to join the conversation, like us on facebook. , a visual next studies professor at the california college of the arts talks about the photographic or trail of native americans during the 19th century especially have ct a crisper frayed the modo tribe leading up to their war with white settlers. we will also hear about how photographs are used to promote western expansion after the civil war. the california historical society hosted this one-hour event. >> so, i am interested into questions >> with the about photographic portraits. the historical article

and how it respond. the history production of photographs of american and -- -- the and the motor or modoc war. the united states had a particular interest in producing peoples.record of the this coincided with the concept of manifest destiny. this was a 19th-century idea that help that westward expansion across the continent

was inevitable. this is articulated by the journalists who said that are is overspreadny .he cost that based on the tennis that indigenous cultures and peoples would inevitably disappear at -- andey were in capable of adapting to political realities. in madison's painting, we see a multigenerational amalie. they were left with nothing the young man with the elder male seems to accept their fate. storm clouds are gathering.

artists, including george kaplan, offered miller -- how fred miller -- the images came in a variety of forms -- paintings, lithographs, paintings. armed and could and supplied, i started in the year 1832, and are in the best wilds that are dominated in the west of the best living manners customs and character of an interesting race of people who were rapidly

passing away from the face of earth, lending a hand to a dying nation who have no historians or biographers of their own to portray this fidelity of the native looks in history. what could be saved for the of posterity then -- then recording the memory of a race. .eople bought a lithographs they were translated into other formats. , ay could own a piece souvenir of the syria ideas -- these very ideas. a publisher of popular western travel guides commission the byation of american progress

gast. it is up -- in his allegorical version of manifest destiny. notice the emblem of civilization -- a telegraph wire , trains, and also families. the painting is a visual narration of westward tension that westward expansion. wildlifeericans and are cowering in the darkness on the left of the painting. notice the light comes on the west.nd arrives in the other tropes existed in paintings, such as the good indians and the bad indians. the good indian wears western clothing. haircut.s he sits with other emblems of civilization -- the dog and education.

he has achieved these things. this is the bad indian on the emotions.controllable wild gestures. notice again the tones. the tones are important -- the warm tone of the painting by john makes stanley -- mix stanley. evidently cooler tones in the later work. these influence how we read these images, and also the color of the people that we see. photograph from an american studio was made by a st. louis photographer. type -- ais a de niro degree or a type -- did wary of type yououg ware road

rreotype.t --dague you can see the details of his clothing. a three-dimensional image. in this way, a viewer could actually imagine that they were holding keokuk in their hands. as watchful fox. he had diplomatic exchanges. he was a controversial figure. keokuk he had sought and negotiated settlement. he replaced another leader who had been more resistant to diplomatic talks. his willingness to sell tribal lands in iowa and to relocate west of the mississippi river to

great political divisions among his tribes. many refused to leave. some who made the journey to kansas in 1845 may be returned to iowa. .ade 40 images of keokuk imagesnted to sell these to audiences who were interested in the subject. an earlier portrait made in 1845 is probably the first known image -- photographic image of a native american. .t was made in great britain are calotypes,hs which are different from did wary of types -- daguerreotypes. you can see the fibers of the paper. ofinvolves coding a piece

writing paper essentially with a photosensitive material. calotypes is the precursor to what modern-day photography is. orchids are made outdoors, so they look kind of strange with the lighting. the photograph depicts an ojibwe , who goes by the name of peter jones. the pipe was not actually any kind of heirloom. it was given to him by someone england.s visit to it wasn't some sort of tribal object. supposedly native peoples don't understand technology. and chose poses -- roles.walls

he clearly understands what he is doing. he understands the process of a making. -- all picture beganraphic documentation to supersede paintings and drawings in the 1860's. photographs of indians showed the average americans means to view the unfamiliar. exciting. most americans living east of the mississippi would be completely unfamiliar. they could view these images from the comfort of their home, or from the viewing space in public without a direct encounter. the photographs were evidence year a truth -- evidentiary area proof. it is important to note that the emergence of native americans as a subject in photography coincides with several other very important technical and

