Photograph album created by Sumner Matteson from a selection of his photographs of the Southwest, Montana, and Colorado. The photographs, which are captioned in a typed list that accompanies the album, date from 1899 to 1902, and depict a variety of places and events. The majority of the photographs are of the Hopi Indians, their Snake, Antelope, and Flute ceremonies, kiva interiors, as well as weaving, grinding corn, courting, working in fields, making pottery, and marketing at the Moenkopi, Mishongnovi, Shipolovi and Shongopovi Pueblos. There are also photographs of cliff-dwellings at Mesa Verde and Mancos Canyon, Colorado; Canyon de Chelly, Arizona; Pueblo Indians at Isleta and Acoma, New Mexico; Navajo and Ute Indians in New Mexico and Colorado; Penitentes in Abiquiu, New Mexico; and views of wagon trains, Indian encampments, mines, and sheepherding in Montana.
Description:
157 of the photographs are platinum prints., Accompanied by a contemporary typescript containing captions and often explanatory background for almost all of the photographs in the album. Typescript titled "Index to the Frank Klepetko Album. Photos and Data by Sumner W. Matteson" and signed "Sumner W. Matteson, D.A.C. [Denver Athletic Club] Denver, Colo. Jan. 1903.", Album and copy prints in 2 boxes., Captions for digitized photographs taken from original typescript., Individual photographs are 12 x 17 cm. and smaller., Purchased from Andrew Smith Gallery, Inc. on the Frederick W. and Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana, 1996., and Sumner Matteson, a bicycle salesman in Denver who became a photographer, traveled around the West between 1899 and 1903, photographing the Mesa Verde and Pueblo Bonito cliff-dwellings, Navajo Indians, Penitentes in New Mexico, Hopi Snake and Flute ceremonies in Arizona, the Pueblo villages of Acoma and Isleta, Montana wagon trains, and cattle and sheep roundups. He sold his own photographs, wrote articles and provided illustrations for popular magazines, and provided photographs for several books on Southwestern Indians written by others.
Subject (Geographic):
Abiquiu (N.M.)--Pictorial works., Acoma (N.M.)--Pictorial works., Arizona--Pictorial works., Canyon de Chelly National Monument (Ariz.), Colorado--Pictorial works., Isleta (N.M.)--Pictorial works., Mancos Site (Colo.), Mesa Verde National Park (Colo.)--Pictorial works., Moenkopi Pueblo (Ariz.), Montana--Pictorial works., New Mexico--Religious life and customs--Pictorial works., and West (U.S.)--Pictorial works.
Subject (Name):
Hermanos Penitentes--Pictorial works., Klepetko, Frank., and Matteson, Sumner W.,--1867-1920.
Subject (Topic):
Cliff-dwellings--Pictorial works., Hopi Indians--Rites and ceremonies--Pictorial works., Indians of North America--Southwest, New--Pictorial works., Kivas--Southwest, New--Pictorial works., Mines and mineral resources--Montana--Pictorial works., Navajo Indians--Pictorial works., Pueblo Indians--Pictorial works., Sheep ranches--Montana--Pictorial works., Snake dance--Pictorial works., Ute Indians--Pictorial works., and Wool industry--Montana--Pictorial works.
Photographs of the Hopi pueblo Oraibi, interiors of Hopi homes, ceremonial dances, and portraits of Hopi and possibly Navajo Indians at Oraibi.
Description:
Contemporary coarse woven cloth photo album., Identification of photographer based on postcard image on first page with printed attribution on verso: Made by Simeon Schwemberger, St. Michael's Arizona, and by the fact that the style is similar to photographs identified as Schwemberger's., Individual photographs are 9 x 14 cm. and smaller., Purchased from the William Reese Company on the Walter McClintock Memorial Fund, 1996., and Simeon Schwemberger, 1867-1931, joined the Franciscan order as a lay brother, moving to the mission at St. Michael's, Arizona in 1901. At the mission he began photographing Navajo Indians. After leaving St. Michael's in late 1907 to open a photo gallery in Gallup, New Mexico, he began photographing other Native Americans, including Hopi and Pueblo Indians.
Subject (Geographic):
Oraibi (Ariz.)--Pictorial works.
Subject (Name):
Schwemberger, Simeon.
Subject (Topic):
Hopi Indians--Portraits., Hopi Indians--Rites and ceremonies--Pictorial works., Indians of North America--Arizona--Pictorial works., Indians of North America--Pictorial works., Indians of North America--Portraits., Navajo Indians--Pictorial works., and Navajo Indians--Portraits.
