[Fifty-Four Real Photo Postcards of Montana Native Americans by Thomas B. Magee]

[Browning, Mt, 1900. Very good plus.. Fifty-four real photo postcards, each approximately 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Occasional minor wear; light dust soiling. A substantial collection of almost fifty-five real photo postcards carrying the images and work of Thomas B. Magee, a noted photographer of the Blackfeet Native American tribes in Northwestern Montana during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Magee maintained a commercial studio in Browning, Montana, which was continued by his son Henry following his death in 1930. The elder Magee was married to a Blackfeet Pikuni woman named Julia Howling and was a friendly colleague of Walter McClintock, the most prolific of the early 20th-century Montana Indian photographers. Like McClintock, he had the trust of the Blackfeet (in this case, because of his marriage), and therefore had greater access to their daily lives and activities.

"As postmaster of Browning and husband of a Pikunni woman, Magee knew the people so well that he was generally welcome anywhere with his camera. His resulting work is among the largest and most thorough, perhaps surpassed only by Walter McClintock. A major difference between the two is that Magee specialized in portraits of individuals and groups, while McClintock looked for rituals, ceremonies and other activities.... Magee made a great variety of prints from his many photographs. Many of these were ordinary postcards with his name embossed on the front, that he sold wherever he could, especially to tourists and tourist shops. He also made some fine large sepia prints, mounted on cabinet boards. Some of his photographs were published in magazines, others were bought by large photo producers like the Keystone View Company, which published his work as stereopticon cards, two duplicate prints per card" -- Adolf Hungrywolf, The Blackfoot Papers.

The photos present here diverge from Hungrywolf's generalizations of Magee's work in two ways. Firstly, they do not contain his studio stamp or captions, though a good number correlate to images in the business archive of the photographer held by the University of Alberta. Secondly, and more significantly, the preponderance of the images concentrate on Blackfeet gatherings and rituals, with some posed individual or small group portraits scattered throughout the group. The photographs seem to document a number of different gatherings, travel to these ritual meetings, and many of the activities as they occurred, such as the raising of a Sun Dance lodge, a dance in progress, musical ceremonies, and other goings on. The whole is a dynamic portrayal of Blackfeet gatherings of the early-20th century, with the individual and small group portraits being quite candid and striking as well. An engaging collection of work by a significant photographer of the Blackfeet tribes.