Studio Portraits of American Indians by Alexander Gardner From the 1860s

Alexander Gardner (1821–1882) was a photographer best known for his portraits of President Abraham Lincoln, his American Civil War photographs, and his photographs of American Indian delegations.

Gardner emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1856 and worked at the New York City studio of Mathew Brady, coming into contact with numerous politicians and military figures. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Brady photographed the conflicts, sending his team of photographers, including Gardner, into the field. Alexander Gardner left Brady’s studio in 1862 to open his own in Washington, D.C.; at this same time, he also became employed by General McClellan as official photographer of the Union Army’s U.S. Topographical Engineer Corps.

After the war, Gardner photographed many notables including President Lincoln, the Lincoln conspirators, and Indian delegations visiting Washington. In 1867, Gardner joined the survey team for what became the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The railroad was promoting plans for an extension of its route from Kansas to the Pacific Ocean. This proposed route, from Kansas through the mountains of Colorado and deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and California, would serve to placate the Indians and provide access to the markets of the California. Gardner photographed the path of the proposed extension, emphasizing the ease of future railroad construction and the potential for economic development while including studies of the Indians in the region and settlements along the way. Gardner’s photographs represent the earliest systematic series of the Great Plains.

The survey photographs taken during treaty negotiations between the Plains Indians and the Indian Peace Commission at Fort Laramie, Wyoming in 1868. Gardner photographed many of the Sioux chiefs from the northern plains tribes including Crow, Arapaho, Oglala, Minneconjous, Brule and Cheyenne.

Although treaties between the U.S. government and the various Indian tribes were not unusual in the mid-1800s, the 1868 treaty was notable because it was the first time the U.S. government denounced the existence of individual Indian tribes and maintained that Indians would be treated as U.S. citizens, subject to the laws of the nation.

Portrait of Tcha-Wan-Na-Ga-He (Buffalo Chief) in Native Dress wearing fur and feather headdress and peace medal, holding pipe-tomahawk.

Portrait of Nag-A-Rash or British, Head Chief of Iowas, with Peace Medal.

Portrait of Mah-Hee (Knife), Third Chief of Iowas, with Peace Medal.

Portrait (Front) of Mah-Hee (Knife), Third Chief of Iowas, holding bow and arrows.

Portrait of Ka-Ke-Ga-Sha (Yellowish Red Chief) Or Pi-Sing (Game)

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Amazing Photos Capture Portraits of Modoc People During and After the Modoc War

The Modoc are a Native American people who originally lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. They are currently divided between Oregon and Oklahoma and are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Klamath Tribes in Oregon and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, now known as the Modoc Nation.

Modoc people taken by Louis Herman Heller in 1873

In November 1872, the U.S. Army was sent to Lost River to attempt to force Kintpuash’s band back to the reservation. A battle broke out, and the Modoc escaped to what is called Captain Jack’s Stronghold in what is now Lava Beds National Monument, California. The band of fewer than 53 warriors was able to hold off the 3,000 U.S. Army troops for several months, defeating them in combat several times.

In April 1873, the Modoc left the Stronghold and began to splinter. Kintpuash and his group were the last to be captured, on June 4, 1873, when they voluntarily gave themselves up. U.S. government personnel had assured them that their people would be treated fairly and the warriors would be allowed to live on their own land.

The U.S. Army tried, convicted and executed Kintpuash and three of his warriors in October 1873 for the murder of Major General Edward Canby earlier that year at a parley. Canby had violated agreements made with the Modoc. The Army sent the rest of the band to Oklahoma as prisoners of war with Scarfaced Charley as their chief. The tribe's spiritual leader, Curley Headed Doctor, was also forced to remove to Indian Territory.

In the 1870s, Peter Cooper brought Indians to speak to Indian rights groups in eastern cities. One of the delegations was from the Modoc and Klamath tribes. In 1909, the group in Oklahoma was given permission to return to Oregon. Several people did, but most stayed at their new home.

Here below is a set of amazing portrait photos of Modoc people taken by German-American photographer Louis Herman Heller in 1873.

Donald McKay and Jack’s capturers

Black Jim

Bogus Charley

Boston Charley

Captain Jack

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Amazing Portrait Photos of the Indian Tribes of North America in the 1840s

History of the Indian Tribes of North America is held by SMU’s DeGolyer Library.

