Lee Moorhouse photographs, circa 1897-1919

Overview of the Collection

Photographer
Moorhouse, Lee
Title
Lee Moorhouse photographs
Dates
circa 1897-1919 (inclusive)
Quantity
1 cubic foot, (574 photographs and 6 film negatives in 2 boxes)
Collection Number
Org. Lot 104
Summary
Photographs taken by Maj. Lee Moorhouse circa 1897- 1919 of Cayuse, Umatilla, and other Indians and their settlements in the Columbia River Basin and Umatilla County; landscapes in Oregon and Montana; and of the Round-Up in Pendleton, Or. and other locations.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Thomas Leeander Moorhouse (1850-1926), known as Major Lee Moorhouse, was an amateur photographer from Pendleton, Or. In 1878, he served as field secretary for Oregon governor Stephen F. Chadwick during the Bannock-Paiute War and the following year was appointed to the Third (Eastern Ore.) Brigade of the Oregon State Militia, where he earned the rank of Major. The owner of a mercantile business in Pendleton, Moorhouse & Livermore (later Lee Moorhouse and Co.), Lee Moorhouse also served one term as mayor of the city in 1885. From 1889 to 1891, he was employed as the agent to the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Lee Moorhouse began taking photographs circa 1897-1898. During a period when many amateur photographers were experimenting with new innovations in film negatives and snapshot photography, Moorhouse used glass plate negatives to capture his subjects. He took over 9,000 images, photographing the activities of his hometown of Pendleton, Or. and, especially, Native American life in the Columbia River basin and Umatilla County.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Lee Moorhouse photographs consist of photographic prints, photographic postcards, and one cyanotype taken by Maj. Lee Moorhouse circa 1897-1919. Many of the photographs are portraits of Native Americans of the Columbia and Umatilla River basins in Oregon, taken by Moorhouse circa 1900-1912 and including members of the Cayuse, Nez Percé, Umatilla, and Walla Walla tribes. These photographs also include views of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and other unidentified Native American settlements in Oregon. There are also some photographs of members of the Yakima tribe, and these images may have been taken by photographer Thomas H. Rutter, who photographed the Yakima until his death in 1906; Moorhouse collected many of Rutter’s negatives and sold them as his own. Several other photographs in this collection also depict landscape views of the areas in which Lee Moorhouse lived and worked with the Native Americans, such as Columbia River basin, including Celilo Falls; the Umatilla River in Oregon; and the Little Bighorn River valley in Montana. These landscape views were all taken circa 1897-1905.

The collection also contains photographs of the Pendleton Round-Up, a rodeo in Pendleton, Or., taken by Moorhouse circa 1909-1919. Subjects include various rodeo events such as bronc riding, bull riding, steer roping, and photographs of the Cowgirl’s Bucking Contest, which was discontinued after 1929, as well as Round-Up parades and participants, including African-American, Native American, and women performers. Additionally, there are two photographs by Moorhouse of other Round-Ups in Crooked River, Or. and Toppenish, Wa.

This collection also contains film negatives not taken by Moorhouse.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library prior to any use of reproductions. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use of reproductions may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright holders.

Preferred Citation

Lee Moorhouse Photographs, Org. Lot 104, Oregon Historical Society Research Library

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in the following series and subseries:

  • Series 1: Native Americans, circa 1900-1912
    • Subseries A: Portraits, circa 1900-1912
    • Subseries B: Settlements, circa 1904-1905
  • Series 2: Landscape views, circa 1897-1905
  • Series 3: Round-Up photographs, 1901-1919
    • Subseries A: Pendleton Round-Up, 1901-1919
    • Subseries B: Other Round-Ups, undated

Acquisition Information

Accession nos. 00D025 and 00U025.

Processing Note

This collection was reprocessed in March 2006 to include photographs from this accession that had been cataloged individually in the Wang card files.

Bibliography

Grafe, Steven L. Peoples of the Plateau: The Indian Photographs of Lee Moorhouse, 1898-1915. Norman, Ok.: University of Oklahoma Press (2005).

Related Materials

Photographs taken by Lee Moorhouse can also be found in the Daniel E. Warren photograph collection, Org. Lot 391, and the Self-Indexing Photo Files at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

The Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Library holds 7,000 of Lee Moorhouse's original glass plate negatives. 300 additional negatives by Moorhouse are located at the National Anthropological Archives at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute, and about 1,400 of his photographs were also acquired by the Umatilla County Library in 1958.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Series 1:  Native Americans, circa 1900-1912Return to Top

This series contains photographic portraits, including one cyanotype, of various members of the Cayuse, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Walla Walla tribes and photographs of their settlements on the Umatilla Reservation and Columbia Rivers in Oregon, among other places, taken by Lee Moorhouse.

