Edward S. Curtis

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Curtis was born on a farm in Cold Spring Township north of Whitewater, Wisconsin. He left school in the sixth grade and soon built his own camera. In 1885, at 17, he became an apprentice photographer in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1887 the family moved to Seattle, Washington, where he purchased a new camera and became a partner with Rasmus Rothi in a photographic studio. After about six months he left Rothi and formed a new partnership with Thomas Guptill, establishing Curtis and Guptill, Photographers and Photoengravers. In 1895, Curtis met and photographed Princess Angeline, also known as Kickisomlo, the daughter of Chief Seattle—his first portrait of a Native American. In 1898, three of his images were chosen for an exhibition sponsored by the National Photographic Society; one, "Homeward", won the exhibition's grand prize and a gold medal. That same year, while photographing Mount Rainier, he met George Bird Grinnell, who invited him to photograph the Blackfoot Confederacy in Montana in 1900. In 1906, after seeking an introduction through Belle de Costa Greene, J. P. Morgan provided Curtis with $75,000 to produce a series on Native Americans in 20 volumes with 1,500 photographs. Curtis hired William E. Myers, Bill Phillips, Alexander B. Upshaw, and editor Frederick Webb Hodge. He made over 10,000 wax cylinder recordings of Native American language and music and took over 40,000 photographs of members of over 80 tribes. In 1914 he released the feature film *In the Land of the Head Hunters*, the first feature-length film whose cast was composed entirely of Indigenous North Americans. The film was praised by critics but made only $3,269.18 in its initial run. Curtis later sold the rights to the film to the American Museum of Natural History for $1,500. In 1928, desperate for cash, he sold the rights to his project to J. P. Morgan Jr. The concluding volume of *The North American Indian* was published in 1930. In 1935, the Morgan estate sold the rights and remaining unpublished material to the Charles E. Lauriat Company for $1,000.00 plus a percentage of future royalties. The material remained untouched in the Lauriat basement until rediscovered in 1972.

Reader's Guide

Edward S. Curtis's significance lies in his vast, systematic documentation of Native American cultures at a time when many traditional ways of life were disappearing. His work, *The North American Indian*, comprises 20 volumes with 1,500 photographs, along with over 10,000 wax cylinder recordings of language and music. He took over 40,000 photographs of members of over 80 tribes, recording tribal lore, history, traditional foods, housing, garments, recreation, ceremonies, and funeral customs, and wrote biographical sketches of tribal leaders. Though criticized by the ethnographic community for lack of authenticity in his film *In the Land of the Head Hunters*—the Kwakwakaʼwakw cast was dressed up by the director and the plot enriched with exaggerated elements—his archive remains an irreplaceable record. Curtis's work was exhibited at the Rencontres d'Arles festival in France in 1973. His project, though financially ruinous for him, endures as a vast visual and auditory chronicle of Indigenous North American life.

Did You Know?

• Curtis left school in the sixth grade and soon built his own camera.
• In 1898, his photograph 'Homeward' won the grand prize and a gold medal at a National Photographic Society exhibition.
• J. P. Morgan provided Curtis with $75,000 in 1906 to produce the 20-volume series *The North American Indian*.
• Curtis made over 10,000 wax cylinder recordings of Native American language and music.
• His film *In the Land of the Head Hunters* (1914) was the first feature-length film whose cast was composed entirely of Indigenous North Americans.

Gallery