Friday, September 18, 2009

The Vanishing Race ...

Back in 1908, a Philadelphia department store magnate named Rodman Wanamaker sponsored a photographic expedition to Montana, intended to document scenes of traditional Native American life before it disappeared forever. The lead photographer on the project was a man named Joseph K. Dixon, and he and his staff managed to capture some of the most evocative images of the American Indian ever taken. The best of the photos were later published in a book called The Vanishing Race, which is a real collectors item today.

This image is one from the collection. It's titled, "The Sunset of a Dying Race," and was likely photographed somewhere in what is now Big Horn County.

2 comments:

  1. I stuck the following comment way back in the Butte/music tag...then thought nobody would find it...so here it is again:

    Here's some tuneful history I'd never heard...chilling in its awful relevance.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgQNeGPJdcQ I found that one on the interesting blog "Montana Gael"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-eYEoCIEIs

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  2. Wow, thanks for sending those links along! I'm fascinated by the whole Mann Gulch story, and I'd never heard that song before ... it's very poignant stuff.

    I think I'll need to make that my next post, in fact.

    Take care, and thanks again.

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