January 31, 2021
A Look Into A Look Into The American West
Taken by Joseph Kossuth Dixon, this photo of two Native Americans checking out a roll of film in 1913 looks absolutely stunning now that it's been colorized. Of course, it looks amazing in black and white as it was originally intended, but seeing this photo in color provides an almost otherworldly quality, that makes it feel like you're really there.
Photography had existed as a medium for decades prior to this photo being snapped, but people of all backgrounds were still getting used to seeing images captured through a camera. People who lived in dense urban settings may have been more used to seeing photographs than other people, but they were still astounded at the possibilities of this technology.
Watching these two native men looking through photographs feels almost voyeuristic. It's as if we're trespassing on a private moment from more than a hundred years ago. It's a truly fascinating thing to behold.
Taken by Joseph Kossuth Dixon during his third expedition across the United States to visit the country's many Native American tribes, this photo shows just how normalized technology was by the early 20th century even in rural areas. We often think of the indigenous people of America as being out of the loop when it comes to technology, but just because they were living away from the cities and eschewing some of the trappings of modern culture doesn't mean they weren't interested in what was happening in the zeitgeist.
With this photograph, Dixon captured a curiosity in these two men that exists throughout humanity no matter where you call home or where you're from. It's unclear from what little is written about this photograph, but it looks as if the men had a chance to take some photos of their own. What do you think those photos looked like? Were they snapshots of every day life in the tribe? Or did the men capture the grandeur of the world around them?
Joseph Dixon, man of mystery
Little is known about Dixon's early life. He grew up in poverty in Germantown, Pennsylvania, before earning a Bachelors of Divinity degree from the Rochester Theological Seminary and then he just sort of dropped off the map. Dixon essentially disappeared for 30 years before popping up in 1908 as an “author, explorer, ethnologist, and authority on the American Indian.” We'll just have to take his word for it.
It's not clear how much of an expert Dixon really was, but it's likely that he worked as a missionary to the indigenous people of America, but even that's just grasping at straws based on his background. When he reappeared in 1908 he joined up with Rodman Wanamaker, a wealthy explorer who provided funding for young inventors when he wasn't traveling through the American west.
After joining up with Wanamaker, Dixon led two expeditions to Native reservations in different areas of the west in 1908 and 1909. However, it was his expedition in 1913 that gave us this photo and also ended his career as a traveler in the American west.
Six months in the middle of nowhere
As the leader of the Rodman Wanamaker Expedition of Citizenship to the North American Indian, Dixon was tasked with visiting 89 Native American reservations. Starting on June 7, 1913, the trip would last six months and take him 20,000 miles across the country by train. With him came a photographer, a wax cylinder featuring a speech by President Wilson that was recorded by Thomas Edison, a second wax cylinder with a speech by Wanamaker, a copy of the Declaration of Allegiance that had been signed by a group of natives at the groundbreaking ceremony, the U.S. flag used at the event, and some extra flags to give out to members of the community.
Dixon essentially just met up with the natives at each stop and chatted with them before having them sign their version of the Declaration, something that went over well about half of the time. The Native people were wary of documents provided by White Americans, understandably. The visit may have been a show, but it brought a good deal of publicity to the plight of Native Americans at the time. By 1924, the U.S. government granted citizenship to native Indians through the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.
Strike a pose
Many of the photos that Dixon brought back from his expeditions have drawn criticism for their staged and sentimental nature. In all likelihood he didn't really sneak up on a pair of friends looking at photos. It's more likely that he posed the two men in order to capture the perfect shot - and in doing so he snapped a photo that's absolutely stunning.
If nothing else, Dixon was able to take a photo that made viewers think about the Native American experience in a way that they never had, and maybe even put themselves in the shoes of the Native people of his home country.