George W. Ingalls Photograph Collection, approximately 1869 - 1915, bulk 1870s

Summary

Creators:

Ingalls, George W., 1838-1921

Abstract:

A collection of glass plate negatives and prints collected by Major George W. Ingalls, a United States Indian agent, 1872-1875, who worked among Paiute and other tribes in the American West, as well as among Great Plains, Great Basin and Eastern tribes relegated to Indian Territory. Many of the photographs were made in the early 1870s, including several original wet-plate glass negatives made by Powell expedition photographer John K. Hillers, and by Charles M. Bell. The collection illustrates Indian reform practices of the late 19th century, including views of Indian children attending seminary schools; portraits of tribal leaders in western suits; missionaries and churches in Indian Territory. There are also portraits of Indian delegates in Washington D.C.; portraits taken at Council meetings; and early views of Reno, Nevada.

Extent:

14.25 Linear Feet (34 boxes, 1 folder)

Language:

English.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. George W. Ingalls Photograph Collection. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

A collection of glass plate negatives and prints collected by Major George W. Ingalls, a United States Indian agent, 1872-1875, who worked among Paiute and other tribes in the West, as well as among Great Plains, Great Basin and Eastern tribes relegated to Indian Territory. Many of the photographs were made in the early 1870s and include photographs by John K. Hillers made during expeditions with John Wesley Powell in 1873 and 1874; views of Indian children attending seminary schools; portraits of tribal leaders in western suits; missionaries and churches in Indian Territory. There are also portraits of Indian delegates in Washington D.C.; portraits taken at Council meetings; and early views of Reno, Nevada, from the early 1900s.

The majority of tribes represented are from Great Basin and Great Plains regions, but there are also Southwest Indian photographs by A. C. Vroman; and views of Northeast and Southeast Indian tribe members living in Indian Territory or attending annual council meetings. Notably, there is a view of a skull showing an example of head flattening (Folder 33, Item 1).

Many of the original prints have ink captions in Ingalls' hand. Ingalls' captions often mention if the Indians pictured are Christians or otherwise "reformed." There are photographs of Indian graduates of seminary schools, and views of institutional buildings and churches with native and non-native people. Missionary families are shown in their houses, as well as native preachers in their new wooden houses. Additionally, there are also descriptions in pencil on the backs of original prints and copy prints that are, for the most part, taken from Ingalls' original negative envelopes. At some point after acquisition, Ingalls' handwritten identifications on the original negative envelopes were transcribed to the backs of the prints and the envelopes were discarded. A few still survive, and are filed with the prints --see Folder 23 (3), to see an example.

This collection is a mixture of original and copy prints and negatives, as well as a few pieces of ephemera and some manuscript photograph lists and possible lecture notes by Ingalls. There are many original exposures among the glass negatives, which Ingalls may have received directly from the photographer(s). Others are copies that Ingalls may have borrowed to be photographed for his own collection, or he received from elsewhere. The Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology received letters from Ingalls asking for copies of certain photographs, indicating he did receive some copies this way. A May 30, 1919, letter from Ingalls' to the BAE refers to Hillers' photographs "for" him in Oklahoma, 1875, supporting the idea that Hillers gave Ingalls some original negatives.

Biographical / historical:

George W. Ingalls was born in Massachusetts in 1838. He became a member of the Baptist Church, and as a young man went to Illinois, where he worked as a merchandise clerk and proprietor. He married Jennie Roberts in 1866, with whom he had three children. In 1870, he was working as a life insurance agent in Springfield, Ill., while also becoming increasingly involved in Indian affairs through the American Baptist Home Mission Society. In 1872, President Grant appointed Ingalls U. S. Indian Agent for Nevada, Utah and Southeast California. In 1873, he was made U.S. Special Indian Commissioner, along with John Wesley Powell, to investigate the condition of the Indians of the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin. Ingalls, Powell and photographer John K. Hillers travelled from Kanab to St. George and then to Las Vegas in the fall of 1873 to photograph Paiute Indians.

In 1874, the U.S. government published the "Report of Special Commissioners J. W. Powell and G. W. Ingalls on the Condition of the Ute Indians of Utah; the Paiutes of Utah, Northern Arizona, Southern Nevada, and Southeastern California; the Go-Si-Utes of Utah and Nevada; the Northwestern Shoshones of Idaho and Utah; and the Western Shoshones of Nevada…"

Ingalls, Powell and Hillers were together again in 1875, when Hillers was making photographs in Indian Territory, Oklahoma, for the Smithsonian's display at the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia. Hillers' diary of 1875 mentions Ingalls several times.

