Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians

William Henry JacksonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.8

Word count: 272K words
Chapters: 28

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians by JacksonAuthor: Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942,Language: English, Class: E011: History: America: America, Release Date: Mar 10, 2012

Editor's review

This is a documentary photographic catalogue listing photographs of North American Indians taken by William Henry Jackson. It is not a narrative work but presents visual records in catalogue form, making it suitable as primary material for research on Native American history, the early history of photography, and ethnographic imagery. Readers can learn about the subjects and cataloguing methods of image collection in the nineteenth-century American West, and can also sense the dual role of photography at the time as both a recording tool and a medium of display. As a public-domain e-book, the text appears in its original English, so reading it requires some ability to search and understand English-language documents. Its strength is its clear entries, which make it easy to look things up; it is suitable for use in libraries or digital humanities projects, and for readers interested in photographic archives who wish to explore further. It is intended more for desk reference and specialized research than for reading straight through for pleasure.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars researching Native American history and ethnographic imagery
Readers interested in the history of nineteenth-century photography in the American West
Archivists and museum workers who need to consult early photographic catalogue entries
Digital humanities learners interested in searching public-domain English-language documents

Not a good fit for

General readers looking for a continuous narrative or personal stories
Readers who find English difficult and do not want to consult reference works
Readers expecting a wealth of plates presented directly without the need for lookup

Reading tips

First read the catalogue structure and classification notes, then locate entries by theme or tribal name.
Read alongside a chronology of Native American history to understand the historical context of the image collection.
Compare the entries with Jackson's other Western photographic materials and keep topical notes.
If there are many unfamiliar English words, first get familiar with the entry format, then gradually read the key descriptions closely.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a plate album or a textual catalogue?

It is primarily a descriptive catalogue of photographs, recording image information in textual entries rather than consisting mainly of plates. Readers need to use the entries to find or cross-reference the relevant images, so it is better suited for reference use.

Can someone with basic English read it?

Yes, but with the help of a dictionary and background materials. The catalogue entries follow fairly fixed patterns; getting familiar with the cataloguing format and common terms first, then gradually reading the descriptions, will be more effective than reading straight through from the beginning.

Is it suitable for writing papers?

It is suitable as a source of historical leads and references, especially for research on early photography and photographic records of Native Americans. But it is itself a catalogue, so argumentation will also require other scholarly works and the original images.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

William Henry Jackson Author · American · 1843–1942

William Henry Jackson (1843–1942) was an American photographer. He joined geological survey teams in the American West, using his camera to record the region's natural scenery and landforms; his photographs of the Yellowstone area helped pave the way for the establishment of the world's first national park. The collection includes his work Descriptive Catalogue of Photographs of North American Indians, whose title indicates a descriptive catalogue of photographs of Native Americans, reflecting his organization and documentation of images of Indigenous peoples in North America. Public information on the details of his life is limited; the available profile focuses mainly on his photographic activities, the subjects of his work, and his influence on the visual record of the American West and the history of national parks.