George Bird and Elizabeth Curtis Grinnell photograph collection

GUID

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv4ffe48cba-9571-4489-96d8-36f5f16ab469

Photographer

Grinnell, Elizabeth C.

Creator

Grinnell, George Bird, 1849-1938

Place

Rosebud County (Mont.)

Glacier National Park (Mont.)

Lame Deer (Mont.)

Washita County (Okla.)

Provenance

Donated by George C. Grinnell to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in 1928.

Photographer

Grinnell, Elizabeth C.

Creator

Grinnell, George Bird, 1849-1938

Culture

Northern Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)

Southern Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)

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George Bird and Elizabeth Curtis Grinnell photograph collection

Summary

This collection contains 119 glass plate negatives that were shot by Elizabeth C. Grinnell circa 1898-1910. The photographs depict Northern (Montana, Rosebud County and Rosebud River, Lame Deer) and Southern (Washita County, Oklahoma) Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne). Elizabeth was the official photographer on her husband George Bird Grinnell's anthropological visits to Cheyenne.

Biographical / Historical

George Bird Grinnell, naturalist, conservationist and Indian rights activist, was born into a prominent family in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Yale University, receiving his B.A. in 1870 and a Ph.D. in paleontology in 1880. While at Yale, Grinnell participated in a paleontological expedition to the central Plains, Wyoming and Utah. In 1874 he served as naturalist and paleontologist in Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer's Black Hills expedition and, in 1875, was a member of William Ludlow's expedition surveying the Yellowstone. In 1899 Grinnell was a naturalist on Edward H. Harriman Expedition to Alaska. Grinnell's lifelong interest in the west was well established long before he left Yale. In 1876, four years before he earned his Ph.D., Grinnell became the editor-in-chief and soon-to-be owner of Forest and Stream magazine. Under his leadership, it became the country's foremost natural history magazine. Grinnell was the magazine's editor from 1876 until 1911, and he used its pages to help promote the creation of national parks. Grinnell played a pivotal role in the creation of Glacier National Park in 1910. Grinnell's interest in the west extended to its native inhabitants. He was deeply interested in Plains Indians and, year after year, spent his summers visiting different reservations. He had befriended Frank North and his Pawnee scouts, and accompanied them on buffalo and elk hunts. Grinnell witnessed the destruction of game animals, brought about by commercial hunters, and was cognizant of its impact on Plains Indians' way of life. Grinnell, a prolific writer, authored several books and many articles on Cheyenne, Blackfoot, and Pawnee Indians, the most well-know of which was the two volume work entitled "The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Way of Life," first published in 1923. Until his death, he remained a staunch supporter of Cheyenne rights. Grinnell was a founding member of both the Audubon Society and Boone and Crockett Club (with Theodore Roosevelt). He chaired the Council on National Parks, Forests and Wildlife, and was president of the National Parks Association. He was a trustee of the New York Zoological Society. Grinnell was also a prominent member of many other associations, such as the American Association of the Advancement of Science and New York Academy of Science. Grinnell was 89 years old when he died in New York City.

Extent

119 Negatives (photographic) (119 glass plate negatives, black and white, 7 x 9 in.)

Date

circa 1898-1910

Archival Repository

National Museum of the American Indian

Identifier

NMAI.AC.140

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Negatives (photographic)

Glass plate negatives

Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); George Bird and Elizabeth Curtis Grinnell photograph collection, image #, NMAI.AC.140; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Arrangement

Organized in 6 glass plate negative boxes by catalog number.

Processing Information

Processed by Emily Moazami, Head Archivist, 2024.

Rights

Some items restricted due to cultural sensitivity.

Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.

Genre/Form

Glass plate negatives

Scope and Contents

This collection contains 119 glass plate negatives that were shot by Elizabeth C. Grinnell circa 1898-1910. The photographs depict Northern (Montana, Rosebud County and Rosebud River, Lame Deer) and Southern (Washita County, Oklahoma) Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne). Elizabeth was the official photographer on her husband George Bird Grinnell's anthropological visits to Cheyenne. Julia E. Tuell served as Elizabeth's photography assistant. Many of the images were published in George Bird Grinnell's publications, By Cheyenne Campfires (1926) and The Cheyenne Indians (1923). The bulk of photographs depict domestic and daily life such as women at work gathering water, setting up tipis, scraping hides, searching for "pommes blanche" (Psoralea or prairie turnip), and carrying wood, among other activities. Other photographs in the collection depict portraits of individuals and groups; landscapes in Montana; traveling via horses and travois; women playing a seed game; and other scenes. Three images also depict landscape views in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. One photograph depicts George Bird Grinnell. Twenty-four images that depict Medicine Lodge ceremonies and medicine bundles are restricted due to cultural sensitivity.

Restrictions

Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).

Related Materials

See also the George Bird Grinnell photograph collection at the Braun Research Library, Southwest Museum, Autry National Center in Los Angeles.

Separated Materials

See Grinnell manuscript items in the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation records at the NMAI Archives Center, Box 228, Folder 10.

Record ID

ebl-1525806092430-1525806092433-0