cultural factors. technical factors include the expansion of photographer technologies. such as the stereoscope, the camera. photographic formats and the printing capacities. paper-based would grasp versus the types -- daguerreotypes. and --uld be constricted distributed and shared. the expansion of mass media and the growth of tourism. more photographers are going to take up things we have already seen. these images were made of the nest per se -- nez perce. imagesntains over 1500

and was published in 1911. among the things criticized for for directingods his subjects. his melancholic vision of a .anishing indian the soft brownish color that you oferve his characteristic -- photograph or vure. it creates a textured image, a very rich brown. also, you have to understand influences how we read the matter. we are here to consider some broad subject categories of images of native peoples. one category is the anthropological image. the second half of the 19th century saw the rapid

development of anthropology tech knowledge he and studies of peoples and cultures. -- technology and studies of peoples and cultures. a function was to describe and record they've american peoples and cultures. the photographers here are in reproducing for us and demonstrating signs of cultural difference and distinction. facial features, cheap loans, forehead -- cheek bones, forehead. also, the long hair, jewelry. those items that are crowded around him. all of these golden tapestries that are further used to enforce and to represent his difference, represent his culture to the viewer.

another category we can identify our government surveys and expeditions. a former civil war photographer worked on federal surveys and photographsdreds of between 1867 and 1874. the surveys worked to not only determine facilities available for making rail or common roads and note mineral resources, climate, geology, etc., but they discover theo numbers, habits, and dispositions of indians in the section, among other activities. than the official markers, like the fields and titles. you can see on the back of one of the stair graphs. .- stereo graphs these are used for

presentations. otherused to convince congressmen to appropriate money, and to demonstrate to other congressmen the need for certain types of legislation. these images were actively used, handled, and distributed. another common type of image are delegation images, delegation portraiture. , thee mid-19th century violence in the disputes over white settlements made it -- led the u.s. governments to invite delegations of native american leaders to washington, d.c., to negotiate treaties. it was common for these visitors to be recorded by the leading photographers of the area -- of the era, many of whom had studios in washington. here, noticewer

how he directs the gauge of each of these men. they don't look at each other, narrow engage with each other, they don't look at us. their cases and poses are controlled. he controls where they sit, how they stand. be a central portrait, but in fact, he has intervened here to show us a very particular kind of and thisation, particular image was reproduced on the cover of harper's weekly. just to show you how the images start to end up in the media. areaps less well-known artistic images. this is a particular genre of reproduction, called pictorial is an -- pictorialism. it rejected the mechanical aspects of photography in favor

of labor-intensive processes artistry ofized the the photographer. photography was not just a mere inch of recording. -- instrument of recording. they manipulate the photographic images in order to introduce .extures and different tones essentially to make a photograph in the same way that an artist or a painter might make a painting. this photography was a leading painter in this movement. figuresn photographing of performers with buffalo bills wild west show through 1888-1889. this is simply titled the red man. the red man, of course, comes from a centuries long notion of racial stock, the idea that each

race belongs to a different type of -- that these race bluntly different -- that each race belongs to a different category and has different characteristics, and lesser characteristics than others. this is very close up and very moody. what you can't tell from this light is the texture of this image. it is very textured in its production, and the tone of it is raw. a stoic indian. he is staring back at us. frontier, village, and reservation life is another style. hopi n 1880 and 1920, the snake and in love ceremony, popularly known as the snake dance, was far and away the most widely depicted south native ritual.

