Native American Realism: Images From Oklahoma, the Territorial Period

FORT SMITH MUSEUM OF HISTORY

HISTORIC NATIVE AMERICAN PHOTOS TO BE ON DISPLAY

Toward the late 1800s, Indian Territory was the center of a dramatic convergence of people—Indians who had been removed into the Territory from all corners of the American nation and non-Indians who were coming to claim land and seek new opportunities. Among the entrepreneurs in Indian Territory were photographers practicing their new and popular trade. Aware of the fact that the traditional lifestyle of the American Indian was being irrevocably altered, some photographers set out to photograph and document that lifestyle.

The exhibition, American Indian Realism: Images from Oklahoma, the Territorial Era, provides a view of Indian life over 100 years ago. Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council and the Western History Collections at the University of Oklahoma, the exhibit features 30 photographs developed from glass plate negatives from the Western History Collections. Opening April 3, 2010, the Fort Smith Museum of History proudly invites you to see these historic photographs from the period of 1890 to statehood in 1907.  An opening reception will be held at the museum on April 3 at 5:00 pm with a presentation by Catherine Foreman Gray of Cherokee Cultural Tourism at 6:00 pm.

The images reflect a feeling of pride in family and the dignity maintained by Native Americans in spite of the upheaval caused by the relocation of tribes. The photographers tried to focus on people who still wore traditional dress and lived in traditional home. While the subjects’ names, tribes and locations are frequently absent from the records, clothing, types of dwellings, and the locations of photographers’ studios provide invaluable clues to identifying the photographs.

American Indian Realism tours as part of the Oklahoma Museums Association’s traveling exhibits program and depicts only a small portion of those individuals who resided in the Territories. Do not let this opportunity to see these historic images, including a portrait of Geronimo as he prepares to travel with Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show, pass you by.  American Indian Realism leaves town on May 13, 2010.  For more information, contact the Fort Smith Museum of History at 479-783-7841, 320 Rogers Avenue, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901.