Archives West Finding Aid

Edward Sheriff Curtis was born February 16, 1868 near Whitewater, Wisconsin to Reverend Asahel "Johnson" Curtis and Ellen Sheriff. Edward had four siblings: Raphael, Edward, Eva and Asahel. By the age of 12, Edward had built his first camera. Around 1887, Edward and his father, Johnson, moved to Port Orchard, Washington Territory. In 1890 Edward bought his first camera and moved his family to Seattle to work as professional photographer with Rasmus Rothi where their studio was located at 713 3rd Avenue. The partnership ended in 1893 and in the same year Edward joined Thomas Guptil in creating Curtis & Guptil photograph and engraving studio. Curtis & Guptil were the preeminent photography studio in Seattle located at 614 2nd Avenue until 1896 when Guptil left the partnership leading Edward to rename the studio Edward S. Curtis, Photographer and Photoengraver. In 1899 Curtis joined the Harriman Expedition to Alaska as the official photographer of the group. Around this same time Curtis became interested in documenting Native American culture and people. In 1911 Curtis created a stage production titled The Picture Musicales including his images paired with music and his commentary. One of Curtis's most famous works is The North American Indian , a 20 volume book with 1,500 photographs. The project was financially supported by J.P. Morgan and allowed Curtis to visually and orally collect stories and histories. Due to financial struggles, Curtis sold the rights to The North American Indian to J.P. Morgan in 1923 in order to complete the last three volumes of the project. Edward Curtis died on October 19, 1952 in Los Angeles, California.