Description
A Northern Cheyenne Album: Photographs by Thomas B Marquis is a remarkable collection of 142 black and white photographs taken between 1922 and 1935 by Thomas Marquis while he served as a doctor at the Northern Cheyenne Reservation at Lame Deer, Montana. The images are portraits of individuals and families as well as images of everyday activities on the reservation. There are no props or studio shots. The images are given context by the combination of personal recollections and interviews of Cheyenne informants conducted by tribal chairman John Woodenlegs in the 1960s and later research notes conducted by scholar Margot Liberty in 2000. Included in the collection that has never been published are the 20 images of Northern Cheyenne veterans from the Battle at the Little Big Horn. There are photos of rodeos, farming, school children, people playing a stick game, interior of a Medicine Lodge, and a Sun Dance encampment. There is a revealing photograph of Cheyenne women and girls in shawls and long dresses viewing the Marquis photograph exhibition during the Cheyenne fair in 1926. The detailed captions include those by the scholar and the extensive notes and stories recorded by the tribal chairman during his research. The names of individuals photographed are identified in most photos. This is a valuable collection of Cheyenne photographs and their captions that reveal the everyday activities of one reservation during the time of intense change for this Nation. What is most remarkable is that the images show a community being resourceful and family-oriented during the period.