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Reviews
Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian Project in the Field
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Edited by Mick Gidley
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University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2003. Photographs, index. 200 pages. $49.95 cloth.
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Reviewed by Jerry R. Galm
Eastern Washington University, Cheney
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| In the mid-1890s, Edward Sheriff Curtis began a journey that culminated in The North American Indian, a work consisting of twenty volumes of illustrated text with a companion set of twenty oversized portfolios of photogravures. Detailing the lifeways of more than eighty Native American groups who lived west of the Mississippi River, the epic character of this endeavor ultimately left its stamp on Curtis and his creation. Due in part to the work's size and scope, the limited distribution of the published volumes, and the controversies that enveloped the final product, The North American Indian remained essentially ignored for nearly half a century. Perhaps what is best known of Curtis and his life's work centers on the controversy generated by his posed and romanticized photos of Native subjects. |
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In his latest examination of Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian project, Mick Gidley exhumes unpublished and uncollected records generated during the monumental undertaking to provide "interesting information and insights about the peoples(s) discussed" as well as new perspectives on the "figures who wrote them" (p. 2). Derived from various stages of fieldwork, the entries in this volume provide a behind-the-scenes look at a wide range of topics, from detailed descriptions of field conditions illustrating the varied experiences and observations of project personnel to firsthand accounts of encounters with Native subjects. |
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The bulk of the book is devoted to reports and narratives drawn from fieldwork in three culture areas: the American Southwest (chapter 2), the Plains (chapter 3), and the Northwest (chapter 4). In these chapters, readers hear the voices of Curtis's son Harold P. Curtis; William W. Phillips, a key figure early in the project (and Curtis's cousin by marriage); project stenographer Edmund A. Schwinke; noted ethnologist Alfred C. Haddon; historian Edmond S. Meany; and, of course, Curtis himself. Chapter 5 consists of a synthesis of West Coast experiences and features sections by Curtis's daughters, Florence Curtis Graybill and Beth Curtis Magnuson, by Curtis, and by his friend, Frederick Webb Hodge, the tireless project promoter, volume editor, and prominent anthropologist. Chapter 6 is a presentation of general documents intended to place Curtis on center stage and add depth to our understanding of this complex character. |
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For those with even passing interest in Curtis and his life's work, perhaps the most compelling reason to examine this book is found in the content of the introduction (chapter 1). Here, Gidley seamlessly combines essential and mundane details to produce a coherent cultural history of the project. His reviews of the project's major and minor figures, the sequence and chronology of fieldwork, and the contradictions inherent in Curtis's perspectives on Natives and Native life provide critical context for the succeeding chapters. One highlight is the information provided on William E. Myers and his role as chief ethnologist for the North American Indian project. It is unfortunate that, for reasons outlined in the introduction, we are not able to learn more of Myers's personal insights on the project and on Native subjects in particular. |
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Certainly no stranger to this material, Gidley has mined a rich trove of letters, reports, magazine and newspaper articles, and other documents to craft an edited volume with potential appeal for a diverse readership. In broad view, his selections, though of uneven length and content, affirm the underlying humanism that Curtis and other principals brought to their study. They also underscore the contradictions inherent in the project and its principal architect, and in this vein the limited commentary Gidley provides will likely leave many readers wanting more. Also noteworthy is the use of photographs. Placement of the photographs together as a series rather than in chapter contexts, combined with their limited integration into the author's editorial comments, renders them more afterthought than central feature. Ultimately, it is the refined image of Curtis the man — as prescient scholar-photographer, superb outdoorsman, fearless traveler, quintessential westerner, and humanist — that endures and makes this volume worthy of attention. |
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