ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
OUR VISION
We envision a nation that honors and respects American Indians/Alaska Natives.
OUR MISSION
We elevate awareness of American Indians/Alaska Natives through storytelling while perpetuating the work of Edward Curtis.
OUR VALUES
Integrity: We believe in building trust with North American Native individuals and communities in everything we do by being transparent, honoring our word, and demonstrating the utmost respect.
Stewardship: We believe it is our responsibility to honor those North American Natives that came before, are among us now, and are yet to come by preserving the work of Edward Curtis.
Honor: Humanity is strengthened by valuing our differences and our similarities. When we honor diversity, a more equitable world unites in peace and understanding. Through integrity and collaboration, we wish to come to a place of honor with North American Natives.
Collaboration: Through our collective passion for storytelling, we wish to partner with North American Natives to amplify their voices by highlighting the past works of Edward Curtis and our current Descendant’s Project.
Compassion: We wish to create an environment of awareness that calls us to question and explore our implicit biases more deeply. We must strive to see the world through the eyes of North American Natives before we judge, act, or even pretend to understand.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Curtis Legacy Foundation respectfully acknowledges that our work is rooted on the ancestral homelands of the Ute Nation (Nuuchiu), as well as the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other Indigenous peoples who have called this region home since time immemorial. We recognize the painful history of forced removal and broken treaties that dispossessed these Nations of their homelands.
Acknowledgment is only a first step. We commit to moving beyond words by utilizing our foundation’s platform to honor Indigenous self-determination, elevate Native voices, and support contemporary descendants in preserving their stories, cultures, and enduring connections to these lands.
CONTACT US
WHAT WE DO
We preserve the history of Edward S. Curtis through research and publication about his life and by safeguarding important archives of his work.
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We provide an unparalleled library of photographs, documents, family stories, and research archives about the life and work of Edward S. Curtis.
We advance knowledge about the rich cultures of the Peoples and places he once saw.
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Through the Descendants Project™, we amplify the stories of the Peoples whom Curtis photographed and recorded at the start of the 20th century.
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Through our Unpublished book series, we continue the stories and portrayals of the Native Peoples that Curtis began more than 100 years ago.
The Curtis Legacy Foundation™ is a registered nonprofit charity in the United States. Donations to the foundation are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
HISTORY OF THE FOUNDATION
My great-grandfather, Edward Sherriff Curtis, saw the policies of the US Government as detrimental to the Indigenous population of North America and was driven to document all he could before it was gone. His dream to “make them live forever” slipped into oblivion after the Great Depression and the general public lost interest in the Native Peoples of this land. Fortunately, his work has gained much acclaim and recognition since the early 1970s after being rediscovered in the basement of a Boston bookstore. At the same time, there has been some controversy surrounding his photographic achievements (although not the body of text contained in the twenty volumes of the North American Indian). It has been my dream to continue the work he started: assuring that his legacy is carried forward by amplifying the stories and photographing the descendants of his work. With this in mind, I created the Curtis Legacy Foundation™ in early 2019. With the help of my sisters and a dedicated group of volunteer board members, we are continuing the journey that my great-grandfather started more than a hundred years ago.
John Graybill
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Graybill
Founding President
Stacy Madigan
Treasurer
Dr. Liz Ross
Vice President
Ann Bonin
Founding Board Member
Janet Parcher
Founding Secretary
Denise Wartes
Board Member
STAFF
Coleen Graybill
Founding Executive Director
