PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Who was Edward S. Curtis?

In 1900, Edward S. Curtis set out to document the history, spirituality, and culture of all intact Native American tribes west of the Mississippi. Curtis understood the urgency of his endeavor and wrote:

"The passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other; consequently, the information that is to be gathered, for the benefit of future generations, respecting one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost for all time."

What he did not realize, was the enormous amount of time, effort, and personal sacrifice the project would extract from him before it was completed. In the end, Curtis’ magnum opus, The North American Indian, comprised twenty volumes and twenty portfolios including more than 2,200 photogravures and over 4,600 pages of written text. The North American Indian required over thirty years of work (a typical working day lasting fifteen hours) and cost approximately $37,000,000 in today’s dollars. Despite the support of President Theodore Roosevelt and the substantial financial assistance of J.P. Morgan, Curtis constantly struggled to secure the financial resources to continue his work. By the time the last of the twenty volume set was published in 1930, Curtis had lost his financial security, his family, and his health in his single-minded devotion to completing his study.

The resulting body of work is a monument in the history of photography, publishing and ethnography. In addition to The North American Indian, Curtis wrote three other, produced a movie, lectured widely and made 10,000 Edison wax cylinder recordings of native songs, languages, and tribal histories. His accomplishments provide an invaluable source of information on more than eighty tribal groups.

Edward S. Curtis was largely forgotten by the time he finished the project and his work lapsed into such obscurity that by the time he died in 1952, his obituary in the New York Times made only passing reference to the fact he had been a photographer. Only recently has his work received the acclaim warranted by his remarkable achievement.

Edward Curtis Timeline

1868
Edward S.Curtis is born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and grows up in rural Cordova, Minnesota. As a boy, Curtis borrows a manual, which instructs him how to make his own camera out of household items. He used a lens his father brought home from the Civil War. His Father is Johnson Asahel Curtis, a preacher and mother is Ellen Sheriff. Siblings: Raphael Curtis (1862-1912); Eva Curtis (1870-?); Asahel Curtis (1875-1941)

1885
At the age of seventeen Edward spent time as an apprentice photographer in St. Paul, Minnesota.

1887
His father's worsening health mandated that the family move to a more temperate climate, and they chose the booming Pacific Northwest. Edward buys his first camera.
After Edward and his father settle in Washington territory, his mother, brother and sister join them. Three says after their arrival, Johnson dies.

1892
Curtis buys into, and later owns a photographic studio in Seattle, and develops a reputation for portraits and landscapes.
Marries Clara Phillips. They have four children. Harold Curtis (1893-?); Elizabeth M. Curtis (1896-1973); Florence Curtis (1899-?) who married Henry Graybill; and Katherine Curtis a.k.a. Billy (1909-?)

1895
Curtis meets and photographs Princess Angeline (a.k.a. Kickisomlo), the daughter of Chief Sealth (Seattle), for whom Seattle was named

1898
On Mount Rainier, Curtis rescues three lost scientists, including noted anthropologist George Bird Grinnell, Clinton Hart Merriam and Gifford Pinchot.

1899
Based on his acquaintance with C. Hart Merriam, Curtis is appointed official photographer for the Harriman Alaska Expedition.

1900
Curtis accompanies George Bird Grinnell to the Piegan Reservation in northwest Montana to photograph the Sun Dance ceremony.

1901
Formally begins what would become his life’s work, photographing and publishing The North American Indian, a project which entailed documenting the culture all of the remaining Native American tribes west of the Mississippi river

1904
President Theodore Roosevelt invites Curtis to photograph his children after seeing Curtis' winning photograph in "The Prettiest Children in American" contest published in Ladies' Home Journal.

1905
Holds his first photographic exhibit in New York, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Louisa Satterlee, daughter-in-law of financier J. P. Morgan, purchases Curtis photographs at an exhibit in New York City.

1906
Curtis secures funds from J. P. Morgan, and with support from President Theodore Roosevelt, for the fieldwork to produce a twenty volume illustrated text of American Indians, to be completed in five years.

