Finding aid for the Edward S. Curtis papers, 1900-1978
Beth Ann Guynn
Descriptive Summary
Title: Edward S. Curtis papers
Date (inclusive): 1900-1978 (bulk
1903-1954)
Number: 850111
Creator/Collector:
Curtis, Edward S.,
1868-1952
Physical Description:
10.3 Linear Feet
(8 boxes, 1 flatfile)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
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.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials
described in this inventory through the
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Language: Collection material is in
English.
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.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Edward S. Curtis papers, 1900-1978, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession
no. 850111.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa850111
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1985.
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.
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
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.
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.
Arrangement
Arranged in three series:
Series I: Manuscripts and publications, 1900-1935;
Series II: Lectures,
presentations and audiovisual projects, 1903-1914, undated;
Series III: Personal
and professional papers, 1908-1978.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Hawkins, G. Ray
Gilbert, Henry F. B. (Henry Franklin
Belknap), 1868-1928
Braham, John J.
Subjects - Topics
Indians of America -- Portraits
Indians of North America -- Social life and customs
Indians of North America -- Northwest, Pacific -- Social life and
customs
Photography in ethnology
Indians of North America -- Research
Kwakiutl Indians -- Social life and customs
Genres and Forms of Material
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
Gelatin silver prints -- United States -- 20th century
Contributors
Curtis, Edward S.,
1868-1952
Series I.
Manuscripts and publications,
1900-1935,
undated
Container Summary: 66
items
Scope and Content Note
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.
Series I.A.
Materials related to
The North American Indian,
1905-1935,
undated
Container Summary: 34
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
Nineteen-page typescript listing 310 photographs.
box 1, folder 2
Photographs deposited with the Library of Congress for
copyright,
undated
Physical Description:
1
item
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
box 1, folder 6
Materials used in
NAI brochures,
undated
Physical Description:
21
Leaves
Scope and Content Note
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
box 1, folder 8
Publicity text for
NAI,
approximately
1911
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Four-page typescript.
box 8**, folder 1
"The North American Indian: Extracts from Reviews,"
approximately
1911
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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
box 1, folder 10
Brochure for
NAI,
approximately
1909
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
One printed leaf.
box 1, folder 12
Transfer of copyright,
1909,
1925
Physical Description:
5
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
As sold through Charles E. Lauriat Company.
box 8**, folder 1
Printed articles relating
NAI,
1905-1911
Physical Description:
5
items
Scope and Content Note
"'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.
Series I.B.
Manuscripts and writings,
approximately
1914-1915, undated
Container Summary: 11
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
Seventy-one page corrected typescript.
box 1, folder 16
In the Land of the Head-hunters,
approximately
1915
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
Fourteen-page typescript.
box 1, folder 18
"The Peyote Cult,"
undated
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
Lacks page 15.
box 1, folder 22
Twenty-eight pages of a partial typescript
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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
Series I.C.
Offprints,
1900-1927
Container Summary: 21
items
Scope and Content Note
Includes copies of articles published by Curtis as well as published materials
containing images by Curtis.
box 8**, folder 2
Curtis, Edward S., "Medicine Lodge,"
1900
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Seattle Daily Times, 28 July 1900: 13.
box 8**, folder 2
"The Navajoes and their Mighty Wind Doctor,"
1904
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Seattle Sunday Times, 13 June 1904: 3.
box 8**, folder 2
"Sacred Rites of the Mokis and Navajoes as Seen by Edward S.
Curtis,"
1904
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Seattle Sunday Times, part V, magazine section, 27
November 1904: 1.
box 8**, folder 2
"A Curtis Poster: Reproduction of a Special Indian Poster Designed for the
Times 3rd Anniversary Number,"
1905
Physical Description:
1
item
box 8**, folder 2
"Easter in the Arizona Desert,"
1905
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Seattle Sunday Times, part III, magazine section, 16
April, 1905: 1.
box 8**, folder 2
"Real American Beauties: Two Hopi Maidens of the Tewa Puebla,
Arizona,"
1905
Physical Description:
1
item
box 8**, folder 2
"The Zuni Governor,"
1905
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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
box 8**, folder 3
"Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth,"
1906
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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.
box 8**, folder 3
"Mrs. Nicholas Longworth in her Bridal Gown,"
1906
Physical Description:
1
item
box 8**, folder 3
"Prominent Men and Caricature,"
1906
Physical Description:
1
item
box 1, folder 27
Curtis, Edward S., "Vanishing Indian Types,"
1906
Physical Description:
2
items
Scope and Content Note
"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.
