GARDNER, Alexander (1821-1882), photographer. Albumen photograph of Red Cloud and William Blackmore. Washington, DC, 1872.

5 1/4 x 3 3/4 in. albumen photograph on 12 x 10 in. mount with imprint of Gardner, Washington, DC, and caption, "Red Cloud / Wm. Blackmore / Photographed for Trustees of Blackmore Museum, Salisbury, England."

An extremely rare photograph of the famed Sioux Chief Red Cloud (1822-1909) shown with Blackmore, of whom few images exist. Blackmore had greatly desired to meet Red Cloud during the chief’s trip to Washington in 1870, but the press of business had kept him in England. Gardner finally recorded the meeting of the two, posed shaking hands, during the 1872 delegation.

Although virtually unknown, William Henry Blackmore (1827-1878) was responsible for creating the core of the nation’s largest collection of Native American photographs. Trained as a solicitor, his true love was the American West, which inspired him to make frequent trips, invest heavily in land and collect Native American artifacts and photographs. Although he became a victim of fraud in his land speculations, which ultimately led to his suicide, his collections are his legacy. Blackmore helped fund Ferdinand Hayden’s Survey of the Territories, contracted photographers to record the Native Americans or acquire images already in their possession, and collected artifacts such as those excavated by Squier and Davis. To house his collection he built a museum in Salisbury, England.

Blackmore’s photograph collection, however, is his major contribution to Native American studies. Before having the original photographs forwarded to him in England, he left them in the care of the Smithsonian Institution in the late 1860s so that they could be copied by Antonio Zeno Shindler. The original glass plate negatives of Indian delegations that he either obtained or contracted for on behalf of his museum were deposited in the Smithsonian. Along with the copy glass negatives, these form the core of its Native American photography collection.

Blackmore visualized creating a comprehensive photographic record on the Native Americans. Working with Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and Ferdinand Hayden of the US Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, he proposed a project that consisted of six to ten volumes, each containing 50 photographs with six to eight photographs per tribe. An expensive endeavor, Blackmore suggested that the Smithsonian undertake the work, but while the idea gained support, the proposal was not adopted due to lack of funding.

Blackmore’s personal collection of 1,282 images (now in the British Museum) was arranged into 41 such folios. Now inspired by the vision of a more comprehensive publication and not deterred by the Smithsonian’s lack of funds, Blackmore and the Trustees of his museum embarked on their own publication scheme. A series of folios were produced, each containing loose albumen portraits on decorated mounts of a particular tribal group. Even given Blackmore’s wealth, they were expensive to produce. Only 10 different folios of approximately 241 photographs are known to have been printed and circulated.

The first folio to be produced contained images of Oglala Sioux leaders taken by Gardner, including the rare photograph offered here.

Provenance: American Indian Photography Collection of John W. Painter (1929-2008); Cowan's, American History, 15 November 2019, Lot 399.

The Larry Ness Collection of Native American Photography

This lot is located in Cincinnati.