Edward S. Curtis Digital Collection
Preview up to 100 items from this collection below. Photographer Edward S. Curtis devoted two decades to making “The North American Indian,” an early 20th century photography and text project studying Western tribes.
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Letter from Edward S. Curtis to Harriet Leitch, December 17, 1950
Letter from Edward Curtis to Harriet Leitch explaining that his poor health and ever present arthritis has forced him to stop work on "The Lure of Gold." He shares that his friends expressed concern over the time he spend hunched over his desk writing the material and that shelving the manuscript "was a serious blow and hard to take."
Identifier: spl_esc_019
Date: 1950-12-17
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Richard Gilkey Interview, June 14, 1986
Richard Gilkey (1925-1997) was a painter and sculptor who was part of the Northwest School of Artists. Gilkey was born in Bellingham, Washington. His family moved to Seattle when he was 12 and he attended Ballard High School. During World War II, Gilkey served with the Marine Corps and was discharged because of injuries in August 1944. Following the war, he began to develop an interest in artwork and was particularly inspired by the work of fellow Pacific Northwest artists Mark Tobey and Guy Anderson. His work was featured in the 1948 Northwest Annual Exhibition and in 1958 Gilkey was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, allowing him to travel through Europe and further develop his skills. In 1975, he purchased a Skagit Valley home and developed an art studio where his work was increasingly inspired by the surrounding environment. His painting came to a sudden halt when he was in a car accident in 1984, which left him unable to paint for three years due to crushed vertebrae. He slowly made his way back into the art world and was awarded the Washington State Governor’s Art Award in 1990. The same year he was awarded the grand prize in the Osaka Triennale 1990 exhibit. Notice of the award came on the same day that a Skagit River levee broke and flooded his home and studio. Following a severe lung cancer diagnosis in 1997, Gilkey drove from Seattle to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with his revolver and committed suicide near Togwatee Pass. Gilkey’s works have been featured internationally and included in collections of institutions such as the Seattle Art Museum.
Identifier: spl_ds_rgilkey_01
Date: 1986-06-14
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Letter from Edward S. Curtis to Harriet Leitch, September 22, 1950
Letter from Edward Curtis to Harriet Leitch in which he briefly touches on discussing "The Lure of Gold" before moving on to talk about the financial difficulties he experienced while producing "The North American Indian." He writes "[...] once upon a time I was confronted with the North American Indian quota which was 1,800,000 plus. I have always thought that ignorance alone allowed me to tackle that task?" Curtis also touches on his continued struggles with arthritis and shares that his youngest daughter, Billy, has recently moved to Australia with her husband. He says he has encouraged Billy to keep notes on the journey in hopes that she can one day use her talents as a writer to compile a book on the subject. Curtis ends with the story of when he helped to bury Chief Joseph, writing "In order to bury him the second time we had to dig him up: I did most of the digging. It was a very hot day and the Noble Red Men said "let the white men do the digging they know how.""
Identifier: spl_esc_017
Date: 1950-09-22
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Kenneth Callahan Interview, 1984
Kenneth Callahan (1905-1986) was a noted Washington artist, known for his work in painting and sculpture. Together with Mark Tobey, Guy Anderson and Morris Graves, Callahan was part of the “Northwest Mystics” or “Northwest School” a group of artists formed during the 1930s who embraced Asian aesthetics and the natural environment of the Puget Sound. Callahan was born in Spokane, Washington and raised in Glasgow, Montana. His family moved to Raymond, Washington in 1918 and then Seattle in 1920. Callahan attended Broadway High School and, briefly, the University of Washington. He moved to San Francisco where he had his first one-man show and worked as a ship’s steward before returning to Seattle in 1930. In the same year, he married Margaret Bundy. The couple’s home quickly became a meeting point for many figures in Seattle’s art scene. During the Great Depression, Callahan worked as an artist for the Federal Arts Project. In 1933, Callahan’s work was included in the First Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Whitney Museum and Callahan began working as a curator at the Seattle Art Museum, a role he continued until 1953. In 1954 he won a fellowship from the Guggenheim. He traveled extensively through Europe and South America and focused on his painting. In 1961 Margaret passed away after a battle with cancer. Callahan remarried Beth Inge Gotfredsen in 1964 and the couple moved to Long Beach, Washington. Callahan returned to Seattle in 1984, shortly before his 1986 passing. Callahan’s work is included in the collections of several prominent museums including the Seattle Art Museum, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Chicago Art Institute.
Identifier: spl_ds_kcallahan_01
Date: 1984
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Letter from Edward S. Curtis to Harriet Leitch, October 31, 1948
Letter from Edward Curtis to Harriet Leitch responding to her request for more information on the creation of The North American Indian. Curtis promises to send publicity materials related to the work. He notes that it may take some time to pull the materials together since he is in poor health and will need to send them to his youngest daughter to be typed up because he does not own a typewriter.
Identifier: spl_esc_003
Date: 1948-10-31
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Portrait of Edward S. Curtis, 1906
Autographed portrait of Edward S. Curtis sent to Harriet Leitch in 1951. Portrait now a part of the Seattle Public Library's Balch Autograph Collection.
Identifier: spl_esc_030
Date: 1906
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Letter from Edward S. Curtis to Harriet Leitch, July 3, 1951
Letter from Edward Curtis to Harriet Leitch briefly touching on his time near Nome, Alaska. Curtis writes that he has yet to hear back from the Seattle Historical Society about making a recording of Pacific Coast history and that there has not been much change in his poor health. He writes that he is now having his groceries delivered to his home because he isn't well enough to go out. Curtis states "I am in hopes that I will not be in Los Angeles next fourth of July. In fact I hope I won't be here next Christmas. My main object in moving is to get away from the smog and give my eyes a chance to function."
Identifier: spl_esc_027
Date: 1951-07-03
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Letter from Edward S. Curtis to Harriet Leitch, May 11, 1950
Letter from Edward Curtis to Harriet Leitch in which he further discusses the Pan-American Scientific Research Association expedition to the Amazon. Curtis describes the route the expedition would take up the Amazon River to the town of Manaus where they would establish their headquarters for the duration of the trip. Curtis notes that the expedition is now unlikely to move forward due to friction in the group directed towards the leader, Fred J. Matzler. He writes "No words can express my disappointment in the collapse of the Pan American Expedition. During all my active life time I have wanted to see the Amazon and the Andes Mountains."
Identifier: spl_esc_016
Date: 1950-05-11
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Karl William Edmark Interview, January 7, 1986
Dr. Karl William Edmark (1924-1994) was a cardiovascular surgeon responsible for the invention of the heart defibrillator.
Identifier: spl_ds_wedmark_01
Date: 1986-01-07
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Letter from Edward S. Curtis to Harriet Leitch, December 13, 1948
Letter from Edward Curtis to Harriet Leitch where he describes employing a clipping bureau to collect reviews of The North American Indian during its publication period. Curtis writes "during that time I received but one adverse comment, that was a howl as to the cost of the published work." He writes about his experience working on the Nez Perce volume and suggests that Leitch reads his account of the Nez Perce War in Volume VIII noting "My account of that affair will differ radically from the white man's version." Curtis also discusses how he and his team collected the tribal dialects, vocabularies and songs that appear in The North American Indian.
Identifier: spl_esc_005
Date: 1948-12-13
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