Portraits of Native Americans

Photographs from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition

by Charles H Carpenter

This is actually a postcard book that features 23 images from the Chicago Field Musuem. Includes images of the Plains, Northwest Coast, Southwest and more. An outstanding collection. These photos were taken at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Charles H. Carpenter who was chief photographer at the Field Museum photographed what would become his magnum opus, a collection of over 800 photographs of Native Americans.

Carpenter photographed the Native Americans on the fairgrounds as the tourists saw them and against simple studio backdrops, where the photographer and subject achieved an intimacy that elevates these pictures to art. Incredibly, as recently as 90 years ago, it was not uncommon for organizers of world fairs or even museum curators to scout the world looking for "exotic" people to exhibit at their respective expositions and institutions. The subjects in Carpenters photographs were part of the "Anthropology Reservation," a living exhibit of native peoples from the around the world.

23 pp ~ 23 b/w photos — ©1994