Edward S. Curtis and the use of props in "The North American Indian"
- Herman Cohen Stuart
- 10 hours ago
- 11 min read
In his twenty-volume book series The North American Indian (NAI, 1907-1930), American photographer Edward S. Curtis included 2,234 photographs of Native Americans and numerous aspects of their cultures. He has been praised, but also criticized, especially in recent decades. One of the reasons for this criticism is his supposed use of props, incidentally or on a more regular basis. Christopher Lyman was the first to note this in his book The Vanishing Race and Other Illusions (1982). As proof he showed two NAI photographs of one and the same war shirt worn by two different people, and also photos of men wearing the same war bonnets. He explained their use by pointing to Curtis's supposed intent to cover up the acculturation of Natives that had already been going on for a long time at that point, the core theme in Lyman's book. In my book Unraveling Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian I have discussed this subject at length.
As a result, Curtis's as yet mostly assumed use of props influences the perception of his work to this day – along with the photograph In a Piegan Lodge which is invariably cited as an example of his retouching.[1] Like this photo, the subject of Curtis using props also frequently appears in books and articles, as well as museum catalogs about exhibitions of Curtis's work – as yet only on the basis of this thinly substantiated suggestion by Lyman.
It's time for clarity on this subject too. Therefore, the question to be answered here is: Did Curtis indeed use props, and if so, to what extent? (This is the if-question, the question of fact. I will leave the why-question alone, although it will come up sideways).
To answer this question, I once again immersed myself in Curtis's NAI photographs. Instead of the term prop, I will initially use the term multiply-used clothing object (or “object” for short) here. After all, the fact that an object appears more than once does not necessarily mean that it is a prop. I will return to this.
For the purpose of making clear distinctions between objects, I examined the following characteristics of war shirts and headdresses:[2]
War shirt: particularly the way the neck slap and beaded strips are decorated.
Headdress (or war bonnet): primarily the decoration of the headband, and in addition the amount of feathers used and their style: lying flat, standing, or otherwise.
Some Background of War Shirts and War Bonnets
War shirts, also called scalp shirts, were garments awarded to Plains warriors who had performed particularly courageous acts in combat situations, such as counting coup (touching an enemy without killing him), being a member of a scouting party, being wounded in battle, or having his horse killed or wounded. At the Short Hair Society of the Lakota, among others, war shirts were awarded in special ceremonies to men who deserved this honor. The shirts were made by female relatives who themselves derived honor from them. Symbols - sometimes taken from dreams - were applied to them, representing the owner's special deeds but also offering protection, or symbolizing masculine power. Feathers of various colors could also be added, or the hair of slain enemies, which added strength to the shirt. Many images had special (ceremonial) meanings, and in a number of cases the owners added them themselves or painted their shirts with colors that had special meaning to them. All in all, these were highly personal items, that were very valuable to their owners.[3]
As was the case with the war shirt, wearing a war bonnet was an honor to be bestowed: it could only be worn by men who had distinguished themselves in armed conflict. The crown of feathers that make up the war bonnet is symbolic of the powerful rays of the sun and male strength. Different styles existed between tribes; the crown could consist of upright feathers or "loose" feathers, and some military societies also used bonnets with trailing rows of feathers. Attached to it, for example, could be horns or ermine tails. The shapes and materials used convey symbolic messages.[4]
Analysis and Findings
I looked for objects that appear in at least two different photographs – obviously, two is the minimum number of times an object may appear “multiple times.” I focused on men's clothing[5] to fit in with Lyman's approach, who after all raised the question of multiple use of clothing objects (in his terminology, “props”). I have not investigated whether any clothing worn by women is also worn multiple times, but it cannot be ruled out that such photographs and clothing are included in the NAI. Neither have I looked into the possible use by Curtis of wigs as props, which has also been suggested, though not by Lyman.
The results of my analysis are as follows:
I found a total number of 27 photos showing multiply-used war shirts.
I found a total number of 30 photographs showing multiply-used war bonnets.
The number of shirts we see more than once in the NAI amounts to four. The number of war bonnets amounts to 13.
The four shirts appear in Volumes 3, 4, 5, 7 and 18 (Volumes and Portfolios). The 13 war bonnets appear in Volumes 3, 5, 8, 13, 18 and 19 (Volumes and Portfolios).
Photos showing the shirts were copyrighted in the years 1907, 1908, 1910, and 1926.[6] Photos showing the war bonnets were copyrighted in the years 1905, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1923, 1926, and 1927.
