Special Collections and University Archives is delighted to have one of the finest and most important copies of Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian. This set of folios and quartos is extremely fragile and irreplaceable. In order to ensure that these volumes are available for future generations of students and scholars, we must carefully control access to and use of the materials.
In addition to the original edition of The North American Indian, we also have a 1970s reprint of the entire set available to all researchers in our Paulson Reading Room. Digital reproductions of photogravures from Curtis’s The North American Indian can also be viewed online at Northwestern University Library’s website, through the Library of Congress’s American Memory project. You can learn more about Curtis and access the images below.
We request that anyone interested in doing research on the original Curtis folios and quartos in Special Collections and University Archives first consult the reprint volumes in the Paulson Reading Room or the online images. If a researcher still finds it necessary to see the original photogravures, he or she must submit a written request describing the research project and need to use the originals. Please send this request to spcarref@uoregon.edu. Curatorial staff will review the request and work with the researcher.
In cases where a compelling research need to see the original Curtis materials is not demonstrated, readers will be invited to attend a special viewing day where selections from the original set of Curtis’s The North American Indian. If you are interested in learning when the next showing will be, please contact us at spcarref@uoregon.edu.
Additional information about the Curtis volumes is highlighted in our blog, linked below.
- The Gift of the Face Portraiture and Time in Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian (this link opens in a new window) Apr 14, 2020
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952. North American Indian; Photography in ethnology -- North America; Indians of North America -- Portraits -- History -- 20th century
- A contextual analysis of the photographs in Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian (this link opens in a new window) Mar 12, 2018
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952. North American Indian; Indians of North America -- Portraits; Photography in ethnology
- Shadowy evidence : the photography of Edward S. Curtis and his contemporaries : Seattle Art Museum, August 10 through November 19, 1989 (this link opens in a new window) Jan 18, 2018
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 -- Exhibitions; Photography, Artistic -- Exhibitions
- Prospectus of The North American Indian. (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952. North American Indian
- Sacred legacy : Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952; Indians of North America -- Pictorial works
- The gift of the face : portraiture and time in Edward S. Curtis's the North American Indian (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952. North American Indian; Indians of North America -- Portraits -- History -- 20th century; Photography in ethnology -- North America
- North American natives re-rendered : a tribute to Edward S. Curtis (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952; Indians of North America -- Pictorial works -- Catalogs; Photography, Artistic
- The Art of Edward S. Curtis, Asahel Curtis in sepia (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952; Curtis, Asahel, 1874-1941; Photographers -- Washington (State) -- Seattle
- Edward Sheriff Curtis : visions of the first Americans (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 -- Photograph collections; Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952. North American Indian. Selections; Indians of North America -- Portraits; Indians of North America -- Social life and customs -- Pictorial works; Indians of North America -- Pictorial works; Indians of North America -- Biography
- Shadow catcher : Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952; Indians of North America -- Pictorial works; Photographers -- United States -- Biography
- Edward S. Curtis : one hundred masterworks (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952; Indians of North America -- History -- Pictorial works; Indians of North America -- Portraits; Photographers -- United States -- Biography; Photography in ethnology
- George Curtis photograph collection (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, George Harry, 1901-1999 -- Archives; Curtis, George Harry, 1901-1999 -- Family -- Archives; Curtis, Asahel, 1874-1941 -- Photographs; Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 -- Photographs; Curtis family -- Photographs; Photographs -- Specimens; Postcards -- Specimens
- The papers of Edward S. Curtis relating to Custer's last battle (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Custer, George A. (George Armstrong), 1839-1876; Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 -- Correspondence; Little Bighorn, Battle of the, Mont., 1876
- Shadow Catcher : How Edward S. Curtis documented American Indian dignity and beauty (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 -- Juvenile literature; Photographers -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature; Indians of North America -- History -- Juvenile literature
- Edward S. Curtis photograph and ephemera collection (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 -- Archives; Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 -- Photographs; Joseph (Nez Percé Chief), 1840-1904 -- Death and burial -- Photographs; Mines and mineral resources -- California -- Photographs; Indians of North America -- Great Plains -- Photographs; Indians of North America -- West (U.S.) -- Photographs; Indians of North America -- Northwest, Pacific -- Photographs
- Wonderful Heroes, Fearsome Creatures : Art of the Northwest Coast : An Exhibition (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952 -- Exhibitions; Indian art -- Northwest Coast of North America -- Exhibitions; Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America -- Pictorial works -- Exhibitions
- Different lenses : the photography of Edward & Asahel Curtis (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952; Curtis, Asahel, 1874-1941; Indians of North America -- Northwest, Pacific -- Pictorial works; Photographers -- Washington (State) -- Seattle; Northwest, Pacific -- History -- Pictorial works
- Verdwijning en verandering : beeldvorming en boodschappen in Edward S. Curtis' The North American Indian (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952. North American Indian -- Criticism and interpretation; Indians of North America -- Pictorial works -- Criticism and interpretation; Photographers -- United States -- Criticism and interpretation
- The image maker and the Indians : E.S. Curtis and his 1914 Kwakiutl movie (this link opens in a new window) Nov 24, 2017
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952; Photographers -- United States -- Biography; Motion pictures -- Production and direction -- United States; Kwakiutl Indians -- British Columbia -- Vancouver Island -- Social life and customs; Ethnology -- British Columbia -- Vancouver Island; Visual anthropology -- British Columbia -- Vancouver Island; Indians of North America -- British Columbia -- Vancouver Island; In the land of the war canoes
