Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indian: being a series of volumes picturing and describing the Indians of the United States, and Alaska. 20 vols. and 20 portfolios. Seattle: E. S. Curtis, 1907-1930. [Photogravures: Norwood, Mass.: Plimpton Press; Cambridge, Mass.: Suffolk Engraving.]
![Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indian: being a series of volumes picturing and describing the Indians of the United States, and Alaska. 20 vols. and 20 portfolios. Seattle: E. S. Curtis, 1907-1930. [Photogravures: Norwood, Mass.: Plimpton Press; Cambridge, Mass.: Suffolk Engraving.]](https://sca.bowdoin.edu/50-books/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/nggallery/50-books/curtismojave.jpg "Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indian: being a series of volumes picturing and describing the Indians of the United States, and Alaska. 20 vols. and 20 portfolios. Seattle: E. S. Curtis, 1907-1930. [Photogravures: Norwood, Mass.: Plimpton Press; Cambridge, Mass.: Suffolk Engraving.]")
Curtis's monumental work documenting the Indians of western North America was published in a limited edition and sold by subscription. Despite J. P. Morgan's underwriting the project, the cost of these lavishly produced volumes and portfolios proved prohibitively expensive, and only about 230 of the planned 500 copies were issued. Each set includes 2,226 separate images, all printed in exquisite photogravure. Curtis, a Seattle portrait photographer, developed his concept of documenting and photographing the major western Native American tribes during a time when their culture was rapidly changing. Many of his photographs were staged and highly idealized, and although he viewed himself as an ethnographer and assembled a team of field agents to interview and record observations of Indian life, Curtis's work has found its greatest audience through the appreciation of his photographic artistry.
Gift: Frank E. Munsey.