Lesson 6

Lesson Goals

Texts

Optional

• • “Getting Started with Primary Sources,” Library of Congress
  • “The North American Indian,” Curtis Legacy Foundation
  • The North American Indian, Volume 1, Edward S. Curtis, Project Gutenberg, 1907/2006

Materials

Tools

• Attending to Details Tool

• Photojournalism: The North American Indian, Volume 1 - Excerpts

• Vocabulary Journal

Reference Guides

• Annotating and Note-Taking Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Photojournalism: Section 1 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Attending to Details Tool

• Photojournalism: Section 1 Question Set

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Discuss – Write

We will learn about two types of research sources, primary and secondary, and the distinctions in how we might read and analyze them when doing research.

Step 1

Follow along as your teacher introduces or reviews two key terms used to describe and distinguish texts and sources of researched information: primary and secondary.

As defined and distinguished by the Library of Congress in "Getting Started with Primary Sources":

Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place.

As a class, suggest and discuss examples of primary and secondary sources you have previously read and worked with.

Step 2

Relative to your study of the photojournalism of Edward S. Curtis, determine which kind of source each of these examples seems to be:

• Curtis’s photographs of Princess Angeline and Chief Joseph

• “Edward Curtis’ Epic Project to Photograph Native Americans,” the Smithsonian Magazine article by historian Gilbert King

• A journal entry from Edward Curtis and his research team containing notes about a Native American tribe

• A nonfiction account of Edward Curtis’s life and work, such as Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan

In your Vocabulary Journal, write definitions for primary and secondarysources, including examples that help distinguish the two.

Step 3

Review and discuss the importance of accurately and correctly citing primary and secondary sources, as well as the preferred format for doing so in your school and classroom.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss

We will learn more about the purpose, organization, and publication of a primary-source document, Edward Curtis’s 20-volume opus the north American Indian.

Step 1

Access a webpage from the Curtis Legacy Foundation website titled “The North American Indian” to learn about the 20-volume collection created by Curtis and his research team.

First examine the photograph at the top of the page, which depicts an original set of The North American Indian, including its 20 volumes (stacked on the outside of the photo) and corresponding photographic portfolios (stacked in the middle, behind the image of Princess Angeline).

Next, read the quotation and summary information to the right of the photo and the “Quick Facts” below it.

1. What surprising things do you learn about The North American Indian project and collection?

2. What questions does this information raise for you about the collection and project?

Step 2

Skim through the eight-paragraph overview of the collection, looking for information that addresses this question:

3. How and why has the value of The North American Indian collection varied over time, from the cost of an original edition, to its 1935 value when sold to the Lauriat Company, to its recent value at auction?

As a class, discuss what you learn about the collection, speculating as to why its value has fluctuated so greatly over time.

Step 3

Use the link at the bottom of the webpage to access a primary resource (in pdf format) titled “Maps of Indigenous Nations, Tribes, and Bands of the North American Indian.”

Begin by studying the map on the title page of this resource and map set. Note the many Native nations, tribes, and bands represented on it, and the 18-states and 3 provinces visited by Curtis and his research team as he studied those Native American groups.

Identify a specific Native American group that you either already know something about or are curious about, and explain to a partner why it interests you.

Step 4

Scroll down through the pdf document and read the “About the Maps” notes that are included in this resource.

Consult the “Index of the Nation, Tribe, and Band Names” and identify which volume includes photos and information about the Native American group that interests you.

Scroll through the chronological maps that represent each of the 20 volumes of The North American Indian. Note which map and year relate to your Native American group of interest.

Consider and discuss these questions:

4. For the tribe and volume that interests you, what brief notes about the “Locale” did Curtis include?

5. Across the 20 volumes of the project, what is the pattern of publication dates? Why do you think there might be some years when more than one publication occurred, and some in which no new volumes were published?

6. What do you notice or wonder about how Curtis and his team traveled through the western United States and Canada from 1907 to 1930? What do you think their expeditions and travel were like in the early 20th century?

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will access an open source gutenberg project primary document that presents Volume 1 of the north American Indian and study its organization.

Step 1

Review the term ethnography and discuss how it relates to the work of Edward Curtis and his research team from 1907 to 1930.

Access the Project Gutenberg online resource to find a primary-source document for Volume 1 of The North American Indian. Note that this eBook document can be accessed or downloaded in many formats, including pdf.

Discuss what Project Gutenberg is and how it provides free public access to many historical texts and sources.

