Finding aid for the Edward S. Curtis papers, 1900-1978 850111

Beth Ann Guynn
Special Collections
2014
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu


Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: Edward S. Curtis papers
Creator: Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952
Identifier/Call Number: 850111
Physical Description: 10.3 Linear Feet (8 boxes, 1 flatfile)
Date (inclusive): 1900-1978 (bulk 1903-1954)
Date (bulk): 1903-1954
Abstract: The Edward S. Curtis papers document all of the photographer's major projects, focusing on The North American Indian, his major publication, the Curtis Picture Musicale, and his full-length feature film In the Land of the Head Hunters. The promotion and publication of these projects is particularly well-documented. The collection also contains the original manuscript musical scores for both the Curtis Picture Musicale and In the Land of the Headhunters. Also included are typescripts and notes for books, lectures, and other writings. There is a small amount of Curtis's original photographic material as well as miscellaneous personal and professional documents.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record  for this collection. Click here for the access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.

Scope and Content of Collection

The Edward S. Curtis papers document Curtis's major projects, focusing on his seminal publication, The North American Indian, the Curtis Picture Musicale, and his full-length feature film In the Land of the Head Hunters. The promotion and publication of these projects is particularly well-documented, and provides a picture of a highly-driven personality who well knew the importance of publicity in garnering financial support for his visionary projects.
Series I comprises manuscripts and publications and includes materials related to The North American Indian (1907-1930), typescripts for Curtis's books Indian Days of Long Ago (1914) and In the Land of the Head-hunters (1915; written after the film was made and with a slightly different title), and several undated, and apparently unpublished, typescripts for lectures or writings. The series is divided into three subseries.
Series I.A documents Curtis's efforts to promote The North American Indian, ranging from newspaper articles and reviews to publicity materials and subscription agreements. Also included are partial lists of photographs taken for the project and a list of photographs deposited for copyright.
Additional manuscript and publication materials including the typescripts for Curtis's books Indian Days of Long Ago and In the Land of the Head-hunters, as well as undated and apparently unpublished typescripts and notes, are found in Series I.B. Manuscript titles include "The Forgotten Map Maker," "Peyote Ceremony According to Charles More," "The Peyote Cult," and "The Indian and His Religious Freedom." These typescripts may in some cases relate to Curtis's lectures. Copies of a few articles published by Curtis and copies of published materials reproducing images by Curtis are found in Series I.C.
Series II documents Curtis's attempts to promote his photography and raise funds for NAI through photograph exhibitions, lectures, lantern slide shows, movies, picture musicales, and films. Starting around 1903, Curtis began giving exhibition talks and stereopticon lantern slide lectures during the months that he was not working in the field as a way to raise funds for his fieldwork. He lectured extensively in the eastern United States as well as in the Pacific Northwest. Series II.A. includes several undated lecture typescripts. They contain substantial information, based on first-hand observation, on the cultures of Northwest, Southwestern, Pueblo, and Plains indigenous American groups, and include such aspects as population, religious and cermonial practices, and daily life. Other lectures discuss his experiences in the field and the difficulty of financing research and publications.
The Curtis Picture Musicale (1911-1912) was a more ambitious money-raising scheme with a format based on the concept of a lantern slide lecture, a popular entertainment of the time. This elaborate multimedia production began with an orchestral prelude composed by Henry F. Gilbert. Curtis's lecture was accompanied by both hand-colored lantern slides and motion pictures, along with orchestral numbers composed by Gilbert for each segment. Included in Series II.B. are materials related to the Curtis Picture Musicale such as prospectuses, announcements, publicity materials, and programs for the production, as well as Gilbert's complete score for the musicale and additional related music by Gilbert.
Curtis also conceived of his film In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914), an epic story of love and war among the Kwakwaka'wakwa in pre-contact times, as a way to raise funds for his fieldwork and the NAI project. Included in Series II.C. are preliminary materials for the film such as typescript narratives regarding the genesis of the film, typescript prospectuses for the Continental Film Company, scripts for scenes, shooting schedules, a list of scenes shot in 1913, film stills, a movie poster, and John J. Braham's manuscript score for the film.
A small number of hand-colored and tinted lantern slides, such as would have been used by Curtis for his various slide lectures and presentations, comprise Series II.D. These are mostly Pacific Northwest Native American scenes, although a few Navajo and California Native American images are included.
The personal and professional documents in Series III include posthumous articles about Curtis and materials regarding the disposition of Curtis's manuscripts, recordings, and artifact collection. There are a few letters sent or received by Curtis and a few pieces of original artwork. Also included is a transcript of an interview with M. E. Magnuson, Curtis's son-in-law, conducted by Conrad Angore, G. Ray Hawkins, and a Mr. Lee, on 19 September 1978. The interview relates mostly to the dispersal of the Curtis collection of Native American artifacts.

Processing History

The collection was processed and finding aid written by Beth Ann Guynn in 2008. The finding aid was encoded by Beth Ann Guynn and Linda Kleiger in 2014.

