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Performing Archive Main Menu Visualizing the “Vanishing Race”: the photogravures of Edward S. Curtis Front Page for Visualizing the "Vanishing Race" path Curtis' Image and Life: The Network of The North American Indian, Inc. An experiment with data visualization approach to understand and contextualize Curtis' images and his life Media, Technology and Mediations Curtis's Technology, Relationships to Media and Style Contextualizing Curtis, The North American Indian, and Race the collection of essays from the contributors Consulting with Tribes as Part of Archive Development Introduction to Consulting with Tribes by Ulia Gosart Contributing Archives Information on how to participate in Performing Archive Browsing the Media A path of paths that allow users to cut through the collection in a variety of ways. Acknowledgements and Project Information Project Network

White Calf - Piegan

29482 Unistai-poka (White Buffalo-calf) died at Washington in 1903. He was then almost eighty years of age, and had been the chief of his tribe for about a generation. In 1855, being then known as Feather, he signed the treaty negotiated by Governor Stevens. As a warrior, White Calf was famous among the tribes, but with the passing of inter tribal warfare he devoted himself to working in peaceful ways for the good of his people. He was remarkable in the breadth of his judgement, and in the readiness with which he recognized, and adapted himself to, the changes which his people were obliged to face when the buffalo vanished. Kindly, benevolent, and gentle of nature, White Calf yet possessed a sturdy determination and independence that bullying and threats could not move. Yet if reasons were advanced which appealed to his judgement, he was quick to acknowledge error and to modify his views - George Bird Grinnell..

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Vanishing Erik Loyer
Contents of this path:
1. Vanishing race - Navaho
2. White Calf - Piegan Unistai-poka (White Buffalo-calf) died at Washington in 1903. He was then almost eighty years of age, and had been the chief of his tribe for about a generation. In 1855, being then known as Feather, he signed the treaty negotiated by Governor Stevens. As a warrior, White Calf was famous among the tribes, but with the passing of inter tribal warfare he devoted himself to working in peaceful ways for the good of his people. He was remarkable in the breadth of his judgement, and in the readiness with which he recognized, and adapted himself to, the changes which his people were obliged to face when the buffalo vanished. Kindly, benevolent, and gentle of nature, White Calf yet possessed a sturdy determination and independence that bullying and threats could not move. Yet if reasons were advanced which appealed to his judgement, he was quick to acknowledge error and to modify his views - George Bird Grinnell..
3. Lost trail - Apache
4. Qagyuhl village at Fort Rupert This village of Tsahes was founded in 1849, when the tribe abandoned Kalokwis, on Turnour island, in order to be near the Hudson's Bay Company post which was then established at Fort Rupert, on Vancouver island. The heraldic column in the foreground commemorates the legendary history of a Tsimshian family. Its presence in the Kwakiutl settlement is due to the following circumstances: A party of Seattle men, cruising in Alaska, innocently removed a totem pole from what they supposed was an abandoned village, and placed it in a public square of their city. In reality the inhabitants of the Alaskan village were only temporarily absent, and when they returned and learned of the spoliation, there was a many-voiced protest, the echoes of which finally reached even Fort Rupert. Here was living a prominent member of the wronged family, the aged Tsimshian widow of a former employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. In order to wipe out the stain in the family name, she had a local carver produce a totem pole according to her description of the lost one, and cause it to be erected at the house of her eldest son's eldest son.
5. Potter - Santa Clara
6. Qagyuhl village at Fort Rupert This village of Tsahes was founded in 1849, when the tribe abandoned Kalokwis, on Turnour island, in order to be near the Hudson's Bay Company post which was then established at Fort Rupert, on Vancouver island. The heraldic column in the foreground commemorates the legendary history of a Tsimshian family. Its presence in the Kwakiutl settlement is due to the following circumstances: A party of Seattle men, cruising in Alaska, innocently removed a totem pole from what they supposed was an abandoned village, and placed it in a public square of their city. In reality the inhabitants of the Alaskan village were only temporarily absent, and when they returned and learned of the spoliation, there was a many-voiced protest, the echoes of which finally reached even Fort Rupert. Here was living a prominent member of the wronged family, the aged Tsimshian widow of a former employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. In order to wipe out the stain in the family name, she had a local carver produce a totem pole according to her description of the lost one, and cause it to be erected at the house of her eldest son's eldest son.
