THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN THE FREDERICK WEBB HODGE SET
Select Volumes and two-page spread of The North American Indian
On Cover: Portfolios 1-20 and select Volumes of The North American Indian
THE FREDERICK WEBB HODGE SET: AN OVERVIEW
The Fredrick Webb Hodge Set of Edward Curtis’ The North American Indian is historically the most important complete Set of Curtis’ magnum opus in private hands. It is printed on the desirable hand-made heavyweight Dutch Van Gelder etching stock. The original subscriber was Curtis’ longtime editor and close friend, Fredrick Webb Hodge, a giant in 20th Century ethnography and anthropology. Not only was Hodge critical to the success of the project but, of the hundreds of individuals involved, only Hodge and Curtis were involved in the project from beginning to end. Thus, Hodge was among a handful of individuals who were truly instrumental in the realization of the most complex, beautiful, and expensive set of rare books ever created in the United States. The Hodge Set’s extraordinary provenance, unique presentation, and exceptional print quality undoubtedly make this the most desirable Curtis Set obtainable. PROVENANCE: This Set stayed with Hodge until his death in 1956, whereupon it passed to the Southwest Museum. It was later de-accessioned into a private collection and has stayed in private hands ever since. It has been with the current owner, an internationally respected business leader with strong ties to the American West, for over fifteen years. The Hodge Set is unique, beautiful, and has all the attributes one would look for in a great Set: quality, rarity, extraordinary provenance and a beautiful and unique presentation. It is historically the most important Set of The North American Indian in private hands and is clearly the most beautifully presented.
Of the four individuals truly instrumental in the realization of the greatest photographic odyssey of all time (Curtis, Hodge, J.P. Morgan, and President Theodore Roosevelt) only the Hodge Set remains in private hands, and is the only one ever likely to be available for acquisition. The Sets belonging to Curtis, Morgan, and Roosevelt are all in public collections, and highly unlikely to ever come on the market. Also, the Roosevelt Set is no longer intact. CONSERVATION: The Hodge Set was fully conserved and de-acidified in 1995 by the Art Conservation Resource Center of Boston. All the Van Gelder sheets from the twenty volumes and twenty portfolios were fully conserved. The Set evidenced mild to moderate foxing, as is typical of the Van Gelder paper of that period. Because of the great historical importance of the Set, the owner decided to embark upon an unprecedented conservation of the entire set, including approximately 5,000 sheets from the volumes. It is believed this is the only Set in existence that has undergone such a thorough conservation. When the Set was re-inspected in 2012 it was discovered that a small number of prints (less than 1%) had some residual issues from the 1995 conservation. Boston conservator Paul Messier was engaged to analyze the Set and make recommendations. Based on his recommendations approximately 15 Volume pages or prints and 27 Portfolio prints were re-conserved.
Volumes and Portfolios 1–20 of The North American Indian
Volumes and Portfolios 1–20 of The North American Indian in custom slipcases
Portrait by Edward Curtis
“...I regard the work you have done as one of the most valuable works which any American can now do. Your photographs stand by themselves, both in their wonderful artistic merit and in their value as historical documents. You are now making a record of the lives of the Indians of our country which it would be the greatest misfortune, from the standpoint alike of the ethnologist and the historian, to leave unmade...” —President Theodore Roosevelt
“Taken as a whole, the work of Edward Curtis is a singular achievement. Never before have we seen the Indians of North America so close to the origins of their humanity, their sense of themselves in the world, their innate dignity and self-possession.� —N. Scott Momaday
Pulitzer Prize Winning Native American Author
Portfolios 1-20 and Select Volumes from The North American Indian
Frederick Webb Hodge (4th from right) posed outdoors with Zuni Indians in front of a plastered adobe structure.
FREDERICK WEBB HODGE
Frederick Webb Hodge was born at Plymouth, England, October 28th, 1864, but at the age of seven was brought by his parents to Washington, D.C. There he attended public schools and later Columbian University (now George Washington). Later in life, the University of New Mexico, Pomona College, and the University of Southern California all awarded him honorary doctorate degrees. At the latter institution he was listed as a member of the staff of the Department of Anthropology, but characteristically he always objected to being addressed as “professor” or “doctor.” After a brief experience in a law office, he became secretary of the U. S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of American Ethnology. He left the latter post temporarily to become secretary to the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition and thus was introduced to the Southwestern field. This experience, which lasted from 1886 through 1889, determined his life interest. Upon his return to Washington D.C. he rejoined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology and soon was back in the Southwest conducting fieldwork among the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. In 1901 he became an Executive Officer of the Smithsonian Institution, a post he held until 1905 when he transferred back to the Bureau. There, until 1910, his major task was gathering data, compiling, and editing materials for the Handbook of American Indians—a landmark in the advancement of American anthropology. Upon completion of the Handbook, in 1910, he was made Ethnologist-in-Charge of the Bureau, where he remained for
eight years. During this period in Washington he was a major factor in placing American anthropology on a firm foundation. On March 2, 1902, several local groups amalgamated to form the American Anthropological Association. Hodge not only was a Founder of the association, but he undertook the task of publishing its journal, “The American Anthropologist”. From 1902 through 1914, with the lapse of one year, he was its editor. Acting without clerical help, he was editor, business manager, literary critic, proof reader, and collector of news items. A new editor tried to fill the office in 1911 but gave up after one year. At the Annual Meeting of 1915 Hodge was elected President by acclamation, at which time he turned over a smoothly functioning and solvent journal to the new editor, Pliny Goddard. Committee meetings were a regular part of Hodge’s life. He served as Chairman of the Committee dealing with the Linguistic Families North of Mexico and as Chairman of the Committee on Editorial Management set up to manage a separate section of the “Anthropologist” called “Current Anthropological Literature”. He was also a member of the Committee on Archaeological Nomenclature, the Committee on Policy, and the Preservation of American Antiquities. Undoubtedly, Hodge’s greatest editorial achievement was Edward Curtis’ magnum opus The North American Indian, the most expensive and ambitious set of
