NEWS RELEASE

Photo Antiquities | Museum of Photographic History

Contact: Frank Watters

531 East Ohio Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Phone: 412.231.7881
Fax: 412.231.1217

http://www.photoantiquities.org

Hours: Monday - Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

THE FIRST AMERICANS

Pittsburgh, PA. . . .Photo Antiquities is exhibiting an important collection of portraits of North American Indians that will run through November 30, 2001.

Native Peoples | The First Americans

An exhibition of 37 portraits of the North American Indians. Photographs by Edward S. Curtis, Frank Bennett Fiske, Timothy H. O'Sullivan, Roland Reed, Frank A. Rinehart and the Heyn Studio in Omaha, Nebraska.

These images portray the character and way of life of these first Americans with a vividness and detail only the finest photographers can capture. One feels a sense of awe at the pride and dignity, and sometimes despair, of these men and women. The lens of these early 20th century photographers captured the essence of this great race just as their way of life and traditional hunting grounds were vanishing in the face of the westward expansion of the white man. The photographs engender awe and sadness, awe at the majesty of these peoples and sadness at how western man's "civilization" devastated their tribes and their land.

"The great changes in practically every phase of the Indian's life that have taken place, especially within recent years, have been such that had the time for collecting much of the material, both descriptive and illustrative, herein recorded, been delayed, it would have been lost forever. The passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other; consequently the information that is to be gathered, for the benefit of future generations, respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost for all time. It is this need that has inspired the present task."