Collection contains three tintypes portraits taken by photographer Ed Drew in 2014. Two tintypes are portraits of Plummie Wright Sr. and Maryanne Wright (Mrs. Plummie Wright Sr.) of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon. A third tintype is a self-portrait of Ed Drew. Drew was commissioned by Klamath Tribal Health and Family Services to make portraits during several talking circle weekends, in which participants recounted challenging life experiences. The portraits of Plummie and Maryanne Wright were included in Drew's series The People of Klamath Falls, which features photographs of individuals descended from the Klamath and Pit River Paiute tribes of southern Oregon and the Modoc Indians of northern California. Drew's photographs from this series were featured in the 2014 California Historical Society exhibition Native Portraits: Contemporary Tintypes by Ed Drew.

Ed Drew grew up in Brooklyn, New York City, and joined the military a month after completing high school. It was while serving in Japan's Yokota Air Base near Tokyo that he discovered his passion for art. He received a BFA in Sculpture with a minor in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute while serving in the California Air National Guard as an aerial gunner. In 2013 he was deployed to Afghanistan as a helicopter aerial gunner with a U.S. Air Force Combat Rescue Unit. During his three month tour in the Helmand River Province, he created tintypes - the first tintypes made in a combat zone since the Civil War - of the men and women he worked with.

1 folder

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Ed Drew, was not transferred to the California Historical Society (CHS). Permission for reproduction or publication of materials in this collection beyond that allowed by fair use must be secured from the copyright holder.

Collection is open for research.