Edward S. Curtis stands as a towering figure in the annals of American photography, renowned for his monumental efforts to document the Indigenous peoples of North America. His life’s work, a comprehensive photographic and ethnographic record, is an invaluable artistic and historical treasure that continues to captivate and inform. Born near Whitewater, Wisconsin, on February 16, 1868, to Reverend Johnson Asahel Curtis and Ellen Sheriff Curtis, young Edward S. Curtis quickly developed a passion for photography that would define his extraordinary career.
Early Life and the Genesis of a Vision
The Curtis family relocated to Minnesota around 1874, where Edward’s formal education concluded early, in the sixth grade. Undeterred, he demonstrated an innate mechanical aptitude by building his own camera at a young age. By 1880, while residing in Cordova Township, Minnesota, his father worked as a retail grocer. At the tender age of 17, Edward embarked on his photographic journey, becoming an apprentice in St. Paul, Minnesota. This early exposure to the craft laid the groundwork for his future endeavors.
In 1887, the family made another significant move, this time to Seattle, Washington. Here, Edward made a crucial investment, purchasing a new camera and contributing $150 to an existing photographic studio, becoming a 50% partner with Rasmus Rothi. This initial partnership was fleeting, however, lasting only six months before Curtis established a new venture with Thomas Guptill, forming ‘Curtis and Guptill, Photographers and Photo Engravers.’
1892 marked another personal milestone for Edward with his marriage to Clara J. Phillips, with whom he would eventually have four children. In the vibrant, burgeoning frontier city of Seattle, his photography business began to flourish. A pivotal moment in his artistic development occurred in 1895 when he met and photographed Duwamish Princess Angeline, known to her tribe as Kickisomlo, the esteemed daughter of Chief Sealth of Seattle. This portrait marked his first depiction of a Native American subject and foreshadowed the direction of his life’s work. Beyond the confines of his studio, Curtis found inspiration in Mount Rainier, various cityscapes, and increasingly, the local Native American communities. He also exhibited a keen eye for current events, notably documenting the arduous experiences of prospectors during the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush.
The Call to Document: From Mountain Peaks to Tribal Cultures
A serendipitous encounter in 1898 while photographing Mt. Rainier proved to be a turning point for Curtis. He met a group of scientists, including George Bird Grinnell, a renowned expert on Native American cultures. This meeting led to an invitation for both Grinnell and Curtis to join the famous Harriman Alaska Expedition in 1899, where Curtis served as the official photographer. Following this, Grinnell extended another invitation, this time for Curtis to join an expedition to photograph the Blackfeet Indians in Montana in 1900.
During this profound expedition, Curtis was privileged to witness the sacred Sun Dance ceremonies, rituals where participants endured physical hardship “for strength and visions.” This immersive experience, coupled with Grinnell’s invaluable guidance, ignited in Curtis a powerful determination to create a comprehensive written and photographic record of the most significant Indian peoples residing west of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He articulated his goal, stating that these cultures still retained “to a considerable degree their primitive customs and traditions.” Initially, Curtis shared the prevailing view of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, believing that Native Americans needed to assimilate. However, prolonged exposure to their traditions and the realities of government policy fostered a fierce resentment in him towards the treatment of Indigenous communities.
The Monumental Project: The North American Indian
A Patronage from J.P. Morgan
The year 1906 heralded the beginning of Edward S. Curtis’s most ambitious undertaking. J.P. Morgan, the influential financier, offered Curtis a staggering $75,000 to produce a monumental series titled The North American Indian. The project was meticulously planned to encompass 20 volumes, each intended to contain 1,500 photographs. Morgan, in exchange for his patronage, was to receive 25 complete sets of the series and 500 original prints.
Over the course of this ambitious project, Curtis captured more than 40,000 photographs of over 80 distinct tribes. When finally completed, 222 sets were published. These volumes were far more than mere collections of photographs; they were exhaustive documentations of Native American traditional life, replete with biographical sketches, intricate tribal lore and history, and detailed descriptions of traditional foods, housing, garments, recreational activities, ceremonies, and funeral customs. In many instances, Curtis’s meticulous documentation serves as the only recorded history of these traditions. His urgent mission was to preserve a way of life he believed was rapidly disappearing. As he eloquently wrote in the introduction to his first volume in 1907, “The information that is to be gathered… respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost.”