Preferred Citation

Edward S. Curtis papers, 1900-1978, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 850111.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa850111

Biographical/Historical Note

The headline for a 1905 article in the Seattle Times hailed Edward Sheriff Curtis as "Artist, Explorer, Clubman, Photographer, Historian and President's Friend." Indeed, by this point in his career, Curtis was all these things and more. Now known primarily for his photographs of indigenous North Americans, Curtis's enduring achievement was a monumental, heroic, and theatrical portrayal of the peoples whom he saw as a "vanishing race." Curtis's depiction of Native Americans was filtered through his interpretation of their pre-contact rather than their current way of life.
Born near Whitewater, Wisconsin in 1868, Curtis grew up in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He built his first camera when he was 12 years old. In 1887, at the age of 19, he and his father traveled to the Washington Territory where, after settling near Port Orchard, they sent for the rest of the Curtis family. Curtis moved to Seattle in 1891 and opened his first photography studio, Rothi and Curtis Photographers, in partnership with Rasmus Rothi. Within a short time he went into partnership with Thomas H. Guptil, forming Curtis and Guptil Photographers and Photo-engravers; Guptil left the firm in 1897. Although Curtis's photographic interests were initially portraiture and landscape photography in the pictorialist tradition, he soon became fascinated with recording Seattle-area Native American groups. Later in his life he claimed that his pictures of Princess Angeline (1895), the aged daughter of Chief Sealth, or Seattle, who eked out a living as a clam digger, were his first photographs of Native Americans.
In 1898, while photographing on Mt. Rainier, Curtis rescued a group of well-known scientists that included zoologist C. Hart Merriam, head of the U.S. Biological Survey and a founding member of the National Geographic Society, and ethnographer and naturalist George Bird Grinnell, editor of Field and Stream and founder of the Audubon Society, who had become lost while climbing the mountain. Impressed with Curtis, Merriam asked him to join the Harriman Alaska Expedition (1899) as its official photographer. Organized by E. H. Harriman, a railway magnate and financier, the expedition's aim was to explore Alaska's coastal waters from its southern panhandle to Prince William Sound. Participation in the expedition introduced Curtis to the fundamentals of ethnographic research. His photographs were included in a two-volume souvenir photograph album produced for expedition members, and reproduced as photogravures in two of the 14 volumes in the Harriman Alaska Series.
The following year Grinnell invited Curtis to photograph the Sun Dance ceremony at the Piegan Reservation in Montana. This experience further solidified Curtis's interest in Native American cultures and fueled his desire to produce a comprehensive visual and written record of the last vestiges of what he saw as the "vanishing race" and its traditional ways. Concentrating on peoples west of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, Curtis spent over a quarter of the twentieth century in the field working on The North American Indian ( NAI), his 20-volume publication containing over 1500 small full-page photogravures, along with 700 large-format photogravures in the 20 accompanying portfolios. NAI became one of the largest anthropological projects to be undertaken to date, and is indeed often the only record of the lore and history of some North American groups.
During the first years of the twentieth century Curtis's photographic work in general, and especially his Native American material, became increasingly well-known throughout the United States. When not in the field he worked unceasingly to raise funds for NAI by giving lantern slide lecture tours, mounting exhibitions, and publishing articles. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt asked Curtis to photograph his family. Roosevelt was very interested in the NAI project and wrote a glowing letter of recommendation that Curtis used in subsequent publicity for the project. Finally, in 1906, J. P. Morgan agreed to back the NAI project for the next five years, and in 1907 the first volume was published with a foreword by Roosevelt.
Despite incessant work by the large team Curtis assembled for the project, which included William E. Myers as researcher and writer; Frederick Webb Hodge as editor; and a phalanx of ethnological and photographic assistants, interpreters, and native guides, only eight volumes of NAI were completed in the first five years. After Morgan's death in 1913 his son, J. P. Jr., agreed to continue sponsoring the project, the final volume of which was published in 1930. To augment Morgan's funding and the sale of subscriptions Curtis continued to raise capital through increasingly complex off-season projects. In 1911-1912 he mounted the Curtis Picture Musicale (The Story of the Vanishing Race). This elaborate multimedia production began with an orchestral prelude composed by Henry F. Gilbert. Curtis's lecture was accompanied by both hand-colored lantern slides shown through a stereopticon, which made them appear to dissolve in and out of one another, and by film clips, with an orchestral number composed by Gilbert for each segment of the talk. Although it opened at Carnegie Hall to a sold-out audience, the production proved costly, and subsequent performances were not as successful.
Curtis had been using a motion picture camera in the field since 1904, and in 1911 he formed the Continental Film Company to support his idea of producing a commercial, full-length motion picture film, whose ticket sales would help fund the NAI project. In the Land of the Head Hunters was released in 1914. An "epic story of love and war" set in pre-contact times, this silent movie was the first feature film to star Native American, non-professional actors, specifically members of the Kwakwaka'wakw tribes of British Columbia, who were meant to portray their ancestors. Curtis commissioned John J. Braham ( Hiawatha and The Corsair) to compose a full score for the film. Shot on location, the film, which included elaborately costumed performances of Kwakwaka'wakw dances, was made all the more dramatic through the use of dynamic camera work, the vivid toning and tinting of the footage, and Braham's theatrical score. Despite its initial critical acclaim, it too was a financial disaster. Although In the Land of the Head Hunters does accurately document some aspects of Kwakwaka'wakw culture, Curtis's intention was to produce what would now be termed a mass-market "blockbuster" film. In fact, the film is currently viewed as documenting a cultural encounter between Curtis and the Kwakwaka'wakw who performed his version of their past.
Curtis's constant work in the field and his promotion of NAI on the east coast during the winters kept him away from his family most of the time. His wife Clara divorced him in 1919, and he and his daughter Beth moved to Los Angeles, where they opened a Curtis Studio in the Biltmore Hotel. Clara and their daughter Katherine continued to run the Curtis Studio in Seattle until 1930. In Los Angeles Curtis also worked as a still photographer and cameraman for Cecil B. DeMille and other Hollywood studios to finance his fieldwork. During this time, again to raise funds for fieldwork, he sold the copyright for NAI to the Morgan Company and also sold the copyright for In the Land of the Head Hunters. In the summer of 1927, Curtis and Beth traveled to remote islands in the Bering Sea to complete the fieldwork for the last volume of NAI. This was his last expedition. Returning to Los Angeles, Curtis spent the rest of his life working as a cameraman, mining for gold, and writing his memoirs. The remaining assets of the NAI were sold to the Charles E. Lauriat Company of Boston in 1935. Curtis died in Los Angeles in 1952.

