Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian: Photographic Images

Browse by Subject

Subject Term Groupings
terms for artifacts, activities, and social status
grouped in thematic categories
Subject Index

alphabetical list of all subject terms, including tribes, names of people, and places

Persons

Social Status & Occupations

Activities

Customs and Rituals

Basic Clothing

Clothing Ornamentation

Costume Accessories

Headgear

Jewelry

Hair and Body Adornment

Art, Handicraft, and Artifacts

Ceremonial Objects

Weapons

Travel and Transportation

Tools and Equipment

Materials

Plants and Plant Materials

Animals [includes fur and hides]

Settlements

Buildings

Structural Features

Mosa - Mohave

Persons
Boys
Children
Families
Girls
Infant
Men
Mothers
Women
Portraits

The potter

Social Status & Occupations
Artists
Basket makers
Brides
Bridegrooms
Ceremonial dancers
Christian clergy
Government officials
Guards
Hunters
Lawyers
Potters
Priests
Scouts
Shamans
Singers
Tribal chiefs
Warriors
Water carriers

Nootka method of spearing

Activities
Baking
Basketmaking
Bathing
Campfires
Fishing
Harvesting
Hide and skin processing
Home food processing
Hunting
Lifting & carrying
Military reconnaissance
Paintings
Rowing
Smoking
Storytelling
Weaving
Whaling

Waiting in the forest

Customs and Rituals
Courtship
Dance
Festivals
Holidays
Peyotism
Prayer
Rain making
Rites & ceremonies
Smoking
Storytelling
Totemism
Weddings

Woman's primitive dress - Tolowa

Basic Clothing
Blouses
Boots
Capes
Coats
Dresses
Footwear
Hides & skins
Jackets
Leggings
Loincloths
Main garments
Moccasins
Parka
Robes
Shirts
Skirts
Trousers
Vests
Wearing blankets

Hupa jumping dance costume

Clothing Ornamentation
Beadwork
Bells
Buttons
Coins
Feathers
Horns
Quillwork
Shellwork
Tails
Talons

Masked dancer - Cowichan

Costume Accessories
Bags
Bandoliers
Belts
Eyeglasses
Fans (costume accessory)
Necktie
Sashes (costume accessory)
Scarves
Shawls

Flathead childhood

Headgear
Bandannas
Caps
Crowns (headgear)
Hats
Headbands
Headdresses
Headscarves
Hoods

Wishham bride

Jewelry
Anklets
Armlets
Beads
Bracelets
Chokers
Earrings
Finger rings
Hairpipe
Labrets
Necklaces
Nose ornaments
Nose rings
Pendant
Talons
Wampum

Chaiwa - Tewa

Hair and Body Adornment
Beards
Body painting
Braids (hairdressing)
Hair ornaments
Hairstyles
Mustaches

Shuati - Sia

Art, Handicraft, and Artifacts
Baskets
Carvings
Cradleboards
Inscriptions
Mats
Mural Paintings
Pottery
Rock paintings
Rugs

Alhkidokihi - Navaho

Ceremonial Objects
Calumets
Ceremonial containers
Ceremonial staffs
Coup-sticks
Drums
Masks (costume)
Rattles
Sandpaintings
Scalps
Skulls
Symbols
Trumpets
Whistles

The mountain-sheep hunter - Sioux

Weapons
Arrows
Bows (weapon)
Clubs (weapon)
Daggers (weapon)
Rifles
Tomahawks

The Middle Columbia

Travel and Transportation
Boats
Bridles
Canoes
Kayaks
Sails
Sailboats
Staffs (sticks)
Trails
Travois

Gathering hanamh - Papago

Tools and Equipment
Agricultural equipment
Bags
Cutting tools
Fishing nets
Fishing spears
Grinding and milling tools
Harpoons
Jars
Looms
Ovens
Urns

Kalispel type

Materials
Abalone
Abalone shell
Bark
Buckskin
Feathers
Fur

Arikara medicine ceremony - The Ducks

Plants and Plant Materials
Cactus
Cottonwood leaves
Cottonwood trees
Fuelwood
Fruit
Grasses (plants)
Moss
Palms
Peach trees
Pods (seed component)
Wheat
Willows

Two Whistles - Apsaroke

Animals [includes fur and hides]
Birds
Bison
Clams
Dogs
Donkeys
Horses
Mussels
Reindeer
Sheep
Snakes
Whales

North pueblo at Taos

Settlements

Camps (temporary settlement)
Pueblos (housing complex)

Painted lodges - Piegan

Buildings
Bell towers
Houses
Huts
Kivas
Lodges (Native American structure)
Mission churches
Summer houses
Tipis
Wickiups

King Island homes

Structural Features
Dams
Doorways
Kivas
Ladders
Plasterwork
Shrines
Stairs
Stilts
Structural frames
Tombs
Totem poles
Watch towers

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