Native American Photography at the Smithsonian: The Shindler Catalogue

by Smithsonian Institution; Fleming, Paula Richardson

• ISBN13: 9781588341211
• ISBN10: 1588341216
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-06-01
• Publisher: Random House Inc

Summary

This book of hauntingly beautiful Native American portraits reflects the tragic history of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Pawnee, Cherokee, and other groups whose leaders traveled to Washington in the mid-nineteenth-century to negotiate treaties with the US government. As compelling as the famous photographs of Indians by Edward S. Curtis, these unique images provide a close-up, unromanticized record of Native American life at a critical time in the history of relations between the US government and Native Americans, just after the Civil War and at the beginning of the great westward expansion of US territories. The images form the core of the Smithsonian's extensive collection of Native American photographs and of important collections in many other major museums around the world. Paula Fleming recounts the history of this collection, which was the Smithsonian'sand perhaps the country'sfirst photographic exhibit. A succint biography of A. Zeno Shindler, the photographer, is followed by a thoughtful examination of the key events surrounding the Indian delegations in Washington, providing for the first time a comprehensive picture of a poignant moment in history.

Author Biography

Paula Richardson Fleming is the photographic archive specialist at the Smithsonian Institution's National Anthropological Archives and author of Grand Endeavors of American Indian Photography.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(30)
The Shindler Catalogue	31	(278)
Bibliography	309	(4)
Appendix: Entry Variations and Numbers in Other Collections and Listings	313	(54)
Indexes	367	(1)
Names	367	(3)
Artwork	370	(1)
Daguerreotypes and Tintypes	370	(1)
Physical Anthropological Subjects	370	(1)
Photographers, Artists, and Collectors	370	(1)
Tribes	370	(1)
Delegations	371