it was also a very popular tourist attraction, usually performed in august to ensure abundant rainfall for the corn crop it involves live snakes. the american public learned of and became interested in the ritual. ethnography is began publishing accounts. refers -- e thnogrophers began publishing accounts. began going themselves. this is what you see on the right of the image. i don't be left to, all of these westerners are essentially crowding in to make images to observe the ceremony. some of these photographs are amazing, because the dancers barely have any room to move there are so many

tourists there crowding in with their cameras to make photographs. some images are more documentary than others. image in washington. the wide range of subjects based to the technological development of photography after 1850, and related the commercial opportunities available to photographers. you could not easily make multiples, and they were fragile. in the case of daguerreotypes, effective healing was impossible. when you look at these , there is bias from their makers. photographers tend to ignore or demise evidence of successful , even as they

purported to document actual practices. they were not made a theographers, and most of -- noninvasive photographers -- photographers. photography was expensive. you did not just pop out with your camera and go on a survey. they were working under the influence or direction of some other audience or entity. photographs of native americans in california are rare for various reasons. people in other regions of the country were more likely to be photographed. native american vote -- native american delegations that we have seen. government survey expeditions to the southwest. well-known photographers set up branch studios in places like

iowa and st. louis. knownocess that we have as photography was introduced in 1839. the earliest surviving photograph of a native californian is from 1850, and it dictates a group that resides in what is now the sierra nevada valley. thosetwo images are not images, but they are also the group. featured here in a publication publicationsof lawrence and housework in san francisco. native american subjects were part of this series. you can see the number there -- 595. they were not photographers, they were a firm that sought to

acquire images, and they would .e sold these images are called stereogr aphs. we have seen a few already. they consist of two nearly together.photographs they are paired to produce the illusion of a single image, and they also give the image of a view.f three-dimensional it is kind of like those things that kids have -- i forget what they're called -- for their toys and kids have. you need to view a stereo graph with a particular type of your. -- of the deal were viewer. most people work from san francisco and venture out from there.

also, someone who is speaking next week, he makes a powerful case and makes us aware of the way that the modoc war was the result of various policies and attitudes. among those, a policy of extermination from the highs levels of government and absorbed by the public and media , and calls for demagogic violence. theave this moment in 1850's when images of california's native americans arbitrated kind of romantic ways -- are portrayed a kind of romantic ways. the modoc war then becomes part of this story. , she interprets more

broadly the turning point, because it was sanctioned by the state. other campaigns had occurred without in the 19th century. in the media, it was called that. it is an important theme in the book. the modoc war, or the modoc campaign, most people don't know the background of it. it accorded that it occurred in california and oregon. a chief called captain jack left 52 -- led 52 warriors who left a reservation. they established defensive bed, ins in the lava present lava bed national monument. they managed to resist the u.s.

army for months. there was a piece commission hearing, and captain jack and others decided they would kill general edward candy. they would at some others. they had this assumption that they kind of attacked this event of that would encourage americans to leave. this did not happen. after that, u.s. forces were .einforced they came and eventually the modoc war years surrendered. what you are looking at here are that were produced after captain jack and the other warriors were captured. they were tried for murder. othernd two of the warriors were executed. the others were sentenced to life imprisonment. wise is important -- why is it important? costlyne of the most

wars in the u.s. history. it cost about $50,000 per warrior. was an international media event. about 100 modoc war photographs are known to test. asked -- two exist -- to exist. 1873, they are still technically toited in their capacities record movement. they're not recording movement at all. they are recording encampments and landscapes because they can't really record actual action. he immigrated from new york -- to new york --

he came from germany to new york . he arrived in california around 1862. he began offering his services as a photographer. photographing the modoc war in mid april 1873. some of the viewers -- some of these images are known to be staged. heller is first on the scene, and he photographs this event i mentioned, where candy was -- canby was murdered. he took a photograph of an effigy held in the town square -- hung in the town square. he makes the unfortunate decision to work with another to publish this

image. what happens is the other photographer gets the credit, and heller credit disappears from public record. the image is actually say on the library of congress the name of the other photographer. on your back to these in the second -- i will second. to these and a he was an english photographer known for his pioneering work in only motion picture projection

