Old Pictures

Chief

This picture was taken in 1900, and shows an Indian Chief. The man's name was Whirling Horse, and he performed in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Shows.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Indian Man

This picture was taken by Edward Curtis in 1927. The Indian's name was "Two Guns". Curtis traveled the country in the late 1800's and early 1900's documenting Native Americans through his photography. His pictures have become treasures giving us a glimpse into traditional Native American life.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Indian on Pony

This picture was taken in the early 1900's and shows a Native American on horseback. The picture is a hand-tinted black and white photo. I love this picture because it shows an Indian out on the plains. By the time the picture was taken, the traditional way of life for the Indians had come to a close, but the man is old enough that certainly he lived through those times. When I see pictures like this, it really makes me wish that the authorities of the day had some how figured out an arrangement that would have allowed the Indians to continue undisturbed in their traditional way of life.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Moon Beam

This is a picture of Moon Beam. She was a Potawatomi Indian Maiden. The picture was taken in 1909.

I lived in New Mexico for many years, and had the opportunity to observe the modern Native American culture. It is really a very sad state of affairs, and I saw much despair among the Native Americans and the modern day reservations. I consider it a tragedy that we destroyed the traditional way of life of these people, and having done so, did not effectively welcome them into our culture.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Indian Chief with Recording Device

This picture was taken in 1915, and shows a Native American man near a recording or playback device. I know that the white man worked for the Smithsonian, but I do not know enough about early recording instruments to tell whether he is demonstrating the device to the Indian by playing music for him, or if he is actually recording the voice of the Indian. If anyone knows whether this is a recording or a playback device please comment. Since the picture was taken in 1915, the traditional ways of the Native Americans had pretty much come to an end, but the man in the picture would have certainly lived through the days when the Indians had roamed the plains. Anyway, any comments or insight would be appreicated.

Speaking of Indians, I have gotten lots of email asking questions about my students that created the WEB site Picture Indians. I will try to update you now. (Note: those of you who get mad when I get off topic should just go up and click the back button and go back to wherever you came from because I am about to get off topic. Save yourself some grief and just don't read the rest of this.)

Back on November 16 I had mentioned that this is my first semmester of teaching school. On the first day of school, I had one very tough group of students. I can remember the very first day, they told me things like "this was the 'dumb' class", and I heard them also use words like "misfits" and "trouble". I had not asked them anthing, they just walked in and told me. Well, I told them that they were not "dumb" that they were probably just not book learners, and that school was really set up to educate book learners. I then proceeded to throw out the book, and told them that we would try something different in this class. I taught them to build WEB sites by showing them. At first, I showed them how to build a page. Then the class built one page together, with my help. Then each student built his/her own page with my help. Then they started building their own pages, helping each other without my help. And then each student was building his/her own pages without help. In each case, however, the words and the pictures on the pages were their own work. That is to say, I did not write any of the little poems anywhere on the site. That was all 100% their words. I have to say I was really shocked by what they were writing, and how quickly they were learning to make technically correct WEB pages.

Well, their WEB site has really taken off. It has gotten tens of thousands of visitors from around the world, and since November 16, they have gotten literally hundreds of emails. I wish you all could have seen the tears on their faces as they read some of the email. I think for some of these students it might have been the first time they had ever been recognized for a academic type accomplishment. The Lions Club in our little community has invited them to a luncheon to honor their accomplishment. Now to most of us, that sounds like a small thing, but for these students it might be one of the biggest things ever to happen.

As a result of all the visitors to their site, they happened to meet a world renouned photographer, Kent Wood. Kent corresponded with them via email, and he agreed to help them learn photography. He sent them email to help them learn the keys to good photography. Not technical stuff like focus and exposure, but the real top level stuff like composition, and how to evoke feeling in your pictures. The school bought the class a very nice, high end Digital Canon Rebel camera. We then took the students on a field trip to an old western fort about an hour from our school. The students took pictures of the fort, and took pictures of each other. When they returned, they sent the photographs to Kent, and he provided them with an excellent critique of their work, which by the way was incredibly encouraging to them.

