Iroquois, Seminole, Sioux, Menomini, Wichita, Navajo, Chilkat, and Kwakiutl Communities in 17 Glass Lantern Slides, circa 1900s

Native American Glass Lantern Slides

Archive

Native American glass lantern slide archive, circa 1900s, documenting distinct Indigenous communities through images of families, homes, clothing, subsistence, craft, and everyday activity. The slides identify Iroquois, Seminole, Sioux, Menomini, Wichita, Navajo, Chilkat, Kwakiutl, and Pueblo subjects, presenting Native communities through specific cultural and geographic identities rather than as a single generalized population. Captions such as "Iroquois Bark House," "Group of Seminole Children," "Sioux Family Group," "Customs of Menomini Tribe," "The Wichita Tribe House," "Navajo Industries," "Chilkat Family Group," and "Kwakiutl Plank House" establish the range of communities represented and make the identification of tribal groups a central feature of the archive.

Archive of 17 glass lantern slides, both hand colored and black and white, produced by Eye Gate House, Inc., New York City. The slides depict an Iroquois bark house with people gathered inside and outside, Seminole children standing before thatched dwellings, a Seminole man in full ceremonial dress, a Sioux family group with a travois, Menomini people engaged in outdoor work, a Wichita tribal house, Pueblo dwellings, Navajo people engaged in weaving and other industries, a Chilkat family group beside a dwelling, and a Kwakiutl plank house with a carved pole. Additional subjects include an Iroquois cornfield, a Manhattan Island woman working beside pottery, Inwood Rock Shelter in New York, and a pottery vessel identified as "Type of pottery jar." The photographs range from individual portraits and family groups to architectural studies and scenes of subsistence and craft, while the printed captions consistently assign each image to a named Indigenous community or cultural practice. One hand colored slide shows a young Native woman in traditional dress with her hair arranged in the Hopi squash blossom form associated with unmarried women.

The geographic range extends from the Iroquois and Menomini communities of the Northeast and Great Lakes to Seminole communities in the Southeast, Sioux communities of the Plains, Pueblo and Navajo communities of the Southwest, and Chilkat and Kwakiutl communities of the Pacific Northwest. The slides preserve period representations of Indigenous architecture, family organization, clothing, food production, weaving, pottery, and other material practices, while their captions also reveal the classificatory language through which Native communities were presented to outside audiences in the early twentieth century. The juxtaposition of family portraits with houses, industries, customs, and material objects makes tribal identity inseparable from the physical and social practices depicted in the images. The set therefore documents both specific Indigenous communities and the visual conventions used to present those communities through early ethnographic media. Some edge wear and cracking to four slides without loss of image; remaining slides intact with clear imagery. Overall in good condition. A 17 slide visual record of Iroquois, Seminole, Sioux, Menomini, Wichita, Navajo, Chilkat, Kwakiutl, and Pueblo communities through their families, dwellings, clothing, subsistence, customs, and material culture.

Item #22647

Price: $750.00