-- early motion picture projection. he was working as a professional photographer any city that gave in the city. he is known for his romantic depictions of native american life. you see one here, an octogenarian. deconstruct the home -- the teepees of native to photograph them. they don't have the photography to light inside. they had to use external lighting. you had deconstruct and half of the structure in order to let light in in order to make this photograph. he makes these photographs with kind of romantic titles. he doesn't tell us who they are or what group they belong to. it is just under the heading.

it is a generic title. medicine man asleep. remember again, these are stereo graphs. they would have looked 3-d if you look at them through a viewer. why are these people sitting on a ground? why are they sleeping? these of the kind of things people would see. they are passive. this idea of a lack of money and become a lack of a committee, a lack of civilization. so he goes to work actually under the employment of the united states army. he arrives later than heller to the field.

he becomes the one who is known as the photographer of the modoc war. even he arrived there later. you can see in these images that he is working for the government. not a modoc indian, but a scout for the united states army. he worked in a variety of positions. they play an important role in , because mckay attempted to speak to the modoc's and was unsuccessful. they try to work as intermediaries and liaisons to the modoc. as a friend.d here he was would have looked at these images and seen him as a friend to the united states side . he was a figure of great interest to the viewing public because of his role in aiding the united states army. .ere we see another image

our goodink back to indian -- bad indian analogy from earlier. they are offering their services, there are watchful, they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. these are things viewers would have been looking at. it is hard not to understand the politics of this war, and these images, without looking at contemporary media. a tory and press found in antebellum era that the civil major force ina life. photographs share the public sphere -- publix. c's fear. here we see unimagined scene based on witness accounts -- an

scene based on witness accounts. this is what photographers are competing with this is a lopez red. this is a large magazine. it is bigger than two sheets of paper. this was a media event. images were produced not only in harpers weekly, but other major publications. photography was associated with truth. photographers could not create these kinds of fancy themes of people -- scenes of people shooting each other. they couldn't show these action scenes. photography was seen as the truth. a good survey function that illustrations could not. you would've looked at heller's

images and understood them to be truthful. there are a number of other factors at work here and how we interpret these images. these are truths. photographs have this kind of handover illustrations. .hotographers tried to compete modoc braves lying in wait for a shot. he is not a modoc at all. he's one of the indian springs scouts hosing for an image -- closing for an image -- posing for an image. the man has no shirt on, he is clearly an profile. with trying to compete drawings and illustrations. photographs like this seem

rather banal. why would somebody want to look at a pile of rocks and a cave? this is the setting, this is where was taking place. american art has an obsession ,ith geological formations caves, native americans kind of hiding in spaces. this kind of image really plays up the sorts of beers -- the -- fears. these details, viewers would have loved to have seen this in 3-d. the actual cave where supposedly the modoc's were living in hiding. it doesn't matter if it was necessarily one of the caves they used, but it was a cave and serve as a visual enforcement of what people have been reading about.

one of the things you have to understand is that these stereo , you looked at them in sequence. it was a kind of story. you would load them up and tell a story one at a time by loading up your stereo graphs. something like this, you see .umbers there you would load them up and look at them as if looking to a story. here at the end, if we had this , by 1618, it is all over and the people are captured and now the americans are taking .ver the state they are telling the story here and reassuring visitors that is the -- that it is all over. peace has been brought to the scene. notice that going all the way up

to the top on the side. skyg the background of the to show these people, to make sure we see them scattered around the state. the portraits, probably made involuntarily, have another kind of appeal. they are on this wildly popular cover. they got the scoop on harpers weekly, their competitor. ate is, much like looking the lava bed, here we have a collection giving viewers access to these images, the spaces of -- faces oft others these deviant others.