They then took the photographs they had taken, and added a section to the WEB site on themselves. They have given themselves a name, Los Vatos de Oro. I dont know the exact translation, but it is something like the brothers of gold. Not brothers as in blood kin, but sort of like close friends of compatriots. Anyway, I found it incredibly interesting to read what they wrote about themselves as a group, and what each of them wrote about themselves. For those of you who have emailed and asked about these students, I am hopeful you will check out the new section of the WEB site, Los Vatos. Be sure to click on each thumbnail to read what that student wrote about themselves.

For all of you who wrote encouraging emails to them, I give you a great big thank you. You will never know what impact your kind words had on these young people.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Native American Woman

This photograph is from the early 1900's, and was taken by Edward Curtis. The picture shows a very old Native American Woman. I don't have any other information on the person. It appears she is wearing a printed dress, but at the same time, is wearing what looks like a traditional cap.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Native American Woman

This photograph was taken in 1924, and shows a Native American woman. The picture was taken by Edward Curtis. Edward Curtis travelled the country in the late 1800's and early 1900's taking photographs of Native Americans. His work is one of the most interesting compilations of pictures of the customs and traditions of these people.

Many thanks to Gabriel G. for doing the photo restoration work and submitting this image.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Taos Indian

This photograph was taken in 1905, and shows a Taos Indian man. This is really a spectacular portrait, and you wonder what the story of this man's life was. So many times, we have only a picture, and no name or information to go with the picture.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Indian Burial

This photograph was taken in 1912 and shows a Native American burial ceremony. The dead person has been elevated onto a small scaffold, which has been decorated by different items. Two people stand nearby. I wish I knew more about this type of ceremony, but I do find the photograph captivating.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Indian Chief

This photograph was taken in 1908 by Edward Curtis. It shows an Indian Chief named White Shield. I love the work Edward Curtis did in capturing these images of Native Americans.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Bows and Arrows

This photograph shows Native Americans, with bows and arrows pointed skyward. This is part of the Atsina Crazy Dance. The picture was taken in 1908 by Edward Curtis.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Eskimo Family

This photograph shows an Eskimo Family. The picture was made in 1929 by Edward Curtis. I wish I knew more about the history of these indigenous people.

I wonder if there are any Eskimos still living the traditional lifestyle in Igloos, or have all these people moved into modern lifestyles?

Monday, June 2, 2008

Indian Dancers

This photograph was taken in 1914 by Edward Curtis. He called the picture, "Dancing to restore an eclipsed moon". The picture shows Kwakiutl people dancing in a circle around a smoking fire, in an effort to cause a sky creature, which they believe swallowed the moon, to restore it.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Indian with Bow and Arrow

This picture was taken in 1913, and shows an Indian man stringing his bow. This has to be one of my all-time favorite Native American photographs.

I find it sad that this traditional way of life of these people has been lost. Sometimes when I think about history, I imagine what things might have been like if events had unfolded a little different. I think some of the original treaties signed by the US with the Native Americans might have been fair. I think the problem is we kept reneging on the deals until the Native Americans ended up with just about nothing. What if we had not killed off the buffalo, and what if we had honored the initial treaties with the Indians. There might still be people living this traditional way of life. Now wouldn't that be something?

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Native American Man

This photograph was taken by Edward Curtis, and shows a Native American man. I love these old Curtis photos, but wish we knew more about the people in the pictures. There stories are left to our imagineations.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Buffalo Bill

This picture was taken in 1907, and shows Buffalo Bill Cody on horseback, riding beside a Native American. It is assumed that the photo was taken at one of his Wild West shows. His show ran from 1882 to 1917, and has been called the most successful traveling show of all times.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Apache on Horseback

This picture was taken in 1903, and shows 4 Apache men on horseback crossing a stream. The photograph was taken by Edward Curtis.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Zuni Man

This is a wonderful portrait of a Native American man. It was taken in 1903 by Edward Curtis. The man is part of the Zuni tribe.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Native American Child

This photograph was taken in 1905, and shows a young Native American child. The photograph was taken by Edward Curtis. These Native American photographs are among my favorites.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Chief Two Guns White Calf

Today we feature a portrait of Chief Two Guns White Calf. In case you think he looks familiar, there is a good reason. His likeness was used on the American Buffalo Nickel.