In 1874, Ingalls was appointed the first agent in charge of the Union Agency of consolidated Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole Indian tribes. He resigned as agent in 1875, but continued with religious and educational work among the Indians.

Ingalls' first wife died in 1875, and in 1879 he married Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, a graduate of Michigan University who was a missionary physician among the Indians in Indian Territory.

Ingalls moved to Arizona in 1880 and organized the first Territorial Exposition of Arizona, 1883. He turned his attention to mines and organizing civic expositions in Oregon, and eventually returned to Nevada in 1901. He became Secretary of the Nevada Chamber of Commerce at Reno, and in 1909, was chosen probation officer of the Juvenile Court. He resigned in 1912 and spent his time writing articles and giving lectures on his experiences among the Indians. He lived his last years in San Diego, and then Redlands, California, where he died in 1921.

In his later years, Ingalls wrote to the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology, asking for copies of specific photographs (many of which are in this collection). In a July 25, 1914, letter, he wrote "… in 1873 and 4, I was with the late Major J. W. Powell, Special Indian Commissioner and served in making investigations of the condition of Indians in Utah, Nevada, Northern Ariz., S. E. California & Southern Idaho, and taking a census of same … Jack Hillers made photographs of Indians at the time … I desire 8x10 and stereoscopic size for illustrating my experiences of 40 years among Indians and New Legends never in print of Paiutes and Washoes. Have started a new crusade of Indians (Temperance)…and have 1,000 signers to Anti-Liquor League. I want above named photos for use stated, also for lantern slides for my lectures among Indians and Whites..." On May 30, 1919, Ingalls wrote from San Diego, California, requesting more photos for a "revised new book on wild & civilized Indians … the following photographic prints 8x10 size that were made under Mr. Jack Hillers 1871-2-3 when with J.W. Powell and G.W. Ingalls … also by Jack Hillers - Oklahoma 1875 for G.W. Ingalls, Supt. 1875 in Oklahoma." The BAE reply says: "we have the original negatives of 80 subjects listed by you … we will have to have the works printed privately, 50 cents each without regard to size - total: $40. The prints will be made on glossy b&w paper suitable for engraving or copying."

Sources consulted:

1. Fleming, Paula Richardson. Native American Photography at the Smithsonian: The Shindler Catalogue. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian, 2003.
2. Ingalls, G. W., letters to Superintendent, Bureau of Ethnology, Dept. of Interior, 1914, 1915 and 1919. Source: National Anthropological Archives, Bureau of American Ethnology correspondence, Box 180, Letters received 1909-1949 -- Ingalls, G. W.
3. Fowler, Don, ed. "Photographed All the Best Scenery": Jack Hillers's Diary of the Powell Expeditions, 1871-1875. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1972.

Acquisition information:

Purchased from Mrs. Elizabeth A. Ingalls, 1923.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into four series:

1. Photographic prints
2. Ephemera and notes
3. Glass negatives
4. Copy negatives (transparencies)

The photographs are organized by tribe and listed loosely by geographic and cultural region: Southwest, Great Basin, California and Plateau, Great Plains, Southeast, and Northeast. Some sections include views of towns and buildings in the vicinity. The last groups of photographs are: Artifacts; U.S. Indian Agents and Missionaries; and Miscellaneous and Unidentified.

Physical / technical requirements:

The glass negatives are various sizes: 4 1/8 x 6 1/2 inches, 5 x 7 inches, 5 x 8 inches, and 8 x 10 inches. There are both wet plate and dry plate negatives; double-thick and plain glass; stereographs; and some with broken edges or cracks. Note that there are some original exposures on glass (by John K. Hillers, Charles M. Bell and possibly others), but many are also copies -- photographs of photographs or other types of reproductions.

The prints are also a mixture of reproductions and originals. In cases where there is a negative and no print, a modern copy print was made from the negative by the Huntington Library, ca. 1980s-1990s, and interfiled with the other prints.

