William R. Heick photographs

Scope and Contents

This collection contains 46 oversize black and white photographs and 10 oversize color photographs taken by William Heick and his students across the United States and Canada. The photographs were taken at the same time Heick was working with the American Indian Film Project, led by Samuel Barrett and Dr. Alfred Kroeber. Additional photographs and the corresponding films are available at Berkeley through the Northern Regional Library Facility, the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Image numbers P27947-P28000. The Diné photographs are restricted for cultural sensitivity.

Arrangement

Arranged into five series alphabetically by tribe then catalog number.

Biographical / Historical

William Heick (1916-2012) was a photographer and filmmaker known for his work document Indigenous peoples in North America. He was born in Kentucky and attended the University of Cincinnati. Heick's photography career started during World War II when he served as a naval intelligence photographer. He went on to study photography at the California School of Fine Arts. In 1951, he visited the Kwakiutl Nation in British Colombia and developed an interest in Native people. He worked for the American Indian Film Project based out of Berkeley, collaborating with community elders to preserve traditions on film. Outside of his work with Indigenous communities, Heick was a historian and filmmaker for the Bechtel engineering firm, created two documentaries for the Quakers, and produced short series on cultural practices throughout the world. Heick continued working until his death in 2012.