box 8**, folder 2
"Zash-Clishn-Apache Maiden,"
1906
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Seattle Sunday Times, magazine section, 18 November
1906: 1.
box 8**, folder 2
"Little Wolf of the Cheyenne: Newest Curtis Indian,"
1908
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Seattle Sunday Times, magazine section, 26 January
1908: 1.
box 8**, folder 2
Curtis, Edward S., "Love, Marriage, and Divorce as the Indian Sees
Them,"
1908
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
World Magazine, 3 May 1908: 9.
box 8**, folder 3
"The Vanishing Race,"
approximately
1908
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Spread of Curtis photographs, with copyright dates of 1904-1908, reproduced in
Collier's Weekly.
box 8**, folder 3
"A Page of Indian Maidens of Aboriginal North American Stock,"
1908
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
New York Daily Tribune, 26 April 1908: 3. Reproduces
Curtis photographs of Mojave, Apache, Papago, and Jicarilla girls.
box 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 Content Note
Each spread from an unidentified Hearst International Magazine company publication
contains reproductions of two Curtis photographs.
box 8**, folder 3
Chicago Daily News photogravure
section,
1927
Physical Description:
2
Leaves
Scope and Content Note
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.
Series II.
Lectures, presentations and audiovisual projects,
1903-1914
Container Summary: 86
items
Scope and Content Note
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.
Series II.A.
Lectures,
between 1903 and
1914
Container Summary: 16
items
Scope and Content Note
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
box 1, folder 29
Lantern slide lecture I,
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
Fourteen-page typescript, either an earlier or later version of the lecture.
box 1, folder 31
Outline for lecture II,
Physical Description:
1
item
box 1, folder 32
Lecture II,
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Lecture composed of pieces from various lectures, approximately 20 typescript
pieces.
box 1, folder 33
"Indian Religion,"
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Fourteen-page typescript.
box 1, folder 34
"Indian Religion, Life, and Origins,"
Physical Description:
1
item
box 1, folder 35
"Southwest Indians,"
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Sixteen-page typescript.
box 1, folder 36
Variant lecture on Southwest Indians,
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Sixteen-page typescript.
box 1, folder 37
"Reminiscences,"
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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
box 1, folder 40
"Curtis's Business Practices,"
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Three-page typescript.
box 1, folder 41
"Northwest Indians,"
Physical Description:
11
Leaves
Scope and Content Note
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
Series II.B.
Materials related to the
Curtis Picture Musicale (The Story of the
Vanishing Race)
,
1911-1912
Container Summary: 41
items
Scope and Content Note
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
box 3-4
Score for
The Story of the Vanishing
Race,
1911
Physical Description:
14
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 3, folder 2
First violin
Physical Description:
20
items
Scope and Content Note
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
box 3, folder 4
Viola
Physical Description:
20
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 4, folder 6
Trombone
Physical Description:
20
items
Scope and Content Note
Lacks number 18, "Woman Dancer with Skulls."
box 4, folder 7
Timpani
Physical Description:
15
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
Includes only numbers 1, 14, 16.
box 4, folder 9-13
Related music,
undated
Physical Description:
11
items
Scope and Content Note
Sheet music and lecture notes mostly concerning peyote cult ceremonies.
box 4, folder 9
Opening song
Physical Description:
2
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
Sheet music by Gilbert from the incidental music to
The
Story of the Vanishing Race.
box 8**, folder 4
Frieze depicting mounted Indian warriors,
approximately
1911
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Ink drawing for the program.
box 8**, folder 4
Poster for
Curtis Picture
Musicale
,
1911
Physical Description:
1
item
box 8**, folder 4
"E. S. Curtis and his Indian Picture-Opera
A
Vanishing Race
AchieveTriumph,
approximately
1912
Physical Description:
2
items
Scope and Content Note
Publicity broadside of reviews of the 1911 season prepared for the projected
1912-1913 season.
Series II.C.
