[Color Slides Documenting a Trip to Numerous Reservations with a BIA Agent].

New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma: 1958-1959. 102 color slide transparencies measuring 1 3/8” x 7/8”, in cardboard mounts measuring 2” x 2”; all extensively captioned in typescript on labels adhered to mounts. Mounts generally very good plus or better with fine transparencies.

This is a captivating collection of well composed and captioned slides by an unknown photographer as he and his wife and young son traveled with a member of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Neal Jensen, visiting Native Americans in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona in the late 1950s.

While we have not identified the photographer, Neal Jensen was a relocation officer at the United Pueblos Agency which was located in Albuquerque. The photographer, who was apparently Jensen's friend, managed to document the lives, activities and living conditions of at least eight different tribes in at least 14 different locations. Each mount has a later applied sticker with two to four lines of typescript recording the location, month, year and subject as well as occasionally identifying some of the people seen in the images.

The slides may be loosely grouped into three categories. The first relates to traditional dwellings. Approximately 22 images show the outside of traditional homes such as a Pawnee house in Anadarko, Oklahoma, an Apache Wickiup at White River Reservation, and a Wichita Indian dwelling in Indian City, Oklahoma. The second category includes at least 19 posed shots of Native Americans and/or their families, with most tribal affiliations identified. The last group includes around 31 images which depict events or gatherings. These include several of a rodeo, politicians addressing constituents, a barbeque and children putting on a school play at an Indian school.

We also see the BIA office at Window Rock, a wall painting inside a kiva at Coronado Pueblo, New Mexico and Hopi dancers near the Grand Canyon. The compiler recorded a fry bread contest at Zia Pueblo, a fiesta at Laguna Pueblo, and shots of Native Americans selling handmade goods in each location. There's also a great image of two men behind a table promoting the relocation office, several of BIA buildings, and several depicting desert scenery.

Spectacular imagery of mid-century Native American life in the Southwest. Very good. Item #2663

Price: $1,800.00