Related Archival Materials

The repository holds David Gilbert's manuscript transcription and recordings of the original John J. Braham score for Edward Curtis's 1914 silent film In the Land of the Head Hunters and the performance edition of the Braham score, scored by Gilbert and first performed at the premier of the restored film at the Getty Center on 5 June 2008. See: Scores for In the Land of the Head Hunters, Special collections accn. no. 2008.M.58.

Arrangement

Arranged in three series: Series I: Manuscripts and publications, 1900-1935; Series II: Lectures, presentation and audiovisual projects, 1903-1914, undated; Series III: Personal and professional papers, 1908-1978.

Acquisition Information

Acquired in 1985.

Digitized Material

The lantern slides in Series II (boxes 7 and 7a) were digitized by the repository. Online access is available to on-site readers and Getty staff:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/850111_ref20_pb2

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Indians of America -- Portraits
Indians of North America -- Social life and customs
Indians of North America -- Northwest, Pacific -- Social life and customs
Scores -- United States -- 20th century
Posters -- United States -- 20th century
Prospectuses -- United States -- 20th century
Lantern slides -- United States -- 20th century
Newspapers -- United States -- 20th century
Photography in ethnology
Gelatin silver prints -- United States -- 20th century
Indians of North America -- Research
Kwakiutl Indians -- Social life and customs
Hawkins, G. Ray
Gilbert, Henry F. B. (Henry Franklin Belknap), 1868-1928
Braham, John J.

 

Manuscripts and publications, Series I. 1900-1935, undated

Container Summary: 66 items

Scope and Contents

Includes materials related to The North American Indian, typescripts for Curtis's books Indian Days of Long Ago and In the Land of the Headhunters, and several undated, and apparently unpublished, typescripts for lectures or writings.

Arrangement

Arranged thematically in three subseries: Series I.A. Materials related to The North American Indian; Series I.B. Manuscripts and writings; Series I.C. Offprints.
 

Materials related to The North American Indian, Series I.A. 1905-1935, undated

Container Summary: 34 items

Scope and Contents

Materials primarily documenting the promotion and publication of The North American Indian, herein referred to as NAI. Also includes a list of photographs deposited for copyright and documentation of transfer of copyright material from Edward S. Curtis to the North American Indian, Inc.
box 1, folder 1

Catalogue: Indian Pictures from The North American Indian, undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Nineteen-page typescript listing 310 photographs.
box 1, folder 2

Photographs deposited with the Library of Congress for copyright, undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Seventeen-page typescript listing negative numbers and titles for image numbers X2988-X3207.
box 1, folder 3

Printed invitation to become an honorary regent for NAI, undated

Physical Description: 1 item
box 1, folder 4

Printed subscription invitations, undated

Physical Description: 2 items
box 1, folder 5

Subscription agreements, 1907-1921

Physical Description: 4 items

Related Materials

One typed and three printed agreements all signed and dated by subscribers.
box 1, folder 6

Materials used in NAI brochures, undated

Physical Description: 21 Leaves

Scope and Contents

Typescript copies of published reviews and notices and testimonials for NAI written to Curtis by figures such as George Bird Grinnell, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Huntington with original dates of 1905-1908.
box 1, folder 7

