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New Mexico : glass plate negatives with prints of Navajos at Bosque Redondo
MSS.PHOTO.0195
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Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: New Mexico : glass plate negatives with prints of Navajos at Bosque Redondo
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.PHOTO.0195
Identifier/Call Number: 6173
Physical Description:
1 Linear Feet
(13 plate negatives & 13 later prints in 2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): circa 1865
Abstract: Glass plate negative images of Navajo Indians held at a government camp in Bosque Redondo, New Mexico in the mid-1860s.
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Negatives have been
scanned and are available digitally.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased, 1999.
The forced removal of the Navajo ((Diné) people, which later became known as the Long Walk, began in January 1864. After U.S.
military forces destroyed their homes, farms and livestock, more than 8,000 men, women, and children were forced to vacate
their homelands in what is now northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico to make the 300-mile trek to the Bosque Redondo
Reservation (in Navajo Hwéeldi), an internment camp in eastern New Mexico Territory near the military base of Fort Sumner.
At least 200 people died of starvation and exposure during the journey.
By all accounts Bosque Redondo failed as a social experiment in assimilation and self-sufficiency. The Navajo were never provided
adequate food and shelter, and many more perished during the incarceration. After four miserable years, the Navajo signed
the U.S.-Navajo Treaty of 1868 (also known as the Treaty of Bosque Redondo), which allowed them to finally return to a small
part of their land.
The thirteen images in this collection document this painful time.
[identification of item], New Mexico : glass plate negatives with prints of Navajos at Bosque Redondo (MSS PHOTO 0195). Dept.
of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California
This collection contains glass plate negatives (and later photographic prints from those negatives) depicting Navajo (Diné)
people during the time of their forced relocation at Bosque Redondo between 1864 and 1868. They are some of the earliest photographs
taken of Navajo.
In 1999 the library purchased a group of thirteen large format (8" x 10") glass plate negatives from Editions Gallery in Sante
Fe, New Mexico. According to the gallery, these negatives had been won at an auction conducted by Riba Auctions in Connecticut,
and the Riba catalog apparently indicated that the plates came from "the Anthony Studios in New York," which may refer to
the prominent photography company E. & H.T. Anthony.
All but one image matches those in the collection of the United States Army Signal Corps in the National Archives, although
the photos pre-date the forming of the Corps. It is likely that one or more photographers contracted by the military took
them, probably as a corollary to progress reports sent to Washington. According to Peter Palmquist and Thomas Kailbourn's
Pioneer Photographers of the Far West, "On August 25, 1863, an operator identified only as "Mr. Gage" (sic, presumably A.G. Gaige) arrived in Santa Fe with a commission
from the U.S. Army Quartermaster's Department to photograph military posts in the Department of New Mexico. One of the facilities
he photographed was the Bosque Redondo Reservation (Fort Sumner), where Navajo Indians were being held in captivity. He tarried
there from February to at least March 1866, taking large outdoor views as well as studio portraits."
If the Anthony Studios mentioned in the original auction catalog is in fact E. & H.T. Anthony, they may have acquired copies
of the negatives to publish or distribute the images themselves. The company offered stereoviews of the Civil War taken by
the precursor to the Signal Corps.
All images in this collection contain handwritten captions, probably in the same hand, and numbers ranging from 2658 to 2670,
with two unnumbered. Neither these captions nor the numbering appear on any other published version, with the exception of
one print in the New Mexico History Museum's Keleher collection which includes the caption as well as both sets of numbers
(see below). It is possible that some information has been cropped from published images, but it appears that some of these
captions are unique, even if many of the images are some of the most well known concerning 19th century Navajo.
Matching National Archives photographs all display numbering in the 87960s and 70s which appears to be part of a larger series
devoted to Southwestern Native Americans. These numbers are possibly accession numbers assigned by the archive.
Five of these images match prints in the
Souvenirs of New Mexico photo album also held by the New Mexico History Museum. This album was likely assembled by an Army officer stationed in New
Mexico after the Civil War, and while the prints are apparently captioned in pencil these have not been included in reproductions.
These plates are in fairly good condition, but the images are not especially crisp, due both to movement among subjects during
the prolonged lens exposure, and the fact that these copies seem to be rather casually produced, with images crooked and marred
by frequent blotches.
Captions have been transcribed for each negative, and related images held by both the National Archives and the New Mexico
History Museum have been noted.
These materials are believed to be in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use of public domain materials.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Navajo Indians -- Photographs.
United States. Army
Navajo Long Walk, 1863-1867
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New.
New Mexico
Fort Sumner (N.M.)