Blackfoot Decorated Tipis c.1900

‘In 1896 Walter McClintock traveled as a photographer for a federal commission investigating national forests. McClintock became friends with the expedition’s Blackfoot Indian scout, William Jackson or Siksikakoan. When the commission completed its field work, Jackson introduced McClintock to the Blackfoot community of northwestern Montana. Over the next twenty years, supported by the Blackfoot elder Mad Wolf, McClintock made several thousand photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, their material culture, and their ceremonies.

McClintock believed that Indian communities were undergoing swift, dramatic transformations that might obliterate their traditional culture. He sought to create a record of a life-way that might disappear. He wrote books, mounted photographic exhibitions, and delivered numerous public lectures about the Blackfoot.’

Thank you to the Beinecke Library Rare Book and Manuscript Library

4 comments to Blackfoot Decorated Tipis c.1900

  • Rob

    Very interesting, I’d like to learn more about the other 20 years of pictures he must have produced.
    I’ll start googling then ;-)

  • Jeff

    Wow, these are excellent!

  • Shelley

    Oh my, these photographs are so incredibly beautiful.
    I now have a much better idea of what it looked like.
    The photographs of the teepees at night with the
    fire inside are breathtaking.
    Thanks for posting this.
    Incredibly interesting.

  • Ed

    Wonderful photos. What a resource! I have a particular interest in teepees and this is a great addition.

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