American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography, including The Larry Ness Collection of Native American Photography

2 cabinet photographs on cardstock mounts of Powder Face and his family, each unmarked but taken by Will Soule. Both photographs include manuscript notation on mount recto and/or verso. Scenes include: "Powder Face - War Chief of the Arapahoes [sic] in full war dress." The chief wears full feather bonnet and trail, bone breastplate, a blanket about his waist, and he holds an otter fur-wrapped lance with feather drops, and a pipe tomahawk. -- "Powder & Squaw, Northern Arapahoe Chief," as captioned on verso. Powder Face is shown seated on a fur blanket with his wife and young child.

William Stinson Soule (1836-1908), of Boston, served a full three year enlistment in "A" Co., 13th Massachusetts Infantry, despite being wounded at Antietam. Already possessing a knowledge of photography due to assisting at his older brother John P. Soule's well-established Boston studio prior to the war, Will traveled west with his equipment in 1867. Having saved up some money working as a store clerk in Fort Dodge, Kansas, and inspired by the publication of his photograph Scalped Hunter as an engraving in Harper's Weekly in early 1869, Soule moved on to Fort Sill, Indian Territory to open his own studio. General Philip Sheridan had established the cavalry outpost in January of that year in order to defend attacks on border settlements in Texas and Kansas from within Indian Territory and, with this type of security, Soule was able to photograph Indians as few before him had. He stayed in the area until 1874, when he returned to Boston to again partner with his brother, who helped Will copyright and market the exceptional images. Today, Soule's photographs of Kiowa, Wichita, Comanche, and others, are recognized as some of the most important photographs of their type and reside in several prominent public and private collections.