Fantastic Native American Portraits

by Chris Nelson

Born on a Wisconsin farm in 1868, Edward Sheriff Curtis became fascinated with photography early, building his own camera around the age 10. As a teenager his family relocated to Seattle, where he photographed Princess Angeline (aka Kickisomlo), the daughter of the Duwamish chief Seattle, after whom the city was named. Curtis recognized his life’s calling as a documentarian of Native American cultures and quickly joined expeditions to Montana and Alaska to do just that.

In 1906, Curtis was approached by the financier J.P. Morgan about funding a project on the indigenous people of the continent. They planned a 20-volume series called The North American Indian, from which the images below are culled. He received no salary for the project, which lasted more than 20 years, during which he created an estimated 40,000 images of over 80 tribes. A photographer turned ethnologist, he also made thousands of recordings of native language and music, and transcribed oral histories.

Apsaroke, 1908