Reviews, 1910, 1919

Physical Description: 5 items

Related Materials

Reprints, broadsides comprising compilations of reprinted reviews, and typescripts of reviews to be used for publicity purposes. Includes a one-page review by the Los Angeles Times typed on Curtis Studio letterhead and four printed items.
box 1, folder 8

Publicity text for NAI, approximately 1911

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Four-page typescript.
Flatfile 8**, folder 1

"The North American Indian: Extracts from Reviews," approximately 1911

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Four-page broadside compilation of reviews of the NAI produced as a publicity tool.
box 1, folder 9

Brochure for NAI, undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Ten-page string-bound presentation copy, undedicated.
box 1, folder 10

Brochure for NAI, approximately 1909

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Reproduces sample texts and images.
box 1, folder 11

Presentation of NAI to the Library of the University of Washington, 24 June 1908

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

One printed leaf.
box 1, folder 12

Transfer of copyright, 1909, 1925

Physical Description: 5 items

Scope and Contents

Correspondence and documents regarding the transfer of copyright materials from Edward S. Curtis to the North American Indian, Inc.
box 1, folder 13

Exhibition announcements, 1905, undated

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Contents

Includes an announcement for Curtis's exhibition at the Waldorf Astoria, New York, signed by Curtis.
box 1, folder 14

Printed prospectus for NAI, 1935

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

As sold through Charles E. Lauriat Company.
Flatfile 8**, folder 1

Printed articles relating NAI, 1905-1911

Physical Description: 5 items

Scope and Contents

"'Ed' Curtis: Artist, Explorer, Clubman, Photographer, Historian and President's Friend," Seattle Sunday Times, 21 May 1905: 3.
"The Vanishing Race," New York Herald, 16 June 1907: 1 and 8.
"Boston Turning Out $1,500,000 Work of 20 Volumes," Boston Sunday Post, 25 July 1909: 19.
"Lives 22 Years with Indians to Get Their Secrets," New York Times, 16 April 1911: 5.
"Noted Indian Picture and Portrait of Artist," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 30 July 1911: 7.
 

Manuscripts and writings, Series I.B. approximately 1914-1915, undated

Container Summary: 11 items

Scope and Contents

Includes typescripts for Curtis's books Indian Days of Long Ago and In the Land of the Headhunters, and several undated, and apparently unpublished, typescripts for lectures or writings.
box 1, folder 15

Indian Days of Long Ago, approximately 1914

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seventy-one page corrected typescript.
box 1, folder 16

In the Land of the Head-hunters, approximately 1915

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Forty-one page corrected typescript of the book version of the film In the Land of the Head Hunters, in three individually paginated sections corresponding to chapters one through four (minus the very end of the chapter); the tag-end of chapter four through chapter ten, and chapters 11-16.
box 1, folder 17

"The Indian and his Religious Freedom," undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Fourteen-page typescript.
box 1, folder 18

"The Peyote Cult," undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Nine-page corrected typescript and a half sheet of notes.
box 1, folder 19

"Peyote Ceremony According to Charles Moore," undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seven-page corrected typescript with a diagram of the ceremony drawn on the first page.
box 1, folder 20-22

"The Forgotten Mapmaker," undated

Scope and Contents

Five-page typescript preface, table of contents, and list of books by Curtis.
box 1, folder 20

Five-page typescript preface, table of contents, and list of books by Curtis

Physical Description: 3 items
box 1, folder 21

Thirty-four page typescript

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Lacks page 15.
box 1, folder 22

Twenty-eight pages of a partial typescript

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

With and alternate beginning of the above typescript, and variously numbered up to page 268.
box 1, folder 23

Manuscript re: Apache Indians, undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Twenty-three pages written in blue crayon.
box 1, folder 24

Text re: stone heads found at Maryhill, undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Three-page typescript, possibly for an article on Curtis's theory of the origin of a pair of carved-stone heads found on the Columbia River.
box 1, folder 25

Miscellaneous notes, undated

Physical Description: 7 Leaves
 

Offprints, Series I.C. 1900-1927

Container Summary: 21 items

Scope and Contents

Includes copies of articles published by Curtis as well as published materials containing images by Curtis.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

Curtis, Edward S., "Medicine Lodge," 1900

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seattle Daily Times, 28 July 1900: 13.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

"The Navajoes and their Mighty Wind Doctor," 1904

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seattle Sunday Times, 13 June 1904: 3.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

"Sacred Rites of the Mokis and Navajoes as Seen by Edward S. Curtis," 1904

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seattle Sunday Times, part V, magazine section, 27 November 1904: 1.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

"A Curtis Poster: Reproduction of a Special Indian Poster Designed for the Times 3rd Anniversary Number," 1905

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Seattle Sunday Times, part III, 12 February 1905: 14.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

