Photography arrived in the United States shortly after Frenchman Louis Daguerre's announcement of its invention in 1839. The vast majority of the first photographs were portraits, including those taken of Native Americans. Among the oldest extant pictures are one daguerreotype commissioned by Hawaiian royal secretary and diplomat Timoteo Ha'alilio (1843) and several calotypes of Kahkewaquonaby (Reverend Peter Jones), taken during his 1845 lecture tour in Great Britain by Scottish photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. (Sandweiss, p. 208-210) Scholar Martha Sandweiss surmises the reasons why these men posed for the camera are likely no different from anyone else in this period. They were made for the sitters' own uses and often by their request. For many, a photograph served as a more accurate and affordable tool than a painting for conveying one's likeness. Additionally, photographs seemed to preserve a life essence. In this way, they became significant guardians and couriers of identities, memories, and histories.

Photography was also a modern means of making a living and disseminating European settlers' ideologies. Native sitters in later nineteenth-century photographs were less likely to have control over their representations. Transformations in photographic technologies made it possible for photographers to reproduce and disseminate multiple copies of images without the subject's knowledge or consent. An expanded market for views of Indian life developed after the Civil War and was fueled by the colonization of the American West. Most of the images of Indians in the 1870s were stereographs. It is estimated that 2000-2500 stereographs of Indians were made before 1885. (Russell, p. 123-124). Jack K. Hillers and William Henry Jackson were the major producers. During their tenure as photographers for the federal government's geological and geographical surveys, they issued a portion of their western and Indian views commercially. (Darriah, p. 85) The stereo format was associated from its inception with entertaining views of exotic peoples and leisurely tours of faraway places. They were made for white, middle-class patrons who could then use them to sightsee without leaving the comfort of their parlors. Captions printed on the front and/or back of the cards were written by the photographers or publishers. They described what they thought would useful to non-Indian consumers. Many of these stereo tours conveyed the potential of westward migration and the inevitable demise of the Indians. The texts made use of the period's demeaning terminology. They conveyed little to no information about the subjects from their own point of view.

While some Native peoples resisted being photographed in the late nineteenth century, others willingly collaborated. There are accounts of these sitters being modestly compensated for their services. With the establishment of reservations and the destruction of traditional economies by settlers, Native peoples sought new options for cultural sustainability. Posing for pictures offered badly needed income. A few gained photography experience and equipment working as apprentices, eventually setting up their own studios. Some were self-taught. Among the earliest known Indigenous owned and operated studio in North America was that of Benjamin Haldane (Tsimshian). He opened a portrait studio in Metlakatla, Alaska in 1899 where he catered to the increasing demand for portraits by Indigenous families. (Askren, p. 93) There are now several publications examining the significance of commercial studio and mass-produced photographs to many Native families across the nation, particularly after 1890. Indigenous photographic desire in this period can be linked to colonial resistance and Indigenous survivance. (Lonetree, p. 24; L. Smith, p. 37) The development of Kodak cameras and photography classes in Indian boarding schools further advanced the opportunities for Indigenous individuals to use the lens for their own purposes.

By the mid-twentieth century, many Native photographers were documenting their communities, both professionally and with snapshots. In the early eighties, Juane Quick-To-See Smith (Salish/Kootenai) organized some of the first exhibitions of Indigenous art photographers. (J. Smith, p.220-221) Photographing Ourselves: Contemporary Native American Photography (1984) opened at the Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, Oklahoma and travelled widely to major cities such as New York, Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle. In 1985, the first national conference by Native photographers was held in Hamilton, Ontario. Out of this came the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers’ Association (NIIPA) to promote a positive, realistic, and contemporary image of Native Indian/Inuit people. (Rockingham) Contemporaneous and subsequent publications such as Victor Masayesva, Jr. and Erin Younger's Hopi Photographers, Hopi Images (1984), the special issue of exposure (1993) on Native American photography, and Aperture's edition Strong Hearts: Native American Visions and Voices (1995) brought more attention to these relatively unknown works. These efforts and others introduced the world to a talented number of photographers. Working in a variety of styles and genres, most of these art photographers continue to deconstruct Indian stereotypes and visualize Native historical experience from an Indigenous perspective.

 

Laura E. Smith

 

Sources

Miquel Icesis Askren, "Memories of Glass and Fire," in Visual Currencies: Reflections on Native Photography, Henrietta Lidchi and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinne, eds. Edinburgh, Scotland: NMS Enterprises Limited, 2009.

William Culp Darriah, Stereo Views: A History of Stereographs in America and Their Collection. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Times and News Publishing Co., 1964.

Theresa Harlan, "A Curator's Perspective: Native Photographers Creating a Visual Native American History," exposure, Fall 1993, pp. 12-22.

Amy Lonetree, "Visualizing Native Survivance: Encounters with My Ho-Chunk Ancestors in the Family Photographs of Charles Van Schaick," in People of the Big Voice: Photographs of Ho-Chunk Families By Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1942. Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2011.

Victor Masayesva, Jr. and Erin Younger, Hopi Photographers, Hopi Images. Tucson: Sun Tracks & University of Arizona Press, 1984.

Graham Rockingham, "Hamilton group was key to giving Indigenous photography a national perspective,"   Hamilton Spectator, January 11, 2018.  https://www.insidehalton.com/opinion-story/8046234-hamilton-group-was-key-to-giving-indigenous-photography-a-national-perspective/

Nigel Russell, "Process and Pictures: The Beginnings of Photography and of Photographing Indians," in Spirit Capture: Photographs from the National Museum of the American Indian. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press in association with the National Museum of the American Indian, 1998.

Martha A. Sandweiss, Print the Legend: Photography and the American West. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith in conversation with Lawrence Abbott, in I Stand at the Center of the Good: Interviews with Contemporary Native American Artists, Lawrence Abbott, ed. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1994, pp. 209-231.

Laura E. Smith, Horace Poolaw, Photographer of American Indian Modernity. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2016.