the idea of seeing the spaces of close when you hadn't been able to see the spaces before was something that was quite sensational. what is interesting here is that notice here on the bottom -- the certification of authenticity. that he has taken photos of these indians, prisoners under my charge." not only that, but we have general davis adding that he is cognizant of the above facts, as if to further emphasize. it is true, this indian has been captured. stereographse would have joy seeing this. also the names. these kind of leverage names --

learned -- lurid names. notice the conflation of races. hookah associated with asian cultures. jim associated with african-americans. they're sort of a conflation of racial inside the in these images. versus our friend devon -- david mckay. these captors have their catheter lab coming showing indians.d peaceful -- their hands in their lap, showing they are good, peaceful indians. if you read the text that accompanies this, it is that they actually include people who murderers.ual captain jack, the leader, is in the center. so is mckay on the left.

all of these figures get wrapped up in the kind of ad indian, though other image, even some of them were actual helpers of the united states side, aiding that side. this representation here is passing into a long history in which good and had indians are pictured in the media -- bad it are -- bad indians are not wearing any of the kind of cultural markers, kind of plain clothing. they stared directly back at us in these kind of grim looking faces. these are the kind of images, they're kind of like a mug shot. these images were sold for four dollars a dozen. you could also buy large card versions.

enlargements were also offered for saloons or private rooms. these images were widely sold. heller entered into this arrangement with walk-ins, and for his work.ited these images are playing on a wider and broader feared of ethnic others in america at this time. why is the modoc war sensational? ,ecause of the xena phobic national, and racist rhetoric that dominated the popular media , that was stoked by the popular media at this time. theethnic others, african-american in the background. he's saying something like

they're coming for me. the native american in the asian person, everybody looking at their fate and understanding that their time is my -- time is nigh. that brings us to the significance of these images. so far we have been talking about photographs made of rather than by native american subjects. types -- 10 are 10 -- tin types. the production of these actually involves liquid material, it involves coding a sheet of metal. -- coating a sheet metal.

the liquid aspects of these processes seem apparent in these images. , someone writes that are victims, recipients of a dominant power who were acted upon by an abstract colonizing force. rather, every step of the way, faced steps tos eradicate their culture. social changes for the endeavor will of such action. change occurred in both indigenous and colonizing populations. ethnic photographs offer a -- rast for thank you. [applause]

>> come to our mic stand if you have a question. questionowing to ask a specifically how this ends. in one of the photographs you should at the beginning, it was the one with all the textiles in the background. you say he was averted his eyes cap away. are these small act of trying to turn away river at the days -- averter the gays -- or

their gaze? it is a process struggling with the work. you see someone resisting or you see the process fail. those moments, relationships and .ersonalities are revealed you saw the man of urging his -- bob brca -- averting his eyes. people are going to \ \] it doesn't mean what they thought it . you see these acts of resistance. for me, i see them as an intersection between the technology itself failing and the failing -- and the subject resisting.

you couldn't say let's do it .gain you have to keep that one. [indiscernible] ms. best: the question is did the subjects you know -- did the subject notes echoed what was happening to their image? [indiscernible] ms. best: so there are two questions here. i think that in the case of delegation photographs, they saw their images produced in these journals, and they knew before they came there that this had occurred with other people. they knew that their photographs have been made, and had probably

seen copies of these newspapers. they probably knew in some way that the image would be reproduced. what is interesting about some of the delegation photographs, that is one type. the other types where you see treated justeing as any subject of the era, just as president lincoln or anything else. that is one particular apple -- particular example. often, people write down their feelings about their subject, which are often derogatory. they writes down derogatory ideas that they have about the subject. did they work in collaboration .ith these people

there is probably the case of awareness of some subjects in .his process we don't know a lot about the other side. [indiscernible] ms. best: you have to remain covered basically after 1860, you don't necessarily have a clamp on your head, but you have to remain somewhat still. not as difficult as it has been to pose. what i'm showing you now are were people have moved, and you see images where the depth of field isn't quite correct, things will be out of focus. it is not a perfect technology.