"Easter in the Arizona Desert," 1905

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seattle Sunday Times, part III, magazine section, 16 April, 1905: 1.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

"Real American Beauties: Two Hopi Maidens of the Tewa Puebla, Arizona," 1905

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Seattle Sunday Times, part I, magazine section, 21 May 1905: 1.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

"The Zuni Governor," 1905

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seattle Sunday Times, part III, magazine section, 11 June 1905: 1. Reproduces the portrait by Curtis (in reverse) in Box 8**, f. 6.
box 1, folder 26

"The President's Family," 1905

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

McClure's Magazine, July 1905. Contains eight portraits by Curtis of President Roosevelt and his family.
Flatfile 8**, folder 3

"Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth," 1906

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

New York Times, pictorial section, part I, 18 February 1908: 1-2. Includes a wedding portrait of Alice Roosevelt and her husband as well as recent photographs of the couple.
Flatfile 8**, folder 3

"Mrs. Nicholas Longworth in her Bridal Gown," 1906

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

New York Times, pictorial section, part I, 25 February 1908: 1-2. Includes scenes in front of the White House during the wedding of Alice Roosevelt.
Flatfile 8**, folder 3

"Prominent Men and Caricature," 1906

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

From page three of a magazine section of an unidentified paper dated 21 January 1906; includes a reproduction of Curtis's portrait of E. H. Harriman. See Box 2, f. 5.
box 1, folder 27

Curtis, Edward S., "Vanishing Indian Types," 1906

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Contents

"Vanishing Indian Types: The Tribes of the Southwest," Scribner's Magazine, vol. 39, no. 5: 514-529, and "Vanishing Indian Types: The Tribes of the Northwest Plains," Scribner's Magazine, vol. 39, no. 6: 657-671.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

"Zash-Clishn-Apache Maiden," 1906

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seattle Sunday Times, magazine section, 18 November 1906: 1.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

"Little Wolf of the Cheyenne: Newest Curtis Indian," 1908

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seattle Sunday Times, magazine section, 26 January 1908: 1.
Flatfile 8**, folder 2

Curtis, Edward S., "Love, Marriage, and Divorce as the Indian Sees Them," 1908

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

World Magazine, 3 May 1908: 9.
Flatfile 8**, folder 3

"The Vanishing Race," approximately 1908

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Spread of Curtis photographs, with copyright dates of 1904-1908, reproduced in Collier's Weekly.
Flatfile 8**, folder 3

"A Page of Indian Maidens of Aboriginal North American Stock," 1908

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

New York Daily Tribune, 26 April 1908: 3. Reproduces Curtis photographs of Mojave, Apache, Papago, and Jicarilla girls.
Flatfile 8**, folder 3

Cody, Colonel William F., "The Great West that Was: 'Buffalo Bill' Cody's Life Story," 1916-1917

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Contents

Each spread from an unidentified Hearst International Magazine company publication contains reproductions of two Curtis photographs.
Flatfile 8**, folder 3

Chicago Daily News photogravure section, 1927

Physical Description: 2 Leaves

Scope and Contents

From the section dated 22 January 1927; includes a reproduction of Curtis's photograph of the last ride of Native Americans returning from their hunting grounds.
 

Lectures, presentations and audiovisual projects, Series II. 1903-1914

Container Summary: 86 items

Scope and Contents

From 1903 to 1914, Curtis promoted his photography and raised funds for NAI through photograph exhibitions, lectures, lantern slide shows, and films. The series contains materials related to these endeavors.

Arrangement

Arranged thematically in four subseries: Series II.A. Lectures; Series II.B. Materials related to the Curtis Picture Musicale; Series II.C. Continental Film Company and In the Land of the Headhunters film materials; and Series II.D. Lantern slides.
 

Lectures, Series II.A. between 1903 and 1914

Container Summary: 16 items

Scope and Contents

The subseries contains lecture typescripts and related materials. Starting around 1903, Curtis began giving exhibition talks and stereopticon lantern slide lectures during the months that he was not working in the field as a way to raise funds for his fieldwork. He lectured extensively in the eastern United States as well as in the Pacific Northwest. The individual lectures included here are untitled and undated.
box 1, folder 28

Outline for lantern slide lecture I,

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Two-page typescript.
box 1, folder 29

Lantern slide lecture I,

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Thirteen-page typescript with handwritten insert between pages six and seven re: ceremonial, devotional, and religious aspects of Native American life.
box 1, folder 30

Variant, lantern slide lecture I,

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Fourteen-page typescript, either an earlier or later version of the lecture.
box 1, folder 31

Outline for lecture II,

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Two-page typescript.
box 1, folder 32

Lecture II,

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Lecture composed of pieces from various lectures, approximately 20 typescript pieces.
box 1, folder 33

"Indian Religion,"

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Fourteen-page typescript.
box 1, folder 34

"Indian Religion, Life, and Origins,"

