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Native American and Indigenous Peoples: Photography Collections

A guide to collections that depict Native American and Indigenous peoples from the late 19th-century to mid-20th century.

Images from the Collections

Northwest

William H. Weinland Photograph Collection
Depicts the people, experiences, and places witnessed by Moravian missionary William H. Weinland and his family during their years in Alaska and, more extensively, among Native Americans of Southern California, particularly the Morongo Reservation, near Banning, California, and some surrounding reservations.
Call number: photCL 39

Grace Nicholson Photograph Collection
Photographs, negatives, and ephemera created or compiled by Grace Nicholson, a collector and dealer of Native American arts and crafts in Pasadena, California. Includes photograph albums and individual photographs with views of Native Americans of the Northwest Coast, California, and the Southwest of North America.
Call number: photCL 56

Photographs of Alaska by Frank La Roche
Photographs of Alaska depicting Alaskan nature scenes, views of town life (mainly in Sitka and Wrangell), and some Alaskan Natives.
Call number: photCL 95

Photograph Album of the Cruise of the Revenue Cutter "Corwin" in Alaska
This photograph album includes many views of native (Inuit) villages and inhabitants in Alaska and coastal Siberia.
Call number: photCL 97

Carl S. Dentzel Photograph Collection of the American West
Photographs of the American West, dating from the 1870s to the 1890s, collected by Carl S. Dentzel, director of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, California, including a disbound album of photographs of Alaska with images of Alaskan natives, towns, and scenery.
Call number: photCL 98

Photograph Collection of the Revenue Cutters "Bear" and "Corwin" in Alaska
The photographs document voyages to Alaska and the Arctic Ocean in the 1880s and 1890s including images of Alaskan natives and their homes.
Call number: photCL 131

Photographs of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest by Mayo & Weed
Depicts scenery and glaciers in Alaska as well as Alaskan natives, homes, and totems.
Call number: photCL 214

Photographs of Edward Schieffelin's Prospecting Trip in Alaska
Views include many portraits of Alaskan natives and their families, and Fort Yukon missionaries.
Call number: photCL 264

Lute Pease photograph collection, 1873-1956
Native (or Inuit) men and women are seen in fishing boats, hunting sea lions and aboard ships.
Call number: photCL 360

Henry G. Peabody Collection of Photographs and Negatives, 1859-1993, (bulk 1890s-1900s)
Peabody and his family; landscape views in New England, Canada, the western United States, California, and Mexico; Native Americans.
Call number: photCL 478

Modoc Indian War Lantern Slides
Contains images of the 1873-1873 Modoc War, a conflict fought at Tule Lake on the California-Oregon border between a small band of Modoc Indians and the United States Army. Call number: photCL 515