Visual Materials
Photographs and Lantern Slides of Artifacts and Indians of California, Southwest and Great Plains
- Description
A collection of photographs and lantern slides compiled by Horatio Nelson Rust (1828-1906), a U.S. Indian agent and artifact collector in California in the late 19th century.
The disbound photograph album in Boxes 1 and 2 include many views of Indian artifacts, such as arrowheads, pottery, metal and stone relics, some of which were excavated by Rust himself, as he describes in captions. There are also views of skulls excavated in Missouri, 1879, by Rust. Rust's handwritten captions identifying items and where they were found, by himself or others, are of particular interest in this collection. The album also contains photographs of Indians from Great Plains and western tribes, and Indian schools in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and Perris, California. There are two striking "before and after" photographs of Chiricahua Apache children sent to Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania. Also of note are many views of Southern California Indians, including portraits of Cabazon, Soboba, Luiseno and Cahuilla tribe members, some partially identified by family names: Estudillo; Victoriano of Soboba; Lugo (or Lubo); Casero; Costo; Pablo "Chief of Cahuilla"; Silvestre. Other subjects included: two group portraits of Yuma Indian men, 1891; studio portraits of Keokuk (Sauk); Billy Bowlegs (Seminole); Ouray and Ignacio (Ute); reproductions of drawings of Indians on horses; reproductions of 17th-century deeds related to John Pynchon and colonial Deerfield, Massachusetts; a John K. Hillers photograph of John W. Powell, George W. Ingalls and others in Colorado, 1873; scenes of the Indian Council at Pala, California, 1886; Old Creek Indian Council House, Okmulgee, OK; and portraits of Sam Temple and the Cahuilla woman known as "Ramona," who inspired characters in Helen Hunt Jackson's novel, Ramona.
Photographs in Box 3 include views of: Trinity River and vicinity, Northern California, approximately 1880s; camping; scenery; Indian workers standing outside agency; trading post; railroad station in Holbrook, Arizona; missions in California and Tucson, Arizona; Southwest Indians; portrait of Otis T. Mason; archaeological specimens; H. N. Rust family members.
Most of the lantern slides in Boxes 4-7 are copies of photographs elsewhere in the Rust Collection, such as: Southwest Pueblo views by John K. Hillers (photCL 10); Rust's trip to Arizona, 1895, with A. C. Vroman (photCL 8).
Topics of other slides: Southwest Indians by photographer Frederick H. Maude; San Gabriel Mission; two views of H. N. Rust's home; Aztec artifacts and ruins.



