Major Cultural Legacy Donated To 12 U.S. Tribal Colleges

The donation includes several hundred contemporary Curtis photographs, and a curated, digital collection of materials originally created by Edward Curtis for his landmark photo-ethnographic publication. With an aggregate value of over $500,000, the donation is being made in recognition of the 10,000 Native Americans who collaborated in the creation of the original publication, and to support current efforts by Native people to reconnect with their history, culture, and traditions.

The North American Indian by Edward Curtis was the most ambitious and expensive ethno-photographic project ever undertaken. Championed by Theodore Roosevelt, and with early patronage from J.P. Morgan, Curtis traveled the continent from 1905–1930, creating 40–50,000 negatives, over 1,000 wax cylinder recordings, and filming the earliest footage of North American Indians. The 2,500,000 words of text provide rare and valuable historic and cultural information.

“Introducing the ethno-photographic legacy of Edward Curtis, the inspiring beauty, heart, spirit, and extraordinary lifeways of historic Native people to contemporary audiences is my great passion,” says Christopher Cardozo. “These donations provide an opportunity for us to identify more Native Americans whose ancestors collaborated with Edward Curtis on the original North American Indian project.” As part of an ongoing repatriation effort, Christopher Cardozo Fine Art is donating contemporary Curtis photographs to these descendants.

About The Republication: Christopher Cardozo Fine Art has painstakingly created an artisanal edition of Curtis’ The North American Indian over a four year period. Hand-bound in leather, and printed to the highest archival and artisan bookmaking standards, the recreation includes all twenty original volumes, over 5,000 pages, and extensive transcripts of Native language and music. The twenty portfolios that accompanied the original set are recreated in five oversized portfolio volumes. Each set comprises all 2,234 photographs contained in the original.

About Cardozo Fine Art: Christopher Cardozo Fine Art is based in Minneapolis and dedicated to the study, collection, and the publication of Edward Curtis’ life work. Christopher Cardozo is the world’s leading authority on the work of Edward Curtis, author of numerous books, lecturer, and curator of over 100 domestic and international exhibitions.

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