Details

This image may be restricted. Contact reference staff for assistance.
Collection: 00086 - Paul Ewald Photograph Collection
Folder: 0035
Item: 01427
Title: Men of the Buffalo medicine fraternity of the Arikara dance
Date: 1908
Creator: Curtis, Edward S.,--1868-1952
Inscription/Marks: On the back: col. 86-1427, "74", "x", "x2877", "4", "The buffalo dancers", and "Fr Heart(center)".
Summary: Two men in the regalia of the Buffalo medicine fraternity blow through feathered pipes as they dance outside the Arikara medicine lodge. Other men move near the two primary dancers. Two tipis and other evidence of camp life are in the background. The two men are in the elaborate buffalo head and horn headdresses that signify their medicine affiliation. They each have a bundle of plant material in one hand. Speculative notes on the back of the image suggest the center figure to be Frank Heart. 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_146222 Image ID: 107382 Image Notes: 00086-01427

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.