Northwestern University Library announces the release on April 26, 2001 by
the Library of Congress National Digital Library Program of:
"Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian: Photographic Images"
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/curthome.html
The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis is one of the most
significant and controversial representations of traditional American
Indian culture ever produced. Issued in a limited edition from 1907-1930,
the publication continues to exert a major influence on the image of
Indians in popular culture. Curtis said he wanted to document "the old time
Indian, his dress, his ceremonies, his life and manners." In over 2,000
photogravure plates and narrative, Curtis portrayed the traditional customs
and lifeways of eighty Indian tribes. The twenty volumes, each with an
accompanying portfolio, are organized by tribes and culture areas
encompassing the Great Plains, Great Basin, Plateau Region, Southwest,
California, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.
In 1998, Northwestern University Library was awarded a grant from the
Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition to
support the digitization of all of the illustrations contained in the
volumes and portfolios of its copy of The North American
Indian. Northwestern also created detailed indexing that permits retrieval
of the images by personal name, tribal affiliation, geocultural region, and
subject. A special section of the digital collection, "Edward S. Curtis in
Context," presents a map, timeline, and essays by noted scholars reflecting
on how Curtis has been viewed in his time and today.
Please direct any questions about the collection to [log in to unmask]
With a gift from Ameritech, the Library of Congress sponsored a three-year
competition to enable public, research, and academic libraries, museums,
historical societies, and archival institutions (except federal
institutions) to create digital collections of primary resources. These
digital collections complement and enhance the collections of the National
Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html).
Curtis' life and lasting influence are portrayed in "Coming to Light:
Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indians," a documentary film by
Anne Makepeace, which premiered in the PBS "American Masters" series on
April 23, 2001 (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/). Local station
broadcast dates may vary.
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