Physical facet:

(1,126 photographs composed of 598 prints and copy prints, 475 glass negatives, and 53 copy transparencies; notes and ephemera)

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

1. Horatio N. Rust Photograph Collection (photCL 11)
2. A.C. Vroman Photograph Collection (photCL 86)
3. Photograph album of Southwest Pueblos and portraits of Indian leaders (photCL 190)

Indexed terms

Subjects:

African Americans -- 1870-1880 -- Photographs. [TGM]
Apache Indians -- Photographs
Arapaho Indians-- Photographs
Arrowheads -- North America -- Photographs
Artifacts -- Photographs
Baptists -- Missions -- Indian Territory -- History
Caddo Indians -- Photographs
Cherokee Indians -- Photographs
Cheyenne Indians -- Photographs
Chickasaw Indians -- Photographs
Chinook Indians – Craniology -- Photographs
Choctaw Indians -- Photographs
Clergy -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Photographs
Comanche Indians -- Photographs
Creek Indians -- Photographs
Crow Indians -- Photographs
Delaware Indians -- Photographs
Delegations -- Washington (D.C.) -- 1870-1880 -- Photographs
Delegations -- Washington (D.C.) -- 1880-1890 -- Photographs
Expeditions & surveys -- West (U.S.) -- 1870-1890 -- Photographs
Frontier and pioneer life -- United States -- West (U.S.) -- Photographs
Hopi Indians -- Photographs
Indian Territory. General Council -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Cultural assimilation -- Indian Territory.
Indians of North America -- Education -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Great Basin. -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Great Plains. -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Indian Territory. -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New-- Photographs
Kiowa Indians -- Photographs
Modoc Indians -- Photographs
Navajo Indians -- Photographs
Nez Perce Indians -- Photographs
Off-reservation boarding schools -- Photographs
Ojibwa Indians -- Photographs
Osage Indians -- Photographs
Ottawa Indians -- Photographs
Paiute Indians -- Photographs
Pawnee Indians -- Photographs
Ponca Indians -- Photographs
Pueblo Indians -- Photographs
Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma -- Photographs
School children -- Photographs.
Seminole Indians -- Oklahoma -- Photographs
Shoshoni Indians- -- Photographs
Sioux Nation -- Photographs
Ute Indians -- Photographs
Washoe Indians -- Photographs
Winnebago Indians -- Photographs
Glass negatives
Photographs
Cartes-de-visite
Stereographs
Portraits
Ephemera

Names:

University of Nevada, Reno -- History -- Photographs
Barry, D. F. (David Francis), 1854-1934, photographer
Bell, C. M. (Charles Milton), approximately 1849-1893, photographer
Brady, Mathew B., approximately 1823-1896, photographer
Gentile, Carlo, 1835-1893, photographer
Hillers, John K., 1843-1925, photographer
Hopkins, Sarah Winnemucca, 1844?-1891 -- Photographs
Joseph, Nez Percé Chief, 1840-1904 -- Photographs
Journeycake, Charles, 1817-1894 -- Photographs
Montezuma, Carlos, 1866-1923 -- Photographs
Moorhouse, Lee, 1850-1926, photographer
Newlands, Francis G. (Francis Griffith), 1848-1917 -- Photographs
Ouray, Ute Chief, approximately 1833-1880 -- Photographs
Randall, A. F. (A. Frank), photographer
Ross, William P. (William Potter), 1820-1891 -- Photographs
Savage, C. R. (Charles Roscoe), 1832-1909, photographer
Shanks, John P. C. (John Peter Cleaver), 1826-1901 -- Photographs
Shindler, A. Zeno (Antonio Zeno), 1823-1899, photographer
Sitting Bull, 1831-1890 -- Photographs
Vroman, A.C. ( Adam Clark), 1856-1916, photographer
Washakie, approximately 1804-1900 -- Photographs
Winema, Modoc Chieftainess, 1842-1932 -- Photographs
Wovoka, approximately 1856-1932 -- Photographs
Wright, Allen, active 1873-1880 -- Photographs

Places:

Eureka Springs (Ark.) -- History -- Photographs
Fort Totten Indian Reservation (N.D.) -- Photographs
Indian Territory. -- Photographs
Nevada -- History -- Photographs
Reno (Nev.) -- History -- Photographs
Walpi (Ariz.) -- Photographs
Truckee River (Calif. and Nev.). -- Photographs
United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Osage Agency. -- Photographs
United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Pine Ridge Agency. -- Photographs
United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Union Agency. -- Photographs

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. George W. Ingalls Photograph Collection. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Photo Archives Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2129

reference@huntington.org

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