Scope and Contents note

The collection consists of photographs relating to Native Americans, which were submitted to the copyright office of the Library of Congress in and around the early 20th century. Many of the photographs are studio portraits as well as photographs made as part of expeditions and railroad surveys. It includes images of people, dwellings and other structures, agriculture, arts and crafts, burials, ceremonies and dances, games, food preparation, transportation, and scenic views. Some of the photographs were posed to illustrate literary works, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Hiawatha, while others depict paintings or other artwork.

Tribes represented are Achomawi, Ahtena, Apache, Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboin, Bannock, Blackfoot, Cahita, Cahuilla, Cayuse, Chehalis, Chemehuevi, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chimakum, Chinook, Chippewa, Choctaw, Clatsop, Cocopa, Comanche, Cowichan, Cree, Creek, Crow, Dakota, Duwamish, Eskimo, Fox, Gros Ventre (Atsina), Gros Ventre (Hidatsa), Haida, Havasupai, Hoh, Hupa, Iroquois (including Mohawk, Onandaga, Seneca, and St. Regis), Kalispel, Karok, Kato, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Klamath, Klickitat, Kutenai, Kwakiutl, Maidu, Makah, Mandan, Maricopa, Menominee, Miwok, Mohave, Mono, Navaho, Nez Perce, Nootka, Omaha, Osage, Oto, Paiute, Paloos, Papago, Passamaquoddy, Pawnee, Peoria, Pima, Pomo, Ponca, Potawatomi, Pueblo (including Acoma, Cochiti, Hano, Hopi, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Sia, San Juan, Taos, Tesuque, and Zuni), Quahatika, Quapaw, Queets, Quileute, Quinault, Salish (including Flathead), Sarsi, Sauk and Fox, Seminole, Shawnee, Shoshoni, Sinkiuse, Skitswish, Spokan, Swinomish, Tenino, Tlingit, Tolowa, Tonkawa, Tsimshian, Twana, Umatilla, Ute, Wailaki, Walapai, Wallawalla, Wampanoag, Wappo, Wasco, Washo, Wichita, Winnebago, Wishram, Yakima, Yavapai, Yokuts, Yuki, Yuma, and Yurok.

Arrangement

Collection is organized alphabetically by copyright claimant.

Biographical/Historical note

The collection was formed from submissions made to the Library of Congress as part of the copyright registration process. In 1949, arrangements were made to allow the Bureau of American Ethnology to copy the collection and some negatives were made at that time, largely from the Heyn and Matzen photographs. The project was soon abandoned, however, as too large an undertaking for the facilities of the BAE. In 1957-1958, arrangements were begun by William C. Sturtevant of the BAE to transfer a set of the photographs from the Library of Congress to the BAE.