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Three-page typescript.
box 1, folder 35

"Southwest Indians,"

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Sixteen-page typescript.
box 1, folder 36

Variant lecture on Southwest Indians,

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Sixteen-page typescript.
box 1, folder 37

"Reminiscences,"

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Ten-page typescript.
box 1, folder 38

"Decline of the Indian Population,"

Physical Description: 1 item
box 1, folder 39

"Photography in the Field,"

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Six-page typescript.
box 1, folder 40

"Curtis's Business Practices,"

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Three-page typescript.
box 1, folder 41

"Northwest Indians,"

Physical Description: 11 Leaves

Scope and Contents

Typescript materials for lectures or writings on various topics.
box 1, folder 42

Miscellaneous lecture additions,

Physical Description: 5 Leaves
box 1, folder 43

Miscellaneous lecture excerpts,

Physical Description: 3 Leaves
 

Materials related to the Curtis Picture Musicale (The Story of the Vanishing Race), Series II.B. 1911-1912

Container Summary: 41 items

Scope and Contents

Included here are prospectuses, announcements, publicity materials, and programs for the Curtis Picture Musicale as well as Henry F. Gilbert's complete score for the musicale and related music by Gilbert. This elaborate multimedia production began with an orchestral prelude composed by Gilbert. Curtis's lecture was accompanied by both hand-colored lantern slides and motion pictures, and by an orchestral number composed by Gilbert for each segment.
box 1, folder 44

Prospectus for the 1911-1912 season of The Story of the Vanishing Race, 1911

Physical Description: 1 item
box 1, folder 45

Announcements for shows in New York and Seattle, 1911-1912

Physical Description: 5 items
box 1, folder 46

Programs, 1911-1912

Physical Description: 2 items
 

Score for The Story of the Vanishing Race, 1911

Physical Description: 14 items

Scope and Contents

Individual instrumental parts for the score comprising 21 individually titled numbers including the prelude.
box 3, folder 1

Piano

Physical Description: 20 items

Scope and Contents

Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 3, folder 2

First violin

Physical Description: 20 items

Scope and Contents

Includes two or three copies of many of the numbers, written in different hands. Lacks number 19, "Canoe Paddling."
box 3, folder 3

Second violin

Physical Description: 20 items

Processing Information

Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 3, folder 4

Viola

Physical Description: 20 items

Scope and Contents

Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 3, folder 5

Cello

Physical Description: 21 items
box 3, folder 6

Bass

Physical Description: 21 items
box 4, folder 1

Flute

Physical Description: 20 items

Scope and Contents

Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 4, folder 2

Clarinet

Physical Description: 21 items
box 4, folder 3

Fagotto

Physical Description: 20 items

Scope and Contents

Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 4, folder 4

Cornet

Physical Description: 21 items
box 4, folder 5

Horns in F

Physical Description: 20 items

Scope and Contents

Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 4, folder 6

Trombone

Physical Description: 20 items

Scope and Contents

Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 4, folder 7

Timpani

Physical Description: 15 items

Scope and Contents

Lacks numbers 1-"Prelude"; 2-"Snake Dance"; 7-"Signal Fire to the Mountain God"; 15-"Offering the Skulls"; 16-"Waghli Dancing"; and 18-"Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 4, folder 8

Indian drum

Physical Description: 3 items

Scope and Contents

Includes only numbers 1, 14, 16.
 

Related music, undated

Physical Description: 11 items

Scope and Contents

Sheet music and lecture notes mostly concerning peyote cult ceremonies.
box 4, folder 9

Opening song

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Contents

Includes one sheet of music and one page of typescript lecture notes with a transcription of the words to the song.
box 4, folder 10

Water song

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Contents

Includes one sheet of music and three pages of typescript lecture notes on the peyote cult with a transcription of the words to the song.
box 4, folder 11

Midnight song

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Contents

Includes one sheet of music and a one-page typed transcription of the words to the song.
box 4, folder 12

Morning or Quitting song

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Contents

Includes one sheet of music and a one-page typed transcription of the words to the song.
box 4, folder 13

Stomp Dance and Forty-nine Dance

Physical Description: 3 items

Scope and Contents

Includes two sheets of music entitled "First Stomp Dance Song" and "Second Stomp Dance Song" and nine pages of typescript lecture notes with the vocales for both dances.
box 4, folder 14

Henry F. Gilbert, Indian Scenes: Five Pieces for the Pianoforte, 1912

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Sheet music by Gilbert from the incidental music to The Story of the Vanishing Race.
Flatfile 8**, folder 4

Frieze depicting mounted Indian warriors, approximately 1911

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Ink drawing for the program.
Flatfile 8**, folder 4

Poster for Curtis Picture Musicale, 1911

Physical Description: 1 item
Flatfile 8**, folder 4

"E. S. Curtis and his Indian Picture-Opera A Vanishing Race AchieveTriumph, approximately 1912

Physical Description: 2 items

Scope and Contents

Publicity broadside of reviews of the 1911 season prepared for the projected 1912-1913 season.
 

