Reading Photographs

Contents

Introduction

A Brief History of American Indians and Photography

The Wanamaker Collection of American Indian Photographs

Photographic Analysis of the Wanamaker Collection

Research and Study Uses of the Wanamaker Collection

Other Works on Reading Photographs

Photographs of American Indians, long used simply as illustrations or as icons to evoke a emotional response, can themselves be sources of ethnographic and historical information, particularly about aspects of material culture. In documenting artifact use, photographs can supplement museum collections which often lack that important information. Moreover, while an individual photograph is a singular record of a moment in time, a group or series of photographs can be a record across time and space and can expand the information potential of photographic interpretation.
Captain Jim, Ariikawis, Pitahawirata Pawnee [W3152]

Extracting such information requires that one read the photograph. Reading a photograph involves identifying as many aspects of the images as possible, from the photographer, date, and photographic technology used to produce the image, through its subjects and locations, to the artifacts represented in the image. This process, particularly that of identifying the artifacts represented in the image, involves a continual cross- reference between photographs and artifacts, often resulting in the revision of interpretations of both artifact and photograph-- tribal affiliation, date, and so on. In this way, reading a photograph moves from the most general aspects of the photograph as a photograph to its most specific details as a document.

Next Section