Description
This collection of
photographs by photographer Carl Moon documents Native Americans living in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma between 1904 and 1917.
The primary tribes represented are Hopi, Navajo and Taos Pueblo Indians, but there are also Osage, Apache and several
other Southwestern tribes. There are many portraits,
as well as posed, romantic scenes depicting storytelling, hunting, weaving, or playing instruments. Additional candid
views show people in their daily activities, pueblos,
and dance ceremonies.
Background
Carl E. Moon (originally spelled Karl) was born in Wilmington, Ohio in 1878. After graduation from high school, he served
two years with the Ohio National Guard before apprenticing with various photographers in Ohio, West Virginia and Texas. He
moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1903, where he set up a photography studio and began making "art studies" of the Native
Americans of the Southwest, both in
photographs and in oil paintings, sometimes living for weeks at a time in Navajo villages. From 1905-1906, Moon had a short-lived partnership
in Albuquerque with businessman Thomas F. Keleher, called the Moon-Keleher Studio. After the partnership dissolved, Moon continued
working, photographing carefully selected Indian "subjects" in a romantic, posed style. His
photographs began appearing in magazines and he exhibited at the Museum of Natural History in New York. President Theodore Roosevelt
invited Moon to exhibit his Native American
photographs at the White House.
Extent
293
photographs in 17 oversize portfolio boxes: prints (approx. 13 x 16 inches) on oversize mounts (approx. 22 x 26 inches). Also includes
a typescript index by Carl Moon and 1 box of ephemera and newspaper clippings.
Restrictions
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Availability
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.