1907
First volume of The North American Indian is published, with a foreword by Theodore Roosevelt.

1911
Curtis breaks his hip and suffers life-long limp while filming a Kwakiutl whale hunt on the Northwest Coast. Curtis is slapped by whale’s tail as he directs canoe paddlers to move closer for a better shot of the whale. The canoe and camera sink as Kwakiutl whalers rescue Curtis.

1911
After 5 years, only 8 of the planned twenty volumes are completed.

1912-1914
To raise money for the Project, Curtis spends 75,000 making a full-length film about Kwakiutl culture. Titled, “In The Land of the Headhunters”, the film is released in 1914 and is a commercial failure.

1913
J.P. Morgan dies, but his son decides to continue funding The North American Indian until finished.

1915
With 10 volumes of The North American Indian published, U.S. enters World War I. Interest in the project subsides, delaying publication of additional volumes for the next six years.

1920
Curtis moves photography studio from Seattle to Los Angeles. Curtis finances fieldwork for finishing The North American Indian by working in his studio and in Hollywood as a still photographer and movie camera operator for major studios.

1922
Volume 12 published

1927
Curtis travels to Alaska to document the native Eskimo tribes, a that trip culminates three decades of fieldwork.

1930
Last volume of The North American Indian is published.

1931
With the country in the depths of the Great Depression, however, there is little interest in the work and it sinks into obscurity.

1932
Curtis is hospitalized in a Denver osteopathic clinic for exhaustion and depression.

1935
Materials remaining from The North American Indian project, including photogravure plates, are sold to the Charles Lauriat Company, a rare book dealer in Boston. Curtis turns his attention to gold mining and farming.

1940
During the 1940’s, Curtis works on a book about sea otters and another about gold mining.

October 21, 1952
Curtis dies in Los Angeles at the age of 84 of a heart attack at the home of his daughter, Beth. Edward Curtis is buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood Hills, Ca.
In its seventy-six-word obituary, The New York Times, while stating that Curtis was famous worldwide as an ethnographer of North American Indians, noted only in passing that he also had been a photographer.

Previous Exhibition History/Exhibition Plans:

The collection has been previously exhibited as vintage shows during the European museum tours since the year 2000. It was shown at the Hôtel de Sully in Paris, Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur/August Sander Archive in Cologne, the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, the Museum of Photography The Hague, the Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia, Italy, the Museo de America in Madrid, the Museu de Prehistòria i de les Cultures in Valencia, salas culturales of the Spanish sponsoring institution, Caja Duero, in Soria, Salamanca, Càceres, and Valladolid . The exhibition has received strong response at each location; record numbers of visitors saw the show in both Paris and Lausanne.

The smaller vintage exhibition will be shown at the Casa de la Provincia in Seville in July and August of 2005, at further Spanish sites through the spring of 2006, then the Fotomuseum in Odense, Denmark, the Fotografie Forum International in Frankfurt, plus several other sites in Scandinavian countries.

If your school would like to visit this exhibit please contact Cristina Butaru, butaruc@state.gov or (021) 200 3699

Links:

• Pictures from the Exhibit Opening
• Exhibit Review in daily Cotidianul newspaper (Romanian only)
• Wikipedia Entry on Edward Curtis
• American Masters Video Presentation on Edward Curtis
• U.S. Library of Congress Edward Curtis collection
• Edward Curtis and The North American Indian
• Chronological Biography of Edward Curtis

I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Hoohululsote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. Ollokot who led the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
- Chief Joseph

We had no churches, no religious organizations, no sabbath day, no holidays, and yet we worshipped. Sometimes the whole tribe would assemble and sing and pray; sometimes a smaller number, perhaps only two or three. The songs had only a few words, but were not formal. The singer would occasionally put such words as he wished instead of the usual tone sound. Sometimes we prayed in silence; sometimes each prayed aloud; sometimes an aged person prayed for all of us. At other times one would rise and speak to us of our duties to each other and to Usen. Our services were short.
- Geronimo (1829 - 1909) Apache Chief

But why should I mourn at the ultimate fate of my people. Tribe follows tribe and nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come.
- Chief Seattle Duwamish

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no man about his religion - respect him in his views, and demand that he respect yours. Love your life, perfect life. Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide ...Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all men, but grovel none. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in your-self. Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise men turn into fools and robs the spirit of it’s vision. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
TECUMSHEH - Shawnee