Continental Film Company and
In the Land of the Head Hunters
film materials,
1913-1914,
undated
Container Summary: 29
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
Five leaves handwritten in pencil.
box 1, folder 49
"In the Days of Vancouver,"
approximately 1913
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
Sixteen-page typescript listing 166 scenes.
box 1, folder 52
Film stills,
approximately
1913-1914
Physical Description:
3
items
Scope and Content Note
Gelatin silver prints of scenes from
In the Land of the Head
Hunters.
box 5-6
Braham, John J., score for
In the Land of the
Headhunters,
approximately
1913
Physical Description:
16
items
Scope and Content Note
Includes both the full orchestral score and individual instrumental parts, all in
62 parts.
box 6, folder 9
Braham, John J.,
Indian Patrol,
undated
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Includes both the full orchestral score and individual instrumental parts for a
composition dedicated to Curtis.
box 8**, folder 5
Movie poster for
In the Land of the
Headhunters,
approximately
1914
Physical Description:
1
item
box 7; 7A
Series II.D.
Lantern slides,
between 1906 and
1914
Lantern slides: between 1906 and 1914
Container Summary: 20
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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
850111-LS1
A House-front, Awaitlala
Scope and Content Note
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
850111-LS2
The Octopus Catcher, Qagyuhl
Scope and Content Note
This is the image facing page 28, volume 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI.
Address on mat: 833 Market St., San Francisco, Calif. Written on label: DK N.C.
7.
box 7
850111-LS3
Nane (Quagyuhl)
Scope and Content Note
This is the image facing page 184, volume 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI.
Written on label: DW 18.
box 7
850111-LS4
A Hamasta Costume, Nakoaktok
Scope and Content Note
This is the image facing page 194, volume 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI. The
slide is sepia-toned rather than hand-colored.
box 7
85011-LS5
Chief's Party, Qagyuhlk
Scope and Content Note
Plate 10, portfolio 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI. Written on slide label:
3. Shores of the Pacific / (DZ). Also numbered: 3. 107.
box 7
850111-LS6
Rounding into Port, Qagyhl
Scope and Content Note
Plate 352, portfolio 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI. Numbered on label:
2.
box 7
850111-LS7
[Two Qagyuhl Boats]
Scope and Content Note
Numbered on label: 30.
box 7
850111-LS8
[Sailboat on Shores of Qagyuhl]
Scope and Content Note
Numbered on label: 4. Annotation on label: Light on water stopped out by contact
negative for cover.
box 7
850111-LS9
Shores of the Pacific
Scope and Content Note
Title from label on slide. Numbered on slide: 49 (DX) (49); 1 DX 105.
box 7
850111-LS10
[Kwakiutl Chanting beside a Canoe]
Scope and Content Note
Label on slide: No charges.
box 7
850111-LS11
Whale Ceremony, Clayoquot
Scope and Content Note
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
850111-LS12
[Wishiam Women on Columbia River]
Scope and Content Note
Imprint on passe-partout: Edward [___]. Slide Bureau. / 833 Market St., San
Francisco, Calif. Numbered on label: 20.
box 7
850111-LS13
[Seal Island]
Scope and Content Note
Written on label: $1.00.
box 7A
85011-LS14
On Klickitat River - A
Scope and Content Note
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 7B
85011-LS20
[Paqusilahl Emerging from the Woods, Qagyuhl (?)]
Scope and Content Note
Image facing page 158, volume 10, The Kwakiutl, NAI? The center of
the slide is shattered and the image is unreadable. Notes on the mount were
transcribed by the conservator.
box 7A
California, Navajo and other scenes
Physical Description:
5
items
box 7A
850111-LS15
Sunset in Navajo-land
Scope and Content Note
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
850111-LS16
[Table Scene]
Scope and Content Note
Yurok, Klamath region, Humboldt, CA. Blue-tinted slide; not hand-colored.
box 7A
850111-LS17
[Baskets and Nets]
Scope and Content Note
Pomo tribe, Mendocino County, CA. Slide is possibly blue-tinted.
box 7A
850111-LS18
[By the Arrow, Dawn]
Scope and Content Note
Title from slide label. Numbered on lables: 4; 35; 5. Z. 36.
box 7A
850111-LS19
[Signal Fire to Mountain Gods]
Series III.
Personal and professional papers,
1908-1978
Container Summary: 27
items
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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
box 2, folder 5
Portrait of E. S. Harriman,
1905
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Curtis studio signature on mount.
box 8**, folder 6
Navajo design,
undated
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Hand-colored photograph [?].
box 8**, folder 6
[Portrait of a Native American],
approximately
1905
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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
box 8**, folder 7
"The Monumental Works of Edward S. Curtis,"
1954
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
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 Content Note
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 Content Note
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.
