Photographs from an album compiled by Christian Barthelmess for a fellow soldier, O.S. Gordon. The bulk of the images relate to American Indians and the United States army and include studio portraits; images of dwellings and camps; cowboys; Zuni and Navajo performing daily activities; Cheyenne and Zuni dances; a Cheyenne travois; fishing and hunting parties; and American Indian scouts for the army. There are also scenic views of Colorado, Zuni Pueblo, Santa Fe, Custer (Little Bighorn) Battlefield, Camp Proctor, and Forts Merritt and Keogh. The collection also includes some images from Germany, including images of a German singing club and the Bavarian town of Klingenberg on the Main. One photograph was made by W. J. Carpenter, a Colorado photographer.
Biographical/Historical note:
Christian Barthelmess (1854-1906) was born in Bavaria and immigrated to the United States in the early 1870s. Enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1876, he directed military bands and was an official army photographer. Barthelmess retired from the Army in 1903, but remained post photographer for Fort Keogh until his death in 1906.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot R87-1
Reproduction Note:
Copy negatives made by Smithsonian Institution, 1989.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs by Barthelmess can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4423, Photo Lot 24, and the BAE historical negatives.
The Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University hold photographs by Barthelmess.
The Montana Historical Society Archives holds the Barthelmess Family Papers, 1926-1971, including a series relating to Christian Barthelmess.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
This copy collection has been obtained for reference purposes only. Contact the repository for terms of use and access.
Photo Lot R87-1, Copies of Christian Barthelmess photographs of American Indians and United States Army, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
