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.
Modern pigment prints of Edward Curtis photographs. All reproductions printed and published by Christopher Cardozo.
No restrictions on access.
Prints are for research use only.
Donor: John Rollwagen, August 12, 2015
Processed by Wesley Nelson, 2016
Edward Curtis caption: A wonderfully scenic spot is this in northeastern Arizona, in the heart of the Navaho country - one of their strongholds, in fact. Cañon de Chelly exhibits evidences of having been occupied by a considerable number of people in former times, as in every niche at every side are seen the cliff-perched ruins of former villages.
Edward Curtis caption: The Navaho-land blanket looms are in evidence everywhere. In the winter months they are set up in the hogans, but during the summer they are erected outdoors under an improvised shelter, or, as in this case, beneath a tree. The simplicity of the loom and its product are here clearly shown, pictured in the early morning light under a large cottonwood.
Edward Curtis caption: It would be difficult to conceive of a more aboriginal than this Mohave girl. Her eyes are those of the fawn of the forest, questioning the strange things of civilization upon which it gazes for the first time. She is such a type as Father Garces may have viewed on his journey through the Mohave country in 1776.
Edward Curtis caption: 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.
Edward Curtis caption: This picture was made in the heart of the Bad Lands of South Dakota. The subject is the sub-chief Red Hawk, a sketch of whose life is given on page 188 of Volume III.
Edward Curtis caption: A biographical sketch of this subject is found on page 189 of Volume III.
Edward Curtis caption: A biographical sketch of this subject is given in Volume IV, page 204.
Edward Curtis caption: A member of the medicine fraternity, wrapped in his sacred bear-skin. A biographical sketch of this subject is given in Volume V, page 178.
Edward Curtis caption: 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.
Edward Curtis caption: Three proud old leaders of their people. A picture of the primal upland prairies with their waving grass and limpid streams. A glimpse of the life and conditions which are on the verge of extinction.
Edward Curtis caption: In the early years of the nineteenth century various explorers noted that the bands dwelling along the upper course of the Columbia, among which the Nespilim were included, wore practically no clothing. Excepting as the cold made some protection necessary. The hair of the women was arranged in two knots at the sides of the face, a method of hairdressing still in vogue among the Salish on Fraser river. Prior to the middle of the century the use of deerskin garments had become common, and gradually other customs such as the style of hairdressing here illustrated, were borrowed from the tribes east of the Rocky mountains.
Edward Curtis caption: In the gray dawn of a foggy morning the hunter crouches in his canoe among the rushes, waiting for the water-fowl to come within range.
Edward Curtis caption: The name of Chief Joseph is better known than that of any other Northwestern Indian. To him popular opinion has given the credit of conducting a remarkable strategic movement from Idaho to northern Montana in the flight of the Nez Perces in 1877. To what extent this is a misconception has been demonstrated in the historical effort to retain what was rightly their own makes an unparalleled story in the annals of the Indian's resistance to the greed of the whites. That they made this final effort is not surprising. Indeed, it is remarkable that so few tribes rose in a last struggle against such dishonored and relentless objection.
Edward Curtis caption: These two masked performers in the winter dance represent huge, mythical birds. Kotsuis (the Nakoaktok equivalent of the Qagyuhl Kaloqutsuis) and Hohhuq are servitors in the house of the man-eating monster Pahpaqalanohsiwi. See page 160. The mandibles of these tremendous wooden masks are controlled by strings.
Edward Curtis caption: A group of girls on the topmost roof of Walpi, looking down into the plaza.
Edward Curtis caption: In this physiognomy we read the dominant traits of Hopi character. The eyes speak of wariness, if not downright distrust. The mouth shows great possibilities of unyielding stubbornness. Yet somewhere in this face lurks an expression of masked warmheartedness and humanity.
Not part of the North American Indian project. This person is also identified as Strong Enemy from other sources.