This exhibit features thirty-five photogravure prints of landscapes and portraits by Edward S. Curtis, selected from The North American Indian, published from 1907 to 1930. The images reveal the significance of the relationship of the native peoples of North America with their ancestral lands. The photogravures are displayed with written passages by Curtis, Chief Joseph, Geronimo, and Red Cloud.

In 1898, the Seattle photographer Edward S. Curtis conceived of the idea to photograph all the surviving tribes of North American Indians living west of the Mississippi River in the United States and in Alaska. The finished work is a set of twenty text volumes, each with an accompanying portfolio volume of photogravure prints. There are more than 2,200 original photogravures in each set, along with nearly 4,000 pages of text that contain a record of the diverse panorama of the native peoples of North America.

The complete set of The North American Indian owned by the University of Pittsburgh was purchased from the Boston rare book dealer, Charles E. Lauriat Company, by the librarian and historian Lois Mulkearn, for the Darlington Memorial Library in May 1949. Of the 500 proposed sets, less than 300 were printed. The Darlington Memorial Library copy is number 133.

The exhibit will be on view into the fall term of 2018 and open for viewing during the hours of the Special Collections Reading Room.