Here are 15 historic photographs of Native American life that are so rare that you almost certainly have never seen them

Edward S. Curtis set out to photograph Native American tribes as westward expansion and ethnic cleansing threatened their way of life in the early 20th century.

The foremost female shaman of the Hupa, captured in 1923.
Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

By the end of the 19th century, Native children were compelled to attend government-run boarding schools for assimilation, where their names, languages, and long hair were prohibited. Additionally, several students died from contagious diseases such as TB.

Curtis photographed notable Native Americans, including chiefs and shamans.

“Stinking Bear,” taken in 1905.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

In 1905, Curtis shot this photograph of Dakota Chief Stinking Bear.

He included individuals of various ages, from the elderly to infants.

“Hupa Mother” was captured in 1923.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

In 1923, Curtis photographed a Hupa lady carrying her infant in a traditional woven carrier.

He captured the rhythms of daily life, including the grinding of grain.

“The Mealing Trough — Hopi” was photographed in 1906.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

In 1906, he captured Hopi women milling grain in a mealing trough.

This photograph depicts two women cooking over a campfire.

1903 photograph of two Apache Indian women by a campfire with a cooking pot in front of one.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

This 1903 photograph depicts Apache women cooking over an open fire.

Curtis saw the work of basketmakers.

“A Mono Lake basket-maker,” taken in 1924.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

1924 snapshot of a basket-maker from the Mono Lake Paiute tribe.

Some of his subjects went about their daily activities as Curtis worked behind the camera.

“Taos Children,” taken in 1905.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

In 1905, Curtis captured four Taos children seated at a stream’s brink.

Curtis staged and photographed reenactments of rites and wars with the permission of native elders.

Buffalo dancers, photographed in 1905

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

In 1905, Curtis photographed Tewa dancers dressed for the annual Buffalo Dance with bustles made of turkey feathers.

However, Curtis has been critiqued for romanticizing Native American life by excluding the modern attire worn by the majority of Native Americans at the period.

The Jicarilla, photographed in 1905.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

As a result of government-mandated assimilation, many Native Americans no longer wore their native attire by the turn of the twentieth century. Curtis chose to pose formal pictures of Native Americans in traditional garb, which many no longer wore.

He also removed technological elements, such as the clock in his 1910 photograph “In a Piegan hut.” It is absent in certain versions.

“In a Piegan hut,” photographed in 1910.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

Curtis was criticized for periodically removing current technologies from his photographs using photo editing.

Indigenous rights organizations assert that this form of selective storytelling promotes outdated notions about Native people, producing the myth that they only exist in the past and do not live in the present.

Despite their problematic components, Curtis’ photographs remain an invaluable historical resource.

“A Navajo Smile,” photographed in 1904.

Edward S. Curtis/Bibliothèque du Congrès

Contemporary Native American Photographers and the Legacy of Edward Curtis was an exhibition held in 2016 at the Portland Art Museum.

There were differing opinions as to whether Curtis’ work had “informed or misinformed” the public’s conception of Native American culture, but curators told Artsy they believed his work provided a stepping stone for people to see and understand Native American lives and learn about contemporary Native American photographers.

The photographs of Curtis were presented alongside those of photographers such as Zig Jackson, Wendy Red Star, and Will Wilson.