Rodman Wanamaker photograph collection relating to Native Americans
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 64
name: label: Creator
content: Wanamaker, Rodman, 1863-1928
label: Photographer
content: Dixon, Joseph K. (Joseph Kossuth) (1856-1926)
index: label: Addl. KW Subj
content: Sioux

Blackfeet
creator: label: Creator
content: Wanamaker, Rodman, 1863-1928
culture: label: Culture
content: Siksika Blackfoot
label: Culture
content: Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
label: Culture
content: Sioux
label: Culture
content: Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke)
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Great Plains
setName: label: See more items in
content: Rodman Wanamaker photograph collection relating to Native Americans
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Rodman Wanamaker (1863-1928) was heir to a successful Philadelphia department business and patron of the arts, education, and Native American culture. In the early 20th century, he hired photographer Joseph Kossuth Dixon and sponsored three expeditions to Native American reservations (1908-1913). The main goal of these expeditions was to document the way of life of Native Americans, whom he saw as a "vanishing race," and to make "first-class citizens" of the Indians as a means of saving them from extinction.  In additiona to still photography, films were also made during these expeditions including a motion picture film about Hiawatha made on the first expedition  (1908), and a reenactment of the Battle of the Little Big Horn made on the second expedition (1909). The third expedition, the "Expedition of Citizenship" (1913), focused on carrying an American flag to tribes across the country and inviting them to sign a declaration of allegiance to the United States.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 154 Prints (silver gelatin)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1908-1909
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Donated by Rodman Wanamaker to the United States National Museum in 1914 (USNM accession 56840).
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.64
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Prints
label: Type
content: Photographs
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies note
content: Digital surrogates for some photographs are available online.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
otherfindaid: label: Other Finding Aids note
content: Inventory is available in repository.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Photographs commissioned by Rodman Wanamaker to document the "vanishing" way of life for Native Americans during 1908-1913.  The photographs were made by Joseph Kossuth Dixon and largely depict northern Plains tribes, including Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, and Dakota.  These large bromide prints form a set of presentation photographs and apparently such sets were placed by Rodman Wanamaker in several museums.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Dixonʹs negatives are at the Indiana University, Mathers Museum of World Cultures.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: The National Anthropological Archives also holds a copy photograph of Wanamaker's Memorial to First Americans ground-breaking (Photo Lot R82-55).
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: The National Museum of the American Indian holds artifacts and some additional photographs from Wanamaker's expeditions. The Human Studies Film Archives holds expedition footage.