In all, the amount of photos showing multiply-used objects is 57. As three photos from Volume 18 appear in both lists,[7] the adjusted overall number of photos showing multiple-use clothing objects is 54, or 2.4% of all NAI photos.
Two times two photographs show a shirt and a bonnet, respectively, that are each worn by the same man and by other persons. These are the photos titled Little Hawk and Little Hawk-Brule in the shirts group, and the photos titled A Nez Perce and Nez Perce Profile in the war bonnets group. In order to avoid double counting, I did not include these four photos in my counts of the group of objects worn by one and the same person, but only among those worn by different people – after all, this analysis is aimed at the latter group. The total number of photos we are looking at remains 54. See Graph 1 for their occurrence across NAI volumes. To be sure, as volume totals are shown here, for both shirts and bonnets, these bars show all 57 photos.[8]
Graph 1: Multiple Use of Clothing Items
Observations from my analysis
The first thing to note is that the multiple-use shirts occur in five volumes in all. The multiple-use war bonnets occur in six volumes. The overlap is in Volumes 3, 5, and 18.
The frequency of occurrence of objects in photographs varies greatly: it ranges from the minimum of twice, to 17 times.
Further, no single item appears to have been used in more than three NAI volumes. Thus, Curtis did not deploy any single item during many of his trips.
Some objects appear quite often among different tribes, others do so only two or three times among one tribe. This raises the question of whether all of the latter are actually props provided by Curtis. See, for example, the pictures titled Wakonda – Oto and Pipe Stem – Oto. The bonnet they are wearing is worn only by them, by no one else, and thus – obviously – by no other tribe.
Six bonnets are used only with a single tribe, and by two to four people. This raises the question of whether Curtis indeed had that many clothing items at his disposal – in other words, again, whether these are indeed props.
Few objects occur with more than one tribe. This is only true of two shirts that I would like to describe as:
Leather shirt showing neck flap with three lines with point up, and beaded strips showing triangles and squares (hereafter: Shirt One). Number of tribes: 5. Example: Short Log - Two Kettle (see below)
Leather shirt showing neck flap with horizontal strings of beads, and beaded strips showing small squares (hereafter: Shirt Two). Number of tribes: 4. Example: Lone Flag – Atsina (see below),
as well as for the war bonnet worn by Red Bird - Cheyenne and Standing Two - Oto. Number of tribes: 2.
Finally, some objects are worn only by one single individual, in different pictures that also have different titles. As for shirts, see for example Red Owl - Flathead next to Flathead Chief. As for bonnets, see Praying to the Spirits at Crater Lake next to The Chief - Klamath. My conclusion would be that these are not props, but the personal property of the persons photographed.
Discussion
This kind of varying, and for most of the objects very limited use raises the question: What exactly is a “prop?” After all, it does not seem impossible that a particular bonnet was present on site and was used by several people for the occasion. In contrast, Shirt One appears in 17 photographs (two of which show the same man), in photographs of five different tribes, that were copyrighted in two consecutive years. This shirt is much more likely to be a prop than the bonnet shown in the photos of the two Oto men (two photos, one tribe, one year). The same as for Shirt One applies to Shirt Two: five photos, four tribes, and also copyrighted in two years.
Based on my observations, I define “props” within this analysis as objects that are used:
By several individuals,
By several tribes (please note that this is about tribes, not NAI volumes, because within volumes there may be differences in use among different tribes), and
In several years.
(And which, of course, were provided by Curtis. However, this is a feature of a different order, which cannot be observed from the objects themselves).
Explanation:
One versus several individuals: we have seen that a number of objects are worn multiple times by one person. I assume that in these cases they are not props, but personal property of the wearer. At the very least, two persons should be involved.
One versus several tribes: An object used only with a single tribe is not necessarily a prop. (Also, the modest numbers of NAI photos where this is the case do not suggest they are). However, if an object is used with different tribes in a single year, the probability of it being a prop is there.
One versus several years: If an object is used over several years, it is more likely to be a prop: it may have been a part of Curtis’s luggage.
In general: The probability that a shirt or headdress is a prop is higher if the same object has been used by different individuals of different tribes, and in different years. If not, it may be incidental use of an object that happened to be present on the spot.
Thus, if we look at the various objects that occur multiple times and that are worn by multiple individuals in different years, this is particularly true for Shirt One which occurs in the years 1907 and 1908 with multiple individuals from five tribes, and for Shirt Two (multiple individuals from four tribes, also in the years 1907 and 1908). It could possibly also apply to the war bonnet worn by Red Bird – Cheyenne and Standing Two – Oto (after all: different tribes), although this is used in only one year.
