One of this nation’s first noted photographers, Edward Curtis, spent much of his career creating images that today are recognized as an attempt to create visual documentation of Native Americans.
His images are controversial in that they were taken by Curtis at a time when indigenous people on this continent were still fighting to hold on to their native lands and increasingly were made to assimilate into ways of life based on Western standards, according to art history and photography experts at Texas State University.
Texas State University Wittliff Collections Director David Coleman recently went on TXST’s “Big Ideas” podcast to discuss Curtis’ photography and the collection, “The North American Indian,” currently on hand at the university. The collection includes images that were published by Curtis from 1907 to 1930.
