Interpreting Historical Photographs of Native Americans: The New Illustrated Edition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Dr. Andrew Gulliford will present an illustrated slide lecture on how to “read” historical photos of Native Americans and how to interpret photographic “truth.” He will discuss the values of frontier photographers who augmented their portraits of ranchers, cowboys, and soldiers with photographs of Native Americans sometimes by manipulating images to conform to stereotypes of “Indianness.” Photographers, especially E.S. Curtis, incorrectly thought they were documenting a “vanishing race,” and yet if we read those photos carefully they provide important details about Native Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Dr. Gulliford will also discuss the meaning and importance of the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) which sold three million copies and is now published in an illustrated edition. For the new edition Dr. Gulliford served as one of the consultants on the photographs, artwork and captions, and he wrote a “Note on the Text and Art.”