Beyond still photography, Curtis also made over 10,000 wax cylinder recordings of Indian languages and music, which were issued in limited editions between 1907 and 1930. These recordings provide an invaluable auditory dimension to his visual legacy, further enriching the historical record.
Personal Hardships and Financial Struggles
Despite his professional dedication, Curtis’s personal life was fraught with challenges. In October 1916, his wife, Clara, filed for divorce. Three years later, the divorce was granted, and as part of the settlement, Clara was awarded Curtis’s photographic studio and all his original camera negatives. In a drastic act of defiance, Curtis, accompanied by his daughter Beth, entered the studio and destroyed all his original glass negatives rather than see them become his ex-wife’s property. Despite this, Clara and her sister continued to manage the studio.
Around 1922, Curtis moved to Los Angeles, California, with his daughter Beth, where he attempted to open a new photo studio. Success, however, was not immediate. He also took on work as an assistant cameraman for the famed Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille, even serving as an uncredited assistant for the 1923 filming of The Ten Commandments.
Financial woes continued to plague him. On October 16, 1924, Curtis sold the rights to his ethnographic motion picture In the Land of the Head-Hunters to the American Museum of Natural History for $1,500. This was a significant loss, as the production of the film had cost him over $20,000. Further legal troubles arose in 1927 when he was arrested for failing to pay alimony for seven years, totaling $4,500, though the charges were eventually dropped. Desperate for cash, Edward S. Curtis sold the rights to his monumental project to J.P. Morgan’s son in 1928. The final volume of The North American Indian was published in 1930, marking the culmination of decades of relentless effort.
Later Years, Rediscovery, and Enduring Legacy
In 1935, the Morgan estate sold the rights and any remaining unpublished materials of the series to the Charles E. Lauriat Company in Boston for a mere $1,000, plus a percentage of future royalties. This sale included 19 complete bound sets of The North American Indian, thousands of individual paper prints, the copper printing plates, unbound printed pages, and the original glass-plate negatives. Lauriat bound the remaining loose pages and sold them alongside the completed sets. Remarkably, much of the remaining material lay untouched in the Lauriat basement in Boston until its serendipitous rediscovery in 1972.
The completion of The North American Indian, following years of incessant travel and compounded by legal and financial burdens, took a severe toll on Curtis’s health. He maintained some interest in the remnant of his Los Angeles studio, which his daughter Beth had long managed. He also ventured into mining, farmed a small holding in Whittier, and dedicated time to writing, though little of his memoir material was ever published. In his twilight years, he witnessed his life’s work seemingly fade into obscurity.
Edward S. Curtis passed away on October 19, 1952, at the age of 84, succumbing to a heart attack in Whittier, California, at his daughter Beth’s home. He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California. His obituary in The New York Times acknowledged him as “an internationally known authority on the history of the North American Indian,” noting his patronage by J. Pierpont Morgan and President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreword to his monumental books. The obituary concluded, “Mr. Curtis was also widely known as a photographer.”
While The North American Indian never achieved widespread popularity during his lifetime, largely due to its expensive production and lengthy publication period, modern history has profoundly re-evaluated and appreciated the project’s immense value. Exhibitions dedicated to his work have been mounted globally, numerous anthologies of his compelling photographs have been published, and The North American Indian is now frequently cited in scholarly research, cementing its place as a cornerstone of ethnographic study. A complete reprint edition of his entire work has also ensured its accessibility to new generations.
Today, Edward S. Curtis is celebrated not only as a master photographer but also as a dedicated ethnographer whose tireless efforts preserved a vital record of Indigenous cultures that were rapidly undergoing transformation. His images, often imbued with a profound sense of dignity and reverence, continue to inspire, educate, and provoke thought, reminding us of the rich tapestry of human history and the importance of cultural preservation. His legacy is one of artistic brilliance intertwined with an unwavering commitment to documenting the human spirit.