Indian Tribes of North America in the 1840s

History of the Indian Tribes of North America is a multi volume set by Thomas Loraine McKenney (1785-1859) and James Hall (1793-1868), detailing the history of the Indian tribes of North America, with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs.

The set is embellished with one hundred and twenty portraits taken sometime 1842, from the Indian gallery in the Department of War, at Washington, D.C.

History of the Indian Tribes of North America is part of the North America: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints collection, part of Southern Methodist University’s Central University Libraries (CUL) Digital Collections.

Ap-Pa-Noo-Se, Saukie Chief

A-Chippeway-Widow

A-Mis-Quam, A Winnebago Brave

A-Na-Cam-E-Gish-Ca, A Chippeway Chief

Ahyouwaighs, Chief of the Six Nations

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20 Vintage Photos of Madagascan Women Showcasing Their Beautiful Hairstyles in the Early 20th Century

Among works of art, the hairstyle occupies an important place in the traditional life of the Malagasy. Every type of hairstyle has its specificity and its clean signification according to diversity in customs as every ethnic group otherwise as every tribe. Par excellence, it is a job of delicacy, always in harmony with circumstances, that demands however an address, dexterity and of patience.

The hairstyle constitutes a finery which raises forms of the face by its modeling. Although traditionally they contented simply themselves with carrying a lamba; a bag or sometimes a hat, later the Malagasy added various objects of finery such as jewelry, laces, and all kind of locally available coquetry and fancy things.

Different forms of hairstyles adapts with age, marital status and circumstances. For example, the hairstyle for ceremony (family celebrations, ritual demonstrations…); the daily life hairstyle; and the hairstyle for mourning. This traditions are followed by both women and men. During the same ceremony, the little girls, the boys, the teenagers, the women, the men and the old persons carry different hairstyles.

The art of hairstyling is transmitted in principle from generation to generation for every ethnic group, whatever is the quality of hair, with their variety and their specific character: smooth, right and fine (Tsobolo); wavy (Oly); curled (Ngita); short (Fohy); long (lava)… In general, the Malagasy have habit to braid their hair. The hairstyle allows so to classify every individual in hierarchy or in its social function. In case of mourning, some prescripts give rise to modifications. Historically, to some tribes, to pay tribute to the deceased, the women and the men had to sacrifice their hair except the tribe leader.

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30 Vintage Photos of Young Hopi Maidens With Their Traditional Hairstyle From the 1900s and 1910s

The hairstyle is called the Squash Blossom Whorls, or Butterfly Whorls and were worn only by the young Hopi maidens to show that they were unmarried. This complex hairstyle was achieved by the maidens mother, who would wind her hair around a curved piece of wood to give it a round shape, then remove the wood frame.

The Squash Blossom Whorl is often attributed to being the source of Star Wars character Princess Leia’s iconic hairstyle, as well as Mexican Revolutionary Clara de la Rocha, who also wore a similar style common amongst Soldaderas.

The Hopi are a Pueblo Native American tribe who have farmed land in what is now the state Arizona for many hundreds of years. The Hopi year is divided by two major events, the winter solstice and the summer solstice, and a complex series of minor events, including ceremonies and traditions with agricultural themes developed to promote healthy crops, fertile ground, and the most favorable growing conditions. Using their surroundings as inspiration, the Hopi people have creatively interpreted their need for rain, corn, and crops by imitating natural forms and cycles in dance, jewelry, pottery, and yes, hairstyles. The most complex element of these ceremonies and traditions is the role of the kachinas, which can most simply be defined as the guardians of the land and of the people.

The name Hopi is a shortened form of their autonym, Hopituh Shi-nu-mu (“The Peaceful People” or “Peaceful Little Ones”). The Hopi Dictionary gives the primary meaning of the word “Hopi” as: “behaving one, one who is mannered, civilized, peaceable, polite, who adheres to the Hopi Way. In contrast to warring tribes that subsist on plunder.”

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25 Eerie Vintage Photographs Capture Muslim Women Wearing Dark Face Veils on the Streets of Sarajevo

In Bosnia-Herzegovina the niqab is called “feredza.” During Ottoman times some Bosnian women used to wear them, before communism banned it.

