Lee Moorhouse photographs, circa 1897-1919

Overview of the Collection

Photographer
Moorhouse, Lee, 1850-1926
Title
Lee Moorhouse photographs
Dates
circa 1897-1919 (inclusive)
Quantity
1 cubic feet, (2 document cases)
Collection Number
Org. Lot 104
Summary
Photographs taken by Major Lee Moorhouse between approximately 1897 and 1919, depicting Cayuse, Umatilla, and other Native peoples and their settlements in the Columbia River Basin and Umatilla County; landscapes in Oregon and Montana; the Pendleton Round-Up in Pendleton, Oregon, and rodeos in 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

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Thomas Leeander Moorhouse (1850-1926), known as Major Lee Moorhouse, was an amateur photographer from Pendleton, Oregon. In 1878, he served as field secretary for Oregon Governor Stephen F. Chadwick during the Bannock-Paiute War, and the following year, he was appointed to the Third (Eastern Oregon) Brigade of the Oregon State Militia, in which he earned the rank of major. Moorhouse also owned a mercantile business in Pendleton, Moorhouse & Livermore (later Lee Moorhouse and Co.), and 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.

Moorhouse began taking photographs around 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 more than 9,000 images, photographing the activities of his hometown of Pendleton and, especially, Native American life in the Columbia River basin and Umatilla County.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

This collection consists of 574 photographs, including photographic prints, photographic postcards, and one cyanotype, taken by Major Lee Moorhouse between approximately 1897 and 1919. Many of the photographs are of Native people of the Columbia and Umatilla River basins in Oregon, taken 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 settlements in Oregon. There are also some photographs of members of the Yakama tribe, and these images may have been taken by photographer Thomas H. Rutter, who photographed the Yakama until his death in 1906; Moorhouse collected many of Rutter's negatives and sold them as his own. Other photographs in this collection depict landscape views of the areas in which Lee Moorhouse lived and worked with Native people, such as the 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 from approximately 1897-1905.

The collection also contains photographs of the Pendleton Round-Up, a rodeo in Pendleton, Oregon, that were taken by Moorhouse between approximately 1909 and 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 Black, Native, and women performers. Additionally, there are two photographs by Moorhouse of other Round-Ups in Crooked River, Oregon, and Toppenish, Washington.

The collection also includes safety film negatives not taken by Moorhouse.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Preferred Citation

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

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series:

  • Series 1: Native Americans, circa 1900-1912
    • Subseries 1.1: Portraits, circa 1900-1912
    • Subseries 1.2: Settlements, circa 1904-1905
  • Series 2: Landscape views, circa 1897-1905
  • Series 3: Round-Up photographs, 1901-1919
    • Subseries 3.1: Pendleton Round-Up, 1901-1919
    • Subseries 3.2: Other Round-Ups, undated

Acquisition Information

Photo Acc. 00D025 and Photo Acc. 00U025

Processing Note

This collection was reprocessed in March 2006 to include photographs from this accession that had previously been separated and cataloged individually. Minor revisions were made to the collection guide in June 2024 to conform to current standard.

Related Materials

Photographs taken by Lee Moorhouse can also be found in the Daniel E. Warren photographs collection, Org. Lot 391, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

The the University of Oregon Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives holds 7,000 of Lee Moorhouse's original glass plate negatives. Three hundred 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 acquired by the Umatilla County Library in 1958.

Bibliography

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

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

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 River in Oregon, among other places, taken by Lee Moorhouse.

The series is arranged into two subseries: 1.1, Portraits, and 1.2, Settlements.
Container(s) Description Dates
Subseries 1.1: Portraits
Arranged alphabetically, where identified, into four groups: Children; Men; Women; and Groups (men, women, and/or children depicted together). Some of the photographs of Yakama men and women in this subseries may have been taken by photographer Thomas H. Rutter before 1906 and sold by Moorhouse as his own.
circa 1900-1912
Box Folder
1 1
Children, J-L
circa 1900-1912
1 2
Children, unidentified
circa 1900-1912
1 3
Men, A-T
circa 1900-1912
1 4-5
Men, unidentified
circa 1900-1912
1 6
Women, E-Si
circa 1900-1912
1 7
Women, So-Y
circa 1900-1912
1 8-10
Women, unidentified
circa 1900-1912
1 11
Groups, unidentified
circa 1900-1912
Subseries 1.2: Settlements
This subseries contains photographs taken by Lee Moorhouse of various Native 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 photographs taken by Lee Moorhouse of the Columbia River, including Celilo Falls, and of Umatilla River in Oregon; the Little Bighorn River valley in Montana; and unidentified landscapes, probably in northeastern Oregon, circa 1897-1905.

Container(s) Description Dates
Box Folder
1 17
Columbia River, Oregon, general views
circa 1897-1905
1 18
Columbia River, Oregon, Celilo Falls
circa 1897-1905
1 19
Umatilla River, Oregon
circa 1897-1905
1 20
Little Bighorn River valley, Montana
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, Oregon, from 1901-1919, including views of various rodeo events and Black, Native, and women participants. There are also two photographs of Round-Ups in Crooked River, Oregon, and Toppenish, Washington. 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: 3.1, Pendleton Round-Up, and 3.2, Other Round-Ups.

Container(s) Description Dates
Subseries 1.1: Pendleton Round-Up
1901-1919
Box Folder
2 1
Bronc riding
1901-1911
2 2
Bronc riding
1912; 1913; 1915
2 3
Bronc riding
1916
2 4-6
Bronc riding
undated
2 7
Bronc saddling
1913; 1916; undated
2 8
Buffalo riding
undated
2 9
Bull riding
1916; undated
2 10
Horse races
1912; undated
2 11
Steer roping
1911; 1916; undated
2 12
Steer wrestling (bulldogging)
undated
2 13
Trick and fancy roping
undated
2 14
Black participants
1912; 1916; undated
2 15
Native participants
undated
2 16
Women participants
1914; 1916; undated
2 17
Other participants
1911-1919; undated
2 18
Parades
1912; undated
2 19
Other Round-Up photographs
1916; undated
2 20
Duplicate photographic postcards
1910-1912; 1916; undated
Subseries 3: Other Round-Ups
undated
Box Folder
2 21
Crooked River, Oregon, Round-Up
undated
2 22
Toppenish, Washington 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--Pendleton--Photographs
  • Umatilla Indians--Photographs
  • Walla Walla Indians--Photographs
  • Women in rodeos--Oregon--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 prints)
  • photographic postcards
  • photographic prints

Other Creators

  • Personal Names
    • Rutter, Thomas H., 1837-1925 (photographer)