Select pages from the Volumes of The North American Indian
books ever created in America. Hodge was Curtis’ editor throughout the project (1906-1930) and successfully edited all twenty volumes comprising approximately 3,500 pages of finished anthropological text. Hodge was the only individual, other than Curtis, who was involved from beginning to end, often working without financial remuneration. Indeed, Hodge’s steadying hand is credited with helping keep the entire project on course at various times. In 1917 Hodge resigned from the B.A.E. to become associated with the newly founded Museum of the American Indian. He returned to the Southwest as director of excavations at Hawikuh, near Zuii, but he could not escape his reputation as an editor and during his years with this Museum he guided its publications. The year 1918 was critical for the Anthropological Association. The country was at war, expenses were up, membership lagged, and funds were difficult to obtain. Again we find Hodge assisting in formulating a policy, which might permit the continuance of the Journal. With regret, the “Anthropologist” was cut by a hundred pages and illustrations were used only when paid for by authors. In the same year he was made chairman of a committee to assist in the financing of the Journal of Physical Anthropology. With the formation of the National Research Council, Hodge was named as an anthropological representative, a post of great importance in this formative period. Also in 1923 he was a member of the committee set up
to investigate the status of anthropology in the various governmental institutions. He was one of the organizers of the Laboratory of Anthropology, and for years was a trustee of the School of American Research. In 1932 Hodge became Director of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, a position he held until 1956 when he became Director Emeritus; here also he continued his interest in editorial work. Busy though he was handling the work of others, Hodge was also an author in his own right. Hodge’s deep interest in the records left by Spanish writers furnished data for his papers on the explorations of early times. His own fieldwork in the Southwest gave the background for archeological contributions. Dr. Hodge had to his credit a number of monographs and articles in scientific and historical publications in all more than 350 published items. In general he was interested in presenting facts and raising problems rather than in dealing with theory. Yet the pages of the “Anthropologist” during his editorship indicate his willingness to entertain papers of wide scope and interest. Frederick Hodge passed away September 28th, 1956, just thirty days before his ninety-second birthday.
Details from the Frederick Hodge Set of The North American Indian
“Curtis’ portraits are, quite simply, superb. Compositionally, they have a classic purity, simplicty, and strength which seems timeless.” —A.D. Coleman
Photography Critic, formerly of the New York Times
Select Portfolio Prints from The North American Indian
“It’s such a big dream, I can’t see it all.”
—Edward S. Curtis
EDWARD CURTIS Edward Curtis was born in 1868 and grew up in abject poverty in rural Minnesota. He built his first camera at age twelve and thus unwittingly embarked on his lifelong photographic career. In 1887, Curtis moved to the Pacific Northwest where he quickly positioned himself as Seattle’s foremost studio photographer. This success gave him the freedom to pursue his love of the great outdoors and this activity brought him into contact with small groups of Native Americans who were still living somewhat traditional lives. These experiences led Curtis to begin, by 1900, an undertaking that would consume him for the next thirty years. This project was the creation of his magnum opus, The North American Indian, a twenty volume, twenty-portfolio set of handmade books. Each Set contains over 2,200 original photographs, plus extensive text, and transcriptions of language and music. It is difficult to overestimate the enormity of Curtis’s task. The project involved over one hundred artisans, translators, sales staff, logistical support, field assistants, accountants, etc. In today’s dollars it was an approximately $35,000,000 publishing project, unparalleled in American publishing history. While The North American Indian is an inestimable contribution to the worlds of art, photography, ethnography, and fine bookmaking, the project nearly killed Curtis. He lost his family, his money, and his health. By 1930 he was a broken man. While he lived out the rest of his life in obscurity, he left us with a sacred legacy that may endure for many centuries to come.
“I like a man who attempts the impossible.”
John Pierpont “J.P.” Morgan, Lead patron of Curtis’ North American Indian Project
—J.P. Morgan
SACRED LEGACY® Over one hundred years ago, the American photographer Edward Sherriff Curtis set out on a monumental quest to make an unprecedented, comprehensive record of the North American Indian. During a thirty-year period he produced 40,000-50,000 photographs of Native peoples from over eighty different tribal groups. Curtis’ mission was to safeguard and preserve their ‘sacred legacy’ by creating a lasting record of their lives in photographs, film, sound, and text. This was a highly collaborative process and the Native people were active co-creators in preserving this record for future generations. It is estimated that over 10,000 Native people actively and generously contributed their time, experience and knowledge toward the creation of this Sacred Legacy®. Curtis was a witness and messenger as much as a co-creator. Today this work stands as a landmark in the history of photography, book publishing, ethnography, and the American West. Viewed in its entirety, Curtis’ work presents an historical record of enormous importance. Edward S. Curtis and his Native co-creators not only preserved for future generations a crucial part of American history, but also provided a powerful opportunity to understand many aspects of the American Indian experience. Perhaps the most important legacy of Curtis’ monumental accomplishment is the expression of an extraordinary and deeply felt empathy and understanding of the personal, emotional, and spiritual lives of the American Indian. The work’s core message is one of beauty, heart, and spirit. In these respects, this collaborative body of work is unique and unparalleled.
Going to Camp, 1908 Platinum Print On Original Vintage Mount