A niqab is a garment of clothing that covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of a particular interpretation of hijab (modest dress). According to the majority of Muslim scholars and Islamic schools of thought, face veiling is not a requirement of Islam; however a minority of Muslim scholars, particularly among the Salafi movement, assert that women are required to cover their faces in public. Those Muslim women who wear the niqab do so in places where they may encounter non-mahram (non-related) men.

These photographs were taken in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina from the 1920s to the 1940s, when niqab used to be the norm there.

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Rare Photos of Baluchi Women in Their Traditional Masks in Muscat, Oman From the Early 20th Century

The Omani burqa is a female identity in the nomadic desert. It covers the lower part of the face — from mouth to chin — and partially covers the forehead.

The size and shape of the Burqa, the facial mask, differs from region to region and it comes in different colors. It is predominantly made of fabric known as Sheil.

Girls begin to use burqa at the age of 14 or once they get engaged. It is part of the Omani tradition, which is dying slowly as women replaced burqa with other face make-up. But still the mask enhances the beauty of women.

The reason of why they wear it. Because the burqa is not a tool to cover the face from men’s gaze. It was a tool to protect women from the sun and sand. As you know, Oman is located in the Arab Peninsula and the Arab Peninsula is practically one big sandbox. For the people who still aren’t convinced and wonder why men don’t wear it if the Omani burqa is for protection: actually they have their own “burqa”, the keffiyeh –also known as a turban.

Today the burqa has become a fashion item worn all over the country. A beautiful quote said by an Omani woman to end with: “We wear the burqa not because we feel ashamed to appear without it, but because it is nicer to appear with it.”

Fascinating Vintage Photographs of Bedouin People From the Late 19th Century

The Bedouin or Bedu are a grouping of nomadic Arab people who have historically inhabited the desert regions in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and the Levant. The English word bedouin comes from the Arabic badawī, which means “desert dweller,” and is traditionally contrasted with ḥāḍir, the term for sedentary people.

Bedouin territory stretches from the vast deserts of North Africa to the rocky sands of the Middle East. They are traditionally divided into tribes, or clans, and historically share a common culture of herding camels and goats. The vast majority of Bedouin adhere to Islam, although there are some fewer numbers of Arab Christian Bedouins present in the Fertile Crescent.

While many Bedouins have abandoned their nomadic and tribal traditions for a modern urban lifestyle, many retain traditional Bedouin culture such as retaining the traditional ʿašāʾir clan structure, traditional music, poetry, dances (such as saas), and many other cultural practices and concepts.

Urbanized Bedouins often organize cultural festivals, usually held several times a year, in which they gather with other Bedouins to partake in and learn about various Bedouin traditions—from poetry recitation and traditional sword dances to playing traditional instruments and even classes teaching traditional tent knitting. Traditions like camel riding and camping in the deserts are still popular leisure activities for urbanized Bedouins who live in close proximity to deserts or other wilderness areas.

These photographs from the end of the 19th century capture a range of Bedouins at a time of change.

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Rare Portraits of Men and Women Around the World in Their Tradition Costumes at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair

Here's a rare set of large-format photographic portrait images of the different ethnic people who represented various countries of the world at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, also known as the World Columbian Exposition.

The World Columbian Exposition was held from May to October 1893 in Chicago in honor of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the new world. In competition with many other cities, Chicago was finally designated the official site and the Exposition was built on 630 acres in and around Jackson Park. It was a spectacular display of progress and prosperity, and included among its many wonders electrical exhibits, exhibits from other countries, and a popular amusement area on Midway Plaisance with carnival rides, among them the first Ferris Wheel. Most of the fair's architecture was based on classical design which gave the area around the Court of Honor the name "The White City."

Mrs. Theresa Joseph (the wife of Mr. D. Joseph), an East Indian woman from Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka).

Ke-Ne-Wa-Na, a Native American woman of the Lakota Sioux tribe.

Rain-in-the-Face, a Native American war chief of the Lakota Sioux tribe who, with Sitting Bull, defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.

Ah Que, a Chinese woman married to Wong Ki.

Hallad Abdalah, a Syrian Bedouin sheik.

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