[indiscernible] >> what generation [indiscernible] ms. best: the library of negatives, andst a lot of print. they don't want you to handle actual objects. one of the drawbacks of looking at negatives is you are looking at an image that might be cropped. inges may have never made it , because giving away a lot of images, they left a lot of them behind. in doing this type of research, you try to stick to what kind of

images, how you can show how and examplesd, that are observed and kept. the library congress is not .ecessarily something they can't, because it is .verdue [indiscernible] >> how these photographs are used?

these in -- these images to an funds policy? -- to influence policy? they would be used to kind of figure out the number of people that lived in one region. it would look at the photographs and say what kind of people are they? of course, these judgments -- you can't judge that by looking at a photograph. they would try to figure out who is in this type of region. it is not just a photograph. the photographs are supplementing longer reports. the photograph is just giving kind of visual record. they're not looking at images by themselves and saying a hot -- a-ha.

you are looking at maps, you're looking at drawings, many different types of object. it is kind of false to look at something like this, because people would have used mass amounts of paper in addition to these photographs. the photographs of just giving to whatvisual emphasis people are writing in their reports. this is how they dress, this is how they lived. the entire settlement of the southwest is based on this type of survey -- where we can settle, where we can build , where's the best place to put the track, where we going to encounter the least resistance? elevation. they are looking at them as an obstacle, but his religious education with these types of -- it is really just

education with this type of thing. >> do we have any images of people's comparable to the west ?oast that is an interesting question about why certain areas . by east was already settled photography camera. a lot of merit americans were living in new york. -- of native americans were living in new york. it is important to remember the sort of cultural fantasy of the west of imagination of this country. the west and its landscape was the place that was unique about america.

it was what would make america america. yosemite,discovered what they discover these places, they say niagara falls was nothing compared to yosemite. the west had the special function. it is unnecessarily california at first. it is much closer to mississippi, and then gets there. out from the west has this kind of fascination. you have a lot of paintings and drawings. you have other images. you have wood engravings. you have other kinds of documentation. you don't have photographs. >> native peoples weren't living as in the west? ms. best: that is why you have

st. louis. iowa.uis, >> any less questions? -- any lastestion question? [indiscernible] >> go back a little further. it really strikes me, these were captured. truthpresenting the

[indiscernible] ms. best: those photographs are widely distributed. he ispossible that already out in the west before the civil war. he could have seen them. photographer, you kept up with what was going on. i don't know if this becomes convention. obviously, the moksha convention is already established. -- fema bank she has already established -- the mugshot convention is already established. >> there is something that is just really striking. was popular were the images of the faces.

i think in those images, there is an interest in who these people are, and they want to see the whole body, they want to what happened to those bodies, because they have this impact on the nation. these people are more about the faces and confirming deviants types -- deviant types. [indiscernible] >> there were no native

photographers taking pictures of their own native people and their own way of life? none of these pictures actually tell the story of how they .ctually lived ,here's just so much missing because this is all just coming from the settlers. ms. best: my family comes and asks me the hardest questions. yes. this is the problem with this

history. this is why the workers also important. not just the native american people, but to create a visual record that to the historical record. it really does pose the question of how we read these images when we don't have the other side, how do we recover something of the experience of the people who were on that other side and asking questions about what we're looking at and not continue to take a message documents?

>> the photographs come you have seen things like this. i assume this is truly very early american-style. you wouldn't see photographic this. ms. best: they don't need to use photography in that way. these photography in the same way americans do. >> let's give her a round of applause. thank you very much. [applause] thank you.

>> you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on cspan3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook. >> each week, "american artifacts" take you to museums and historic places to learn about american history. douglas macarthur committed allied forces in world war ii. we learn about his early life, service during world war i, and a career during the interwar years. this is part one of a two-part program. welcome to the macarthur memorial in norfolk, virginia. i am the director. this is a museum and research center devoted to the life and career of douglas macarthur