Edward S Curtis Chronicles NATIVE NATIONS by Don Nardo Content Consultant Dr Barbara Robins Associate Professor Department of English University of Nebraska Omaha Essential Library An Imprint of Abdo Publishing abdopublishing com DEFINING IMAGES
CHAPTER ONE Witness to a Piegan Ritual Thirty-two-year-old photographer Edward S Curtis’s eyes widened at the magnificent sight that stretched before him Mere minutes before he had been on horseback crossing a stretch of open prairie in northern Montana With him was magazine editor George B Grinnell a conservationist with a deep interest in American Indian life The two white men had met two years before on a mountainside in Washington State and had quickly become friends From the start Grinnell was impressed with Curtis’s camera skills The editor urged Curtis to put his talent to work capturing images of 5 Edward Curtis became well known for his portraits of Native American subjects such as this portrait of Yellow Kidney of the Piegan tribe