Step 2

Preview the organization and presentation of Volume 1 of The North American Indian, first by examining its opening image, The Pool – Apache, and then reading its original title page.

Scroll down to and through the table of contents, skimming and noting what Volume 1 contains, and considering this question:

1. What does the table of contents tell you about which Native American groups are addressed in Volume 1, and what aspects of their lives were studied by Curtis and his research team?

Note the “Alphabet Used in Recording Indian Terms” section and the list of illustrations for Volume 1.

Step 3

Identify several of the 80 photographic images from the list of illustrations in Volume 1 that might interest you, and note the pages where they can be found. If you can individually scroll through the document, find those pages and take a first look at the images.

2. What general observations can you make about the photographic images Curtis made of the Apache and Navaho [sic] people that were included in Volume 1 of The North American Indian?

Activity 4: Read – Discuss

We will read closely several excerpts from Theodore Roosevelt’s forward to Volume 1 of the north American Indian, considering the ideas, information, and language presented in this primary document.

Step 1

Access the forward to The North American Indian, written by President Theodore Roosevelt, a patron and friend of Edward Curtis, on p. xi of the Project Gutenberg document. You can also find the forward in the provided handout, The North American Indian, Volume 1 - Excerpts.

Read the first sentence of the forward closely, noting what Roosevelt says about Curtis and the truthful nature of his work.

1. How does Roosevelt’s characterization of Curtis and his work connect to the quote we studied from John Morris about journalism, truth, and beauty? “Truth is the objective of good journalism; beauty is secondary to the truth. But the great photographers usually manage to get pictures which are not only truthful but beautiful.” (John Morris, Get the Picture)

Step 2

Read through the forward to find what Roosevelt says about “the singular combination of qualities” that allowed Curtis “to do what no other man ever has done; what, as far as we can see, no other man could do.” Read the sentences that follow closely, noting how Roosevelt characterizes Curtis and also the parallel structure of his sentences.

As a class, discuss these questions:

2. What “singular combination of qualities” possessed by Curtis does Roosevelt describe? (Make a list of characteristics and experiences he mentions.)

3. What do you notice about how each of Roosevelt’s sentences begins and how their parallel sentence structures highlight his description of Curtis? (Make a list of the verbs and phrases that follow the pronoun “he” that begins each sentence.)

Activity 5: Read – Write

We will read closely several excerpts from Curtis’s introduction to Volume 1 of the north American Indian, considering the ideas, information, and language presented in this primary document.

Step 1

Access the “General Introduction” to Volume 1 of The North American Indian. With a reading partner, read Paragraph 2 on p. xiii carefully. Use an Attending to Details Tool to record and think about key details you find in response to the following questions:

1. What does Curtis suggest his “aim” has been?

2. How does he address the issues of both beauty (“artistic treatment”) and truth (“scientific accuracy”)?

Step 2

With your reading partner, scroll down to p. xxvii of the introduction, starting with the following sentence: “The word-story of this primitive life, like the pictures, must be drawn direct from Nature.”

Read and annotate this and the following three paragraphs closely, noting details that relate to these text-specific questions:

3. In what ways does Curtis’s description of where “I am seated” itself resemble a photograph?

4. How does Curtis explain his claim that “it is thus near to Nature that much of the life of the Indian still is”?

5. How does Curtis develop his surprising personal claim that “While primarily a photographer, I do not see or think photographically”?

6. What seems to be Curtis’s perspective about “the treatment accorded the Indians”? In spite of his apparent bias, what does Curtis say about the “unbiased nature” of how he will approach his subjects and the relations between “the Indians and the white race”?

Compare the details you note and the observations you make to those of other reading pairs in the class. For one of the questions, discuss and compare as a class the annotations and notes you took while reading. Your teacher might provide models to demonstrate effective text annotation, note-taking and note-making, through the use of a two-column note format, as described in the Annotating and Note-taking Reference Guide.

Step 3

On your own, read and annotate a final excerpt from the introduction that begins, “The object of the work is to record by word and picture what the Indian is” and ends with “It is this need that has inspired the present task.”

Based on details you identify and note in these paragraphs as well as ones you noted previously, write an evidence-based paragraph in your Learning Log in response to this question:

7. What do you learn from the “General Introduction” to The North American Indian about Curtis’s view and characterization of the Native Americans he has photographed, himself as a photographer, and his purposes for undertaking the project?

If necessary, finish your independent reading and writing for homework.