It is doubtful whether the two war bonnets worn by Nez Perce men that are shown in photographs from 1905 and 1910, respectively, are props. The first one is a bonnet worn by Yellow Bull and two other tribal members, and the second is the bonnet seen in A Nez Perce / Nez Perce profile, which is also worn by A Young Warrior – Nez Perce and A Typical Nez Perce. These two very different bonnets were used in two separate years. Both bonnets were used by three persons, but with only one tribe, in only one year. It seems possible that these are props, but this probability would be much higher if either object – or both – had been used for all Nez Perce portraits showing bonnets, in both years. As it is, it seems much more likely that these bonnets were someone’s personal property, and that Curtis (or the men he photographed) made convenient use of them. [9]
Based on all of these considerations, my conclusion is that three possible props remain: Shirts One and Two, and the bonnet worn by Red Bird – Cheyenne and Standing Two – Oto. This yields the following, cleaned-up chart:
Graph 2: Probable Props
All in all, considering the modest number of probable props, it was certainly not the case that Curtis, as is sometimes suggested, was lugging a crate of props around with him on his trips to reservations in order to perform large-scale manipulation of images of Natives to his liking. The number of photographs representing the three (probable) props discussed above (17 plus 5 shirts plus 1 war bonnet) is 23, which amounts to a mere 1 percent of all NAI photographs. We may conclude it is possible that Curtis used props, but within the entirety of the NAI he did so very sparingly and certainly not in a predominant way – and thus, to me, not in a way that provides a basis to disapprove of his work – much less, the entirety of it. Its value, and Curtis’s approach as such, can be nuanced and criticized, and of course there is nothing wrong with that. But even then, the problem of Curtis using props (if there is one) appears to be very limited indeed.
Literature:
Carocci, Max. 2012. Warriors of the Plains – The Arts of Plains Indian Warfare. London (UK): The British Museum Press.
Cohen Stuart, Herman. 2023. Unraveling Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian. Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK): Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Curtis, Edward S. 1907-1930. The North American Indian: being a series of volumes picturing and describing the Indians of the United States, and Alaska. Edited by Frederick Webb Hodge. Foreword by Theodore Roosevelt. Field Research conducted under the patronage of J. Pierpont Morgan. [Cambridge, Mass.]. Northwestern Libraries Digital Collections. “Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian.” https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/collections/55ff2504-dd53-4943-b2cb-aeea46e77bc3
Graybill, Coleen, and John Edward Graybill. 2023. Edward S. Curtis: Unpublished Plains. Buena Vista, Colorado: Curtis Legacy Foundation.
Lyman, Christopher M. 1982. The Vanishing Race and Other Illusions. New York: Pantheon Books.
Peterson, Larry Len. L.A. Huffman, Photographer of the American West. 2013 Revised Edition. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana.
[1] A clock-like object was removed by retouching from a domestic scene in a Native lodge, sparkling much debate about Curtis’s reasons to do so.
[2] A complicating factor in my research was the fact that in some photographs, men are standing away from the photographer, sometimes on horseback, or bonnets are worn by members of groups. See for instance the photograph Singing Deeds of Valor, or war-party scenes like The Parley. In those cases, it is hard to determine whether any objects are visible that are used more than once in the NAI.
[3] Carocci p. 45, 51-53; Curtis, NAI Volume 3 p.15-16, 30.
[4] Carocci p.72-73; Curtis NAI Volume 3 p.30.
[5] Today, female Indian leaders may also wear war bonnets.
[6] In this study, I am using as references the years in which the photographs are copyrighted according to the information listed on their NAI prints.
[7] Of war shirts and headdresses, respectively.
[8] In Unpublished Plains two more photos appear of men wearing a multiply-used war shirt. These photos are not included in this analysis.
[9] Interestingly, photographer Laton A. Huffman (1854-1931) portrayed two different men wearing the same shirt (Spotted Eagle, a Sioux Warrior, possibly 1880, and Scorched Lightning, possibly Assiniboine, possibly 1890). One social media source suggests these men were father and son. I have found no confirmation of this statement, but if correct, it would explain the use of this particular shirt in both photographs.
About the author
Herman Cohen Stuart, Ph.D. (1955), a Netherlands-based independent researcher, has been studying Edward S. Curtis and his work for decades. In 2016 he received his doctorate on this topic, and his book Unraveling Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian was published in 2023. This book is available at https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-1065-4