Indian Days of the Long Ago

"A book of absorbing interest." - Photo-era, 1915
"A combination of simplicity and dignity , of a literary value that is found only in the classics." - The Teacher's Journal, 1914
" In Mr. Curtis we have both an artist and a trained observer." -Theodore Roosevelt

Mr. Curtis' twenty-five years' acquaintance with Indian tribes, among whom he lived for months at a time, gave him great inside knowledge of Indian life, which he draws from in his intriguing 1914 book "Indian Days of the Long Ago."

The author introduces the reader into the very heart of Indian life in the West and enables him to sympathize with the struggles and the fears of this people. With them he stands on the edge of the spirit world and goes through the drills and the exercises necessary to make a chieftain and a counselor, and with them he meets the needs of everyday life in the struggle with the elements and in the pursuit of the wild game. There is a splendid picture of a buffalo hunt and a still better sketch of the mental attitude generated in the Indian by the rumors of the white man's coming and of the reduction of the red man which it portended.

The hero of the story, Kukusim, is of the Salish, a Rocky Mountain tribe, in the days when the first rumors of the coming of the white men were reaching the western tribes. The story of his experiences begins with fishing and rabbit-hunting expeditions with his play fellows, goes through the great Council which hears the tales of the wanderers from the East and the West, the expedition of the whole tribe to the plains for buffalo, the exciting days of the buffalo hunt, the journey back across the mountains to the home camp in the Montana valley.

As noted by Curtis, the aim of the book is to give "a more intimate view of Indian life in the old days." By this view is meant not merely the ways that all the Indians had in common, but also the less often presented divergencies among them, in dress and habits as well as in language.

About the author:
Edward Sh. Curtis (1868 1952) was an American author, photographer, and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and on Native American peoples. In 1906, J. P. Morgan provided Curtis with $75,000 to produce a series on Native Americans. This work was to be in 20 volumes with 1,500 photographs. He took over 40,000 photographic images of members of over 80 tribes. He recorded tribal lore and history, and he described traditional foods, housing, garments, recreation, ceremonies, and funeral customs. He wrote biographical sketches of tribal leaders. His material, in most cases, is the only written recorded history.

Other works published by the author include:

The North American Indian. 20 volumes (19071930)
The Apache. The Jicarillas. The Navaho.
The Pima. The Papago. The Qahatika. The Mohave. The Yuma. The Maricopa. The Walapai. The Havasupai. The Apache-Mohave, or Yavapai.
The Teton Sioux. The Yanktonai. The Assiniboin.
The Apsaroke, or Crows. The Hidatsa.
The Mandan. The Arikara. The Atsina.
The Piegan. The Cheyenne. The Arapaho.
The Yakima. The Klickitat. Salishan tribes of the interior. The Kutenai.
The Nez Perces. Wallawalla. Umatilla. Cayuse. The Chinookan tribes.
The Salishan tribes of the coast. The Chimakum and the Quilliute. The Willapa.
The Kwakiutl.
The Nootka. The Haida.
The Hopi.
The Hupa. The Yurok. The Karok. The Wiyot. Tolowa and Tututni. The Shasta. The Achomawi. The Klamath.
The Kato. The Wailaki. The Yuki. The Pomo. The Wintun. The Maidu. The Miwok.

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