The series is arranged into two subseries: (A) Portraits and (B) Settlements.
Container(s) Description Dates
Subseries A: Portraits
Some of the photographs of Yakima men and women in this subseries may have been taken by photographer Thomas H. Rutter before 1906 and sold by Moorhouse as his own. Arranged alphabetically, where identified, into four groups: Children; Men; Women; and Groups (men, women, and/or children depicted together).
circa 1900-1912
Box/Folder
1/1
Children, J - L
1/2
Children, unidentified
1/3
Men, A - T
1/4-5
Men, unidentified
1/6
Women, E - Si
1/7
Women, So - Y
1/8-10
Women, unidentified
1/11
Groups, unidentified
Subseries B: Settlements,
This subseries contains photographs taken by Lee Moorhouse of various Native American settlements in the Columbia River basin and Umatilla County, including the Umatilla Indian Reservation, circa 1904-1905.
circa 1904-1905
Box/Folder
1/12
Umatilla Reservation
1904-1905
1/13-14
Umatilla Reservation
undated
1/15
Wishram Indian village near Celilo Falls
undated
1/16
Unidentified settlements
undated

Series 2:  Landscape views, circa 1897-1905Return to Top

This series contains taken by Lee Moorhouse of the Columbia River, including Celilo Falls, and Umatilla River in Oregon; the Little Bighorn River valley in Montana; and other unidentified photographs of landscapes, probably in northeastern Oregon, circa 1897-1905.

Container(s) Description Dates
Box/Folder
1/17
Columbia River, Or., general views
circa 1897-1905
1/18
Columbia River, Or., Celilo Falls
circa 1897-1905
1/19
Umatilla River, Or.
circa 1897-1905
1/20
Little Bighorn River valley, Mont.
circa 1897-1905
1/21
Unidentified views
circa 1897-1905

Series 3:  Round-Up photographs, 1901-1919Return to Top

This series mostly contains photographic postcards taken by Lee Moorhouse of the Pendleton Round-Up in Pendleton, Or., 1901-1919, including views of various rodeo events and African-American, Native American, and women participants. There are also two photographs of Round-Ups in Crooked River, Or. and Toppenish, Wa. Many of the photographs are duplicates or copy images made from original prints in the collection; there are also six film negatives made from photographs in this collection. Arranged into two subseries: (A) Pendleton Round-Up, 1901-1919 and (B) Other Round-Ups.

Container(s) Description Dates
Subseries A: Pendleton Round-Up
1901-1919
Box/Folder
2/1
Bronc riding
1901-1911
2/2
Bronc riding
1912, 1913, and 1915
2/3
Bronc riding
1916
2/4-6
Bronc riding
undated
2/7
Bronc saddling
1913, 1916, and undated
2/8
Buffalo riding
undated
2/9
Bull riding
1916 and undated
2/10
Horse races
1912 and undated
2/11
Steer roping
1911, 1916 and undated
2/12
Steer wrestling (bulldogging)
undated
2/13
Trick and fancy roping
undated
2/14
African-American participants
1912, 1916, and undated
2/15
Native American participants
undated
2/16
Women participants
1914, 1916, and undated
2/17
Other participants
1911-1919 and undated
2/18
Parades
1912 and undated
2/19
Other Round-Up photographs
1916 and undated
2/20
Duplicate photographic postcards
Subseries B: Other Round-Ups
Box/Folder
2/21
Crooked River, Or. Round-Up
undated
2/22
Toppenish, Wa. Round-Up
undated

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • African American rodeo performers--Photographs
  • Cayuse Indians--Photographs
  • Indian reservations--Oregon--Photographs
  • Indians of North America--Oregon--Photographs
  • Indians of North America--Washington (State)--Photographs
  • Nez Percé Indians--Photographs
  • Rodeo performers--United States--Photographs
  • Rodeos--Oregon--Photographs
  • Rodeos--Washington--Photographs
  • Umatilla Indians--Photographs
  • Walla Walla Indians--Photographs
  • Women in rodeos--Photographs
  • Yakama Indians--Photographs

Corporate Names

  • Pendleton Round-Up--Photographs

Geographical Names

  • Little Bighorn River (Wyo. and Mont.)--Photographs
  • Lower Columbia River Valley (Or. and Wash.)--Photographs
  • Pendleton (Or.)--Photographs
  • Umatilla Indian Reservation (Or.)--Photographs
  • Umatilla River Watershed (Or.)--Photographs

Form or Genre Terms

  • Cyanotypes
  • Photographic postcards
  • Photographic prints
  • Safety film negatives

Other Creators

  • Personal Names
    • Rutter, Thomas H. (photographer)