Photographs and display boards relating to exhibition on 'Visions of a vanishing race' by Edward Sheriff Curtis

Oversize copy photographs and six display boards from portfolio 'Visions of a vanishing race', Edward Sheriff Curtis (unpublished, 1967). Presumably re-produced for use in a library exhibition.

Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) was an American photographer, who documented images of more than eighty Native American tribes from throughout North America, taking pictures of all aspects of traditional Indian life. The images were produced in a multiple volume limited edition study North American Indian (1907-1930), and were photographed over a thirty year period from 1895. The project was supported by Theodore Roosevelt and partially funded by J. Pierpont Morgan. One of these sets (number IV) was owned by the University of Exeter Library, having been presented by the Royal Library at Windsor. The set (known as the Curtis Collection) was sold at auction in 2001, as the University's research interests in this area had waned.

Curtis was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Seattle. He was a self-taught photographer and became a partner in a photographic studio in 1892. Through George Grinnell, he was appointed Official Photographer to the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899, where he developed interests in North American Indian culture.

Usual EUL arrangements apply.

Transferred from University of Exeter, Main Library Rolling Stack. Presumed to have previously formed part of the Audio-Visual Unit, Main Library.

No finding aids are available.

Description created by Rob Ford, 9 Dec 2006.

Usual EUL restrictions apply.

See also: EUL MS 182 ('Edward Sheriff Curtis: Visions of a vanishing race', by Jane Jordan Browne (unpublished, 1967)), and EUL MS 304 (Photographs and display boards relating to exhibition on 'Visions of a vanishing race', by Edward Sheriff Curtis, 1970s-1980s).