Continental Film Company and In the Land of the Head Hunters film materials, Series II.C. 1913-1914, undated

Container Summary: 29 items

Scope and Contents

The subseries includes preliminary materials for In the Land of the Head Hunters, scripts for scenes, shooting schedules, a list of scenes shot in 1913, film stills, a movie poster, and John J. Braham's score for the film.
box 1, folder 47

Continental Film Company, undated

Physical Description: 4 items

Scope and Contents

Includes two typescript narratives regarding the genesis of the film (one leaf, two leaves), and two typescript prospectuses for the company (five leaves each), one with a subscription agreement for stocks.
box 1, folder 48

Notes for a film scene, undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Five leaves handwritten in pencil.
box 1, folder 49

"In the Days of Vancouver," approximately 1913

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Twelve-page typescript includes 112 scenes interspersed with "readers" or titles.
box 1, folder 50

"Outline for a Scenario," approximately 1913

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Six-page typescript includes comments on geography and clothing, a page titled "Outline of the Story," and a three-page shooting schedule. Also included is a second copy of the first two pages of the document.
box 1, folder 51

"Titles of Scenes Made in 1913," approximately 1913

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Sixteen-page typescript listing 166 scenes.
box 1, folder 52

Film stills, approximately 1913-1914

Physical Description: 3 items

Scope and Contents

Gelatin silver prints of scenes from In the Land of the Head Hunters.
 

Braham, John J., score for In the Land of the Headhunters, approximately 1913

Physical Description: 16 items

Scope and Contents

Includes both the full orchestral score and individual instrumental parts, all in 62 parts.
 

Orchestral score

box 5, folder 1

Prelude-part 5

box 5, folder 2

Parts 6-24

box 5, folder 3

Parts 25-37

box 5, folder 4

Parts 38-54

box 5, folder 5

Parts 55-62

box 5, folder 6

First violin

box 5, folder 7

Second violin

box 5, folder 8

Viola

box 6, folder 1

Cello

box 6, folder 2

Bass

box 6, folder 3

Flute

box 6, folder 4

Clarinet

box 6, folder 5

Cornet

box 6, folder 6

Trombone

box 6, folder 7

Tympaneum

box 6, folder 8

Extra Parts

box 6, folder 9

Braham, John J., Indian Patrol, undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Includes both the full orchestral score and individual instrumental parts for a composition dedicated to Curtis.
Flatfile 8**, folder 5

Movie poster for In the Land of the Headhunters, approximately 1914

Physical Description: 1 item
 

Lantern slides, Series II.D. between 1906 and 1914

Lantern slides: between 1906 and 1914

Container Summary: 20 items

Scope and Contents

The series comprises 19 hand-colored and tinted lantern slides, mostly of Pacific Northwest Native American scenes (14) with a few Navajo and California Native American images (5), that Curtis would have used for his slide lectures and presentations. A number of the slides can be correlated to plates and illustrations in NAI, volumes and portfolios 8, 10, and 11.
This material is restricted due to condition. Many of the slides as cracked. The lantern slides are digitized and online access is available to on-site readers and Getty staff:
box 7

Pacific Northwest

Physical Description: 14 items

Scope and Contents

Titles of individual slides were derived from NAI, except for bracketed titles, which were devised by the cataloger.
A number of the slides were made by Edward G. Kemp, whose San Francisco studio was located at 833 Market Street.
box 7

A House-front, Awaitlala 850111-LS1

Scope and Contents

This is a variant of the image facing page 10, volume 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI. Address on passe-partout: 833 Market St., San Francisco, Calif.
box 7

Nane (Quagyuhl) 850111-LS3

Scope and Contents

This is the image facing page 184, volume 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI. Written on label: DW 18.
box 7

A Hamasta Costume, Nakoaktok 850111-LS4

Scope and Contents

This is the image facing page 194, volume 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI. The slide is sepia-toned rather than hand-colored.
box 7

Chief's Party, Qagyuhlk 85011-LS5

Scope and Contents

Plate 10, portfolio 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI. Written on slide label: 3. Shores of the Pacific / (DZ). Also numbered: 3. 107.
box 7

Rounding into Port, Qagyhl 850111-LS6

box 7

[Two Qagyuhl Boats] 850111-LS7

Scope and Contents

Numbered on label: 30.
box 7

[Sailboat on Shores of Qagyuhl] 850111-LS8

Scope and Contents

Numbered on label: 4. Annotation on label: Light on water stopped out by contact negative for cover.
box 7

Shores of the Pacific 850111-LS9

Scope and Contents

Title from label on slide. Numbered on slide: 49 (DX) (49); 1 DX 105.
box 7

[Kwakiutl Chanting beside a Canoe] 850111-LS10

Scope and Contents

Label on slide: No charges.
box 7

Whale Ceremony, Clayoquot 850111-LS11

Scope and Contents

Plate 370, portfolio 11, The Nootka. The Haida, NAI. Numbered on label: 15. Address on passe-partout: 833 Market St., San Francisco, Calif.
box 7

