10 photographs taken at the Rosebud Indian Agency in South Dakota, attributed to John A. Anderson. Some images are captioned in the negative or in manuscript on mount recto or verso. Includes:

8 photographs, approx. 7 1/2 x 9 1/4 in., on cardstock mounts. The following scenes are included (as identified in negative or period /modern manuscript): "Indian Council. Rosebud, SD, 1892." -- "Beef Issue, Rosebud Agency, SD, 1891." -- "View of Rosebud Agency, SD, 1891." -- "Slaughtering Beef Cattle." -- "Mission Church." -- Interior of a church, possible St. Francis. -- 2 uncaptioned views, possibly taken on beef issue days at Rosebud Agency.

2 photographs, approx. 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. or smaller, on cardstock mounts, uncredited but possibly taken by Anderson, including the following scenes: "St. Francis Mission, Rosebud, SD." -- Uncaptioned view of two Native American women preparing a dog for stew.

John Alvin Anderson was born in Sweden, but emigrated in the 1880s to the United States in the region of Fort Niobrara. Purchasing his first camera from his wages as a carpenter, photography was initially a hobby until he became apprenticed to the important frontier photographer, William R. Cross who had a studio at the Fort. In 1885 Anderson was commissioned as a civilian photographer for the U.S. Army. From this date he began recording life on the nearby Rosebud Reservation, eventually moving there. In 1896 he produced a small photographic booklet titled Among the Sioux to illustrate the manners, customs and home life of the Sioux. His early works were documentary in nature. By 1900 his photographic portraits reached an artistic high point. Tragedy, however, struck the family in the 1920s when their only son died and their house burnt down including all but his greatest masterpiece negatives. During this difficult period they also encouraged and financially supported a young Brule boy, Ben Reifel. With their help he earned masters and doctoral degrees from Harvard and was ultimately elected to the House of Representatives. In 1929 Anderson published Sioux Memory Gems a collection of poems by his wife illustrated with his photographs. In the 1930s they moved to Rapid City, South Dakota to manage the Sioux Indian Museum which was built to house their ethnographic collection. When Anderson died in 1948 he was memorialized with a stained-glass window in the Trinity Episcopal Church on the Rosebud Reservation.