Piegan Erik Loyer
Contents of this path:
1. Piegan
2. Morning Eagle - Piegan
3. Painted lodges - Piegan
4. Tearing Lodge - Piegan Pinokiminush is one of the few Piegan of advanced years and retentive memory. He was born about 1835 on Jusdith river in what is now northern Montana, and was found to be a valuable informant on many topics. The buffalo-skin cap is a part of his war costume, and was made and worn at the command of a spirit in a vision. The first fasting of Tearing Lodge for the sake of experiencing a vision is narrated by him in Volume VI, pages 79-81.
5. In a Piegan lodge Little Plume with his son Yellow Kidney occupies the position of honor, the space at the rear opposite the entrance. The picture is full of suggestion of the various Indian activities. In a prominent place lie the ever-present pipe and its accessories on the tobacco cutting-board. From the lodge-poles hang the buffalo-skin shield, the long medicine-bundle, an eagle-wing fan, and deerskin articles for accoutering the horse. The upper end of the rope is attached to the intersection of the lodge-poles, and in stormy weather the lower end is made fast to a stake near the centre of the floor space.
6. White Calf - Piegan Unistai-poka (White Buffalo-calf) died at Washington in 1903. He was then almost eighty years of age, and had been the chief of his tribe for about a generation. In 1855, being then known as Feather, he signed the treaty negotiated by Governor Stevens. As a warrior, White Calf was famous among the tribes, but with the passing of inter tribal warfare he devoted himself to working in peaceful ways for the good of his people. He was remarkable in the breadth of his judgement, and in the readiness with which he recognized, and adapted himself to, the changes which his people were obliged to face when the buffalo vanished. Kindly, benevolent, and gentle of nature, White Calf yet possessed a sturdy determination and independence that bullying and threats could not move. Yet if reasons were advanced which appealed to his judgement, he was quick to acknowledge error and to modify his views - George Bird Grinnell..
7. Two Bear Woman - Piegan
8. Double Runner - Piegan
9. Sun dance encampment - Piegan
10. Travaux - Piegan
11. Gambler - Piegan
12. At the water's edge - Piegan
13. Yellow Kidney - Piegan
14. Idle hour - Piegan
15. Grizzly-bear brave - Piegan At least two of the Piegan Warrior societies (the Braves and the All Brave Dogs) included in their membership two men known as Grizzly-bear Braves. It was their duty, at the time of the society dances, to provide their comrades with meat, which they appropriated wherever they could find it. Their expression and demeanor did justice to their name, and in their official capacity they were generally feared by the people. See Volume VI, pages 20-21.
16. Medicine-pipe - Piegan Medicine-pipes, of which the Piegan have many, are simply long pipe-stems variously decorated with beads, paint, feathers, and fur. Each one is believed to have been obtained long ago in some supernatural manner, as recounted in a myth. The medicine-pipe is ordinarily concealed in a bundle of wrappings, which are removed only when the sacred object is to be employed in healing sickness, or when it is to be transferred from one custodian to another in exchange for property. Such exchanges, occurring at intervals of a few years in the history of each pipe, are attended by much ceremony
17. New Chest - Piegan
18. Crow Eagle - Piegan
19. Middle Calf - Piegan
20. Weasel Tail - Piegan
21. Old person - Piegan
22. Bringing the sweat-lodge willows - Piegan
23. Iron Breast - Piegan
24. Piegan encampment
25. Piegan dandy
26. Three chiefs - Piegan
27. Titishu-kghitluhl ("Deer Running") - Sarsi The Sarsi are an Athapascan tribe which prior to the nineteenth century came out of the far north, crossed the Saskatchewan, and becoming affiliated with the Algonquian confederacy of the Bloods, Blackfeet, and Piegan, became typical plainsmen, following the buffalo, engaging in horse-stealing raids, and in general adopting the religious practices of their allies. Old Sarsi, as the subject of this plate is colloquially known, was ninety-eight years of age when the photograph was made in 1925. In spite of his years, he was still agile and keen.