[Wishiam Women on Columbia River] 850111-LS12

Scope and Contents

Imprint on passe-partout: Edward [___]. Slide Bureau. / 833 Market St., San Francisco, Calif. Numbered on label: 20.
box 7

[Seal Island] 850111-LS13

Scope and Contents

Written on label: $1.00.
box 7A

On Klickitat River - A 85011-LS14

Scope and Contents

Plate number 289, from portfolio 8, The Nez Perces. Wallawalla. Umatilla. Cayuse. The Chinookan Tribes, NAI. On mat: Edward G. Kemp. Slide Bureau / 833 Market Str., San Francisco, Calif.
box 7A

California, Navajo and other scenes

Physical Description: 5 items
box 7A

Sunset in Navajo-land 850111-LS15

Scope and Contents

Plate 38, portfolio 1, The Apache. The Jicarillas. The Navajo, NAI. Written on slide label: 4. Navajo land. Also numbered: 4. (GB). 170.
box 7A

[Table Scene] 850111-LS16

Scope and Contents

Yurok, Klamath region, Humboldt, CA. Blue-tinted slide; not hand-colored.
box 7A

[Baskets and Nets] 850111-LS17

Scope and Contents

Pomo tribe, Mendocino County, CA. Slide is possibly blue-tinted.
box 7A

[By the Arrow, Dawn] 850111-LS18

Scope and Contents

Title from slide label. Numbered on lables: 4; 35; 5. Z. 36.
box 7A

[Signal Fire to Mountain Gods] 850111-LS19

 

Personal and professional papers, Series III. 1908-1978

Container Summary: 27 items

Scope and Contents

Includes miscellaneous correspondence and personal documents, original artwork and photographs, posthumous articles about Curtis, and materials regarding the disposition of Curtis's manuscripts, recordings, and artifact collection.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.
box 2, folder 1

Letter from A. T. Sinclair, 8 May 1908

Physical Description: 6 Leaves

Scope and Contents

Manuscript letter discussing tattooing throughout the world. With a typescript copy of the letter.
box 2, folder 2

Mortgage and tax documents, 1911-1914

Physical Description: 5 items

Scope and Contents

Documents related to real estate held by Curtis in Tulare County, California.
box 2, folder 3

Correspondence with M. K. Sniffen, 1934-1937

Physical Description: 9 letters (55 leaves)

Scope and Contents

Three letters from Curtis to Matthew K. Sniffen, secretary of the Indian Rights Association, and six letters from Sniffen to Curtis. Enclosures, headed "Documents Furnished by the Indian Rights Associations," comprise 53 pages of statements and testimony made by eleven individuals in May 1924 regarding affairs on the pueblos. Also included is a copy of a two-page letter from H. G. Gwinn to Sniffen (5 March 1931).
box 2, folder 4

Transcripts of conferences on pueblo government, 10 April 1924

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Typescript of hearings and proceedings regarding the government of New Mexico pueblos. The pages are numbered 10-103; pages 77-79 are lacking; duplicates of pages 66-67 are present.
box 2, folder 5

Portrait of E. S. Harriman, 1905

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Curtis studio signature on mount.
Flatfile 8**, folder 6

Navajo design, undated

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Hand-colored photograph [?].
Flatfile 8**, folder 6

[Portrait of a Native American], approximately 1905

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Hand-colored photograph [?]; signed by Curtis. Artwork for "The Zuni Governor," reproduced in Seattle Sunday Times; see box 8**, f. 2.
box 2, folder 6

Gordon Brown and R.L. Fraser, "Edward Curtis: Man of Mission to a Vanishing World," 1954

Physical Description: 1 item

Related Materials

Westward, May 1954.
Flatfile 8**, folder 7

"The Monumental Works of Edward S. Curtis," 1954

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Seattle Sunday Times, 21 June 1954: 4-5.
box 2, folder 7

Letters from June McNichol Metcalfe to Beth Curtis Magnuson, 1962

Physical Description: 5 items

Scope and Contents

Three letters from Metcalfe to Curtis's daughter, Beth Curtis Magnuson, discussing the disposition of his manuscripts and recordings. Also included are a letter to Metcalfe from Norman R. Spinden with a copy of a Library of Congress press release concerning Edward Curtis's wax cylinder recordings and a copy of Metcalfe's reply to Spinden on the verso of a note typed to Magnuson.
box 2, folder 8

Typescript of M. E. Magnuson interview, 1978

Physical Description: 1 item

Scope and Contents

Fifty-eight page typescript of an interview conducted on 19 September 1978 by a Mr. Lee [?], G. Ray Hawkins, and Conrad Angone regarding M. E. Magnuson's collection of artifacts from the collection of Edward S. Curtis.