hand." Library of Congress, American Memory websitePublication Piegan encampment(Memphis, Tenn. : Archives and Special Collections, Rhodes College, 1909) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952Description by Edward S. Curtis: "The picture not only presents a characteristic view of an Indian camp on an uneventful day, but also emphasizes the grand picturesqueness of the Piegan, living as they do almost under the shadow of the towering Rocky mountains." Library of Congress, American Memory website