28. Blackfoot country
29. Red Plume - Piegan
30. Piegan camp
31. Piegan lodge
32. Mountain chief - Piegan
33. Two Medicine River - Piegan
34. A prairie camp - Piegan
35. A buffalo-fall - Piegan
36. Piegan war-bonnet and coup-stick
37. Lodge interior - Piegan
38. The Grizzly-bear - Piegan
39. Camp in the foothills - Piegan
40. Piegan woman
41. Overlooking the camp - Piegan
42. A grave-house - Piegan
43. A Piegan home
44. Navel-amulets - Piegan
45. In the lodge - Piegan
46. Goldenrod meadows - Piegan
47. The crier - Piegan
48. Return to faster's lodge - Piegan
49. The pledger - Piegan
50. Return with willows - Piegan
51. Substitute sacred head-dress - Piegan
52. Piegan dancers
53. The Whistler - Piegan
54. The sun lodge - Piegan
55. Day-dreams - Piegan
56. Camp by a prairie lake - Piegan
57. Piegan girls
58. A child's lodge - Piegan
59. Buffalo-stones - Piegan
60. Medicine-bags - Piegan
61. Running Owl - Piegan
62. A Piegan woman
63. A Piegan play tipi
64. Frame of the sun-lodge - Piegan
65. Offerings in the sun-lodge - Piegan
66. Central post of the sun lodge - Piegan
67. A Piegan war-bonnet
68. A Piegan tipi
List of Large Plates Supplementing Volume Six Erik Loyer
Contents of this path:
1. Piegan
2. Morning Eagle - Piegan
3. Painted lodges - Piegan
4. Tearing Lodge - Piegan Pinokiminush is one of the few Piegan of advanced years and retentive memory. He was born about 1835 on Jusdith river in what is now northern Montana, and was found to be a valuable informant on many topics. The buffalo-skin cap is a part of his war costume, and was made and worn at the command of a spirit in a vision. The first fasting of Tearing Lodge for the sake of experiencing a vision is narrated by him in Volume VI, pages 79-81.
5. In a Piegan lodge Little Plume with his son Yellow Kidney occupies the position of honor, the space at the rear opposite the entrance. The picture is full of suggestion of the various Indian activities. In a prominent place lie the ever-present pipe and its accessories on the tobacco cutting-board. From the lodge-poles hang the buffalo-skin shield, the long medicine-bundle, an eagle-wing fan, and deerskin articles for accoutering the horse. The upper end of the rope is attached to the intersection of the lodge-poles, and in stormy weather the lower end is made fast to a stake near the centre of the floor space.
6. White Calf - Piegan Unistai-poka (White Buffalo-calf) died at Washington in 1903. He was then almost eighty years of age, and had been the chief of his tribe for about a generation. In 1855, being then known as Feather, he signed the treaty negotiated by Governor Stevens. As a warrior, White Calf was famous among the tribes, but with the passing of inter tribal warfare he devoted himself to working in peaceful ways for the good of his people. He was remarkable in the breadth of his judgement, and in the readiness with which he recognized, and adapted himself to, the changes which his people were obliged to face when the buffalo vanished. Kindly, benevolent, and gentle of nature, White Calf yet possessed a sturdy determination and independence that bullying and threats could not move. Yet if reasons were advanced which appealed to his judgement, he was quick to acknowledge error and to modify his views - George Bird Grinnell..
7. Two Bear Woman - Piegan
8. Double Runner - Piegan
9. Sun dance encampment - Piegan
10. Travaux - Piegan
11. Gambler - Piegan
12. At the water's edge - Piegan
13. Yellow Kidney - Piegan
14. Idle hour - Piegan
15. Grizzly-bear brave - Piegan At least two of the Piegan Warrior societies (the Braves and the All Brave Dogs) included in their membership two men known as Grizzly-bear Braves. It was their duty, at the time of the society dances, to provide their comrades with meat, which they appropriated wherever they could find it. Their expression and demeanor did justice to their name, and in their official capacity they were generally feared by the people. See Volume VI, pages 20-21.
16. Medicine-pipe - Piegan Medicine-pipes, of which the Piegan have many, are simply long pipe-stems variously decorated with beads, paint, feathers, and fur. Each one is believed to have been obtained long ago in some supernatural manner, as recounted in a myth. The medicine-pipe is ordinarily concealed in a bundle of wrappings, which are removed only when the sacred object is to be employed in healing sickness, or when it is to be transferred from one custodian to another in exchange for property. Such exchanges, occurring at intervals of a few years in the history of each pipe, are attended by much ceremony
17. New Chest - Piegan
18. Crow Eagle - Piegan
19. Middle Calf - Piegan
20. Weasel Tail - Piegan
21. Old person - Piegan
22. Bringing the sweat-lodge willows - Piegan
23. Iron Breast - Piegan
24. Piegan encampment
25. Piegan dandy
26. Three chiefs - Piegan
27. Cheyenne type
28. Cheyenne profile
29. Cheyenne girl
30. Two Moons - Cheyenne
31. At the ford - Cheyenne
32. Cheyenne warriors
33. Porcupine - Cheyenne
34. Camp in the cottonwoods - Cheyenne
35. Waiting in the forest - Cheyenne
36. Little Wolf - Cheyenne