Details

This image may be restricted. Contact reference staff for assistance.
Collection: 00086 - Paul Ewald Photograph Collection
Folder: 0035
Item: 01408
Title: One of the Arikara Bear medicine fraternity dances at the entry to the Medicine lodge
Date: 1908
Creator: Curtis, Edward S.,--1868-1952
Inscription/Marks: On the back: col. 86-1408, "7829", "11", and "96".
Summary: Clad in the traditional bearskin denoting his membership in the Bear or Kunush medicine fraternity of the Arikara, a man mimics the behavior of a bear as he participates in a ceremony. A tipi and a tent are in the background, and beside the wood and earthen sides of the lodge entry a crutch and a ladder lie. This sacred ceremony was photographed by Edward S. Curtis in 1908 on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Many of these images were published with accompanying descriptive text in Volume 5 of his famous 20 volume series of "The North American Indian".
Red ID: PH_I_146203 Image ID: 107363 Image Notes: 00086-01408

Collection: 00086 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: Paul Ewald Photograph Collection
Date: 1875-Circa 1960

Summary: Consists of prints and some copy negatives of several photographers on the Fort Berthold Reservation, primarily Gilbert L. Wilson, and also including Frances Densmore, Frank Fiske, Fred Olson, Sumner Matteson, and several unidentified photographers. Ewald wrote identification of many photographs in his collection based upon suggestions from the people of Fort Berthold. Images include celebrations and gatherings, dances, sweat lodges, Little Missouri camps, cradles, portraits, Buffalo Bird Woman, Wolf Chief, Goodbird, Indian crafts and skills, artifacts, wood gathering, gardening, food processing and cooking, earth lodges, bullboats, travois, and Indian cowboys.

Enter a subject or term in one or both of the “Search” boxes.

  • “Item Detail” searches the Title, Creator and Summary fields of all item-level records.
  • “Collection Number” searches the Collection Number field only and requires an exact match.

The “DETAILS” button provides additional information about an item, as well as the following options:

  • “Collection Summary” details the contents of the entire collection in which the selected item is located.
  • You can print the image and its corresponding details by selecting “Print".
  • “Digitized Images from the Collection” returns a list of all digitized items within that collection (available from the “Collection Summary” screen).

Click on image to expand/zoom the image view.

“Photobook home” takes you back to the main Photobook page where you can start a new search.

“Featured Collections” showcases new and/or popular collections and the digitized images within those collections.


Information on how to order copies is located here.

The collections preserved in the North Dakota State Archives include over a million images. Only a small percentage of these images have been digitized. This photo gallery provides a preview of the images that have been digitized.

For more information on the non-digitized images, please refer to the finding aids found on our website at history.nd.gov, or ask a member of our reference staff for assistance.