Snapshots of the Past

Reuben Black Boy – Historic Print

Reuben Black Boy, c1910. — historic photograph
Reuben Black Boy, c1910.. Historic photograph from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Reuben Black Boy comes to life in this historic photograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.

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Reuben Black Boy

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Reuben Black Boy, a Piegan boy photographed around 1910, wears clothing that the catalog record singles out as the focus of the picture. Edward S. Curtis, a Seattle-based photographer, made this portrait for his multivolume project on Native peoples of North America, which aimed to document traditional life before many customs changed. Curtis worked among the Piegan, also known as the Blackfeet, in Montana in these years, and his portraits often combined close attention to dress and ornament with posed compositions. Viewers today should keep in mind that such images record both a real young person and the photographer's choices about pose, setting, and costume.

Created / publishedc1910.
Medium1 photographic print.
GenrePortrait photographs 1910.Photographic prints 1910.
NotesJ139726 U.S. Copyright Office. Edward S. Curtis Collection (Library of Congress). Curtis no. 3077-09.
SubjectsReuben Black Boy. Indians of North America--Clothing & dress--1910. Piegan Indians--Clothing & dress--1910.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,274 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-193807

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