From 1911 to 1913, photographer Edward S. Curtis toured the country with a multimedia production, The Curtis Picture Musicale, based on his photographs of Indigenous peoples. At this point, Curtis’s efforts to document Indigenous life had already taken 14 years, and he expected that it would take eight additional years to complete the project. The Musicale, a fund-raising effort, was presented at Carnegie Hall and other prominent venues. Original music by Henry F. Gilbert accompanied Curtis’s lantern slides. Gilbert had collaborated with Curtis to transcribe the photographer’s wax-cylinder field recordings, and he traveled with Curtis for the Musicale presentations. Ultimately, the Musicale tours failed financially due to high production costs.
The Musicale was presented on the west coast for the first time at the Metropolitan Theater in Seattle on December 6, 1912. The program lists the groups of images presented and includes comments on the musical accompaniments.
Caption information source: “Selling the North American Indian: The Work of Edward Curtis,” at the University of Virginia xroads website. Caption information source: HistoryLink.org Essay 8857. Caption information source: Seattle Times, November 20, 1912, p. 2.
Physical Description: 1 program (4 p.) ; 6.25 x 9 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
