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Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Provenance
Biographical Note
Scope and Content of Collection
Bibliography
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: A. Frank Randall Photographs of Apache Indians
Identifier/Call Number: photCL 101
Physical Description:
0.9 Linear Feet
(123 photographs in 1 disbound album; prints 18 x 11 cm. (7.25 x
4.5 in.))
Date (inclusive): approximately 1883-1888
Abstract: This disbound album contains 123
photographs taken by photographer A. Frank Randall between 1883 and 1888. The images include
studio and field photographs of Apache Indians taken during the United States military
campaign to capture Apache renegades during the Apache Wars. Notable portraits include those
of A. Frank Randall, Geronimo, Naiche, and Nelson A. Miles. There are also some scenes of
Indian agencies and camps in Arizona. The last part of the album ends with views in Southern
California, including Rancho Camulos, scenes of Santa Barbara, missions, and San Diego.
There are also views of Guaymas, Mexico.
Language of Material: English.
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responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
A. Frank Randall Photographs of Apache Indians. The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Provenance
Gift of Mrs. Lyman Thompson in December 1957.
Biographical Note
A. Frank Randall was born March 2, 1854, in Massachusetts. Little is known about his early
years, but in 1883, he accompanied General George Crook's expedition as a newspaper
correspondent and photographer in the campaign to capture Apache Indians in Mexico. For the
next four years, Randall traveled around Arizona and New Mexico photographing various Apache
tribes, including the Chiricahua, Warm Springs, Mescalero, and Jicarilla Apaches. In 1887,
Randall moved to California and spent his final years in Alameda County, where he died of a
heart attack on March 4, 1916.
Scope and Content of Collection
This disbound album contains 123 photographs taken by photographer A. Frank Randall between
1883 and 1888. The photographs have descriptive captions written by Randall, most
identifying their subjects. The images include studio and field photographs of Apache
Indians taken during the United States military campaign to capture Apache renegades during
the Apache Wars. Notable portraits include those of A. Frank Randall, Geronimo, Naiche, and
Nelson A. Miles. There are also some scenes of Indian agencies and camps in Arizona. The
last part of the album ends with views in Southern California, including Rancho Camulos,
scenes of Santa Barbara, missions, and San Diego. There are also views of Guaymas, Mexico.
The majority of Randall's photographs are portraits of men, women, and children from
various Apache subtribes in Arizona and New Mexico. Among these photographs are images of a
fox tamer; a fiddler; a flutist; a well-dressed, possibly high-ranking Apache man; medicine
men; young girls; mothers and their infant children; and Apache chiefs. Portraits of United
States Army officers and scouts include Nelson A. Miles, Leonard Wood, Wilber E. Wilder,
Roger Ames, Henry W. Lawton, William A. Thompson, Amos S. Kimball, John A. Dapray, Thomas J.
Clay, Frank P. Bennett, Buffalo Jack, a female Indian scout, and Apache scouts. Randall also
included photographs of Rancho Camulos, many of which show people dramatizing scenes from
Helen Hunt Jackson's novel
Ramona. Antonio Franco Coronel appears in some
scenes. Other images include views of Missions Santa Barbara and San Juan Capistrano, what
may be Vasquez Creek and Tujunga Canyon near Los Angeles, and street scenes of Guaymas,
Mexico.
The first page of the album is a dedication written by Randall, saying: "This album is
respectfully dedicated to the memory of Captain Emmet Crawford who offered his life as a
sarafice [sic] to the Apache race, a brave and noble man, the idol of his friends. Murdered
by Mexicans in Mexico January 11th 1886. A. Franklin Randall, artist." A newspaper cutout of
Captain Crawford's portrait has been pasted on the dedication page. On the reverse side of
the page, Randall wrote: "Presented to Claire W. Murphy. Christmas 1888. The Author
[Randall]." Part of this presentation note includes a phrase written in Greek.
Though presumably the photographs are all by Randall, research has shown some images may
be the work of Ben Wittick.
Item titles transcribed from A. Frank Randall's handwritten captions.
Bibliography
Sources used in the creation of this finding aid include:
Faulk, Odie B.
The Geronimo Campaign. Oxford University Press: New
York, 1969.
Kraft, Louis.
Gatewood & Geronimo. University of New Mexico Press:
Albuquerque, 2000.
Lane, Jack C., ed.
Chasing Geronimo: The Journal of Leonard Wood,
May-September, 1886.
University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque, 1970.
Radbourne, Allan. "Capturing the Apaches: The Photographs of A. Frank Randall."
Wild West, February 2004.
A Researcher's Guide to the Apache Indian Photographs made by A. Franklin
Randall in Arizona and New Mexico 1883-1887: Part Two: The Mescalero Apache Reservation,
N.M., and Fort Bowie, A.T., 1885-1886.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Apache Indians -- Photographs.
Apache Indians -- Wars, 1883-1886 -- Photographs.
Chiricahua Indians -- Photographs.
Chiricahua Indians -- Wars -- Photographs.
Fort Bowie (Ariz.) -- Photographs.
Fort Huachuca (Ariz.) -- Photographs.
Hotels -- Arizona -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Photographs.
Indian scouts -- Photographs.
Jackson, Helen Hunt, 1830-1885. Ramona -- Pictorial works --
Photographs.
Jicarilla Indians -- Photographs.
Medicine-man -- Photographs.
Mescalero Indians -- Photographs.
Mission San Juan Capistrano -- Photographs.
Mohave Indians -- Photographs.
Rancho Camulos (Ventura County, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Barbara Mission -- Photographs.
United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Fort Apache Agency --
Photographs.
United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs. San Carlos Agency --
Photographs.
Warm Spring Apache Indians -- Photographs.
Arizona -- Photographs.
Guaymas (Sonora, Mexico) -- Photographs.
New Mexico -- Photographs.
Photographs
Photograph albums
Studio portraits.