Performing Archive: Curtis + “the vanishing race”
Reviewed by: Majel Peters
Review started: February 28, 2023
Review last updated: February 28, 2023
Site Link
Data and Sources
- ~2,500 media assets and original notes Edward Curtis, including photographs and the contents of wax cylinder recordings of Indigenous North Americans
- Sources for assets and related metadata:
- Special Collections at the Honnold-Mudd Library, Northwestern University, the Library of Congress, Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University, The Digital Public Library of America, and the Smithsonian (vis DP.la)
- Funding source: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Processes
- Aggregating visual assets and metadata from existing archives
- Curating select individuals to provide detailed biographical information; pairing Curtis’s biographical information with his subjects
- Using Scalar to provide multiple potential visualizations of the image assets
- Creating a “paths” filter grouping content my narrative and theme
Presentation
- The online archive showcases the media assets in various ways:
- Scalar visualizations including “current”, contents, connections, grid, map, radial, path, madia, tag and word cloud options)
- Offering proprietary “paths” filter that groups content by tribal affiliation, Curtis’s curation for the 22-volume set of “The North American Indian,” Keyword Paths, and “An Archive of Song)
- Various discussions surrounding Curtis, the concept of “Vanishing Race” and using digital media to share the assets are available via the menu; alternative “paths” can be found buried in these sections
Digital Tools Used
- Common Tag
- RDF (provides data-modeling vocabulary for RDF data)
- HTML5
- JS
- Scalar
Languages
- English
Review
This project presents itself as a preliminary introduction to the work of Edward Curtis (1868–1952) the American photographer and ethnologist known for his work documenting the American West and Indigenous communities. Digital media, including images of his photogravures and digitizations of his wax cylinder recordings, lie at the heart of the website—encased in various meditations on the conflicts in discussions of “race,” culture, history and identity that Curtis’ work surfaces.
The team [led by Jacqueline Wernmont (Ph.D. English Literature, Brown University) Assistant Professor of English and Digital Humanities at Arizona State University and including (at the time of the project launch): Heather Blackmore, PhD student at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and a Mellon Digital Research and Scholarly Communication Fellow; David Kim, Ph.D. candidate in Information Studies at UCLA, focusing on information design, new media and digital humanities, and race, ethnicity and gender; Ulia Popova (Gosart) PhD (UCLA, Information Studies) and MLS (Southern Conn. State University) and is a Mellon Digital Research and Scholarly Communication Fellow; Beatrice Schuster Scripps College graduate, Creative Writing for New Media and a minor in Media Studies; Amy Borsuk, B.A. in English Literature Scripps College] does not appear to include any members of Indigenous communities, nor does there appear to be evidence that any members of Indigenous (depicted in Curtis’s work or otherwise) were consulted. This appears to be confirmed in the introduction when it is stated that it is “our hope…the project will be further developed in ways that allow us to collaborate with the more than 100 tribes represented in the North American Indian” (Curtis’s publication). The project would have greatly benefited from a deeper collaboration with Indigenous peoples—which is discussed, but abandoned due to lack of time. Instead the meditations can come across as distantly academic and untethered to lived experience, except where biographic details are offered of both Curtis or what is known of the Indigenous peoples depicted.
That the project was devised as a pedagogical tool is noted on the site, specifically to be used as a locus of discussion via the questions it raises, but does not attempt to answer. The effectiveness of this framework starts to crumble when language on the site implies an acceptance of a certain narrative related to European settlers and the Indigenous people of North America (i.e. they “discovered” Native Americans). One gets the distinct impression of a continued othering of Native peoples through the tone of the writing. The site might benefit from a clearer overview of its contents, to help unearth some of the discussions nestled within given that the main navigation suffers from obscured meaning, and even some options potentially overlapping in meaning that can confuse users (“Media, Technology, and Mediations” vs. “Browsing the Media” vs. “Visualizing the ‘Vanishing Race’: the Photogravures of Edward S. Curtis.” Perhaps more clarity lies behind the login function, but it is unclear who is eligible for these credentials.
The first of two main menu options reveals a drop-down offering what feels like a book, with 5 chapter-like sections (sub-projects) that investigate Curtis’s work in different lights—each with its own introduction and work related to the archive material and methods of building archives. There’s no convention related to the “chapter titles,” giving each section the feel of an independent “publication” by a different team member in their area of interest. At times his work is discussed in relation to its representation of Indigenous peoples as a whole (particularly in archives), the building of archives, Curtis’s biography, and the biographies of a selection of his subjects and their peoples. Chapter 5, interestingly, is entitled Consulting with Tribes as Part of Archival Development, and describes the changing relationship between tribes and US governmental bodies and how that has impacted Indigenous rights related to sovereignty and tribal resources. Ironically, it is stated that
One of the essential procedures to be implemented as a part of a service and/or a project that involves working with the tribe, and/or on the territory of the tribe, is an obligation to consult the tribe on the matters relevant to the wellbeing of the people, tribal lands and resources.
Granted, the body of Curtis’s work was collected long ago, but it feels like a missed opportunity to not, when revisiting it, not to make it a point to connect with the tribes depicted as an expression of respect to their resources—their image, their cultural representation, and histories. Three additional sections relate to the mechanics of the project. Overall, the chapter-like structure wants to sidestep certain aspects of digital functionality in favor of recreating a more traditional linear format. The site is clearly for scholars and students, but overlapping discussions throughout the site offered by various members of the team could have benefited from interlinking.
The second option on the main menu surfaces, what appears to be, all of the Scalar visualization tools, independent of their relevance or usefulness. While wanting to offer various ways to explore digital assets and the site architecture would generally be a positive, it is not easy to follow the scholarly threads or unearth new context via the provided visualizations. The data visualization tends to feel cold and removed (if they load) from the actual content, which it somehow manages to obscure instead of reveal. The Scalar terms often feel obtuse —anyone new to this platform may be put off by options entitled “lenses”, “contents”, “connections” (tribal?, familial?, regional?), “radial”, “path” etc. Selecting these options did not actually surface archival assets, but instead plotted the site’s content in ways that are, at times, completely unclear. The radial view, in particular, further obscured any meaning within the archive or how to interface directly with it. This would suggest that the tools selected may not have been appropriate for this project, as usable inferences did not seem to emerge from the various displays, and no guidance on how to understand what is visualized is offered.
The subject matter of the site is incredibly interesting, but overall it would seem that a project published in 2018 related to this type of content would include a more nuanced expression of cultural sensitivity. It would be beneficial for anyone visiting this site to consider reading “Difficult Heritage and the Complexities of Indigenous Data” by Jennifer Guiliano and Carolyn Heitman who discuss at length the pitfalls and required nuance needed to approach work like that which is represented in this project. Their discussion of Edward Curtis, in particular, is of immediate relevance when considering this Digital Humanities exercise.