Photographer Of The Southwest: Adam Clark Vroman, 1856-1916

Ward Ritchie Press, 1961. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. Plates. 127 Pp. White Cloth Spine Printed In Black, Orange Cloth Covers With Tipped On Illustration. Clear Dust Jacket With Printed Information. First Edition. Fine. Dust Jacket With 3/4" Roundish Chip At Top Of Front Spine Edge. Per The Getty Museum Website, Adam Clark "A. C." Vroman (1856-1916), Vroman Worked For The Chicago, Burlington And Quincy Railroad Company For Sixteen Years Before Moving To California In 1893. Upon Opening A Store That Sold Books, Stationery, And Photographic Supplies In Pasadena--Which He Gifted To His Employees And Which Remains In Operation As "Vroman's Bookstore" Today--He Began To Pursue His Interest In Photography. From 1895-1905, Vroman Travelled Throughout Southern California And Made Eight Trips To Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, And Utah, Where He Photographed Local Indian Communities. His Extensive Travels And Repeated Collaborations With The Bureau Of American Ethnology, A Research Unit Of The Smithsonian Institution. In His Photographic Work, Vroman Concentrated On The Daily Lives, Customs, And Ceremonial Activities Of The Hopi, Zuni, And Navajo Peoples. A Member Of The Pasadena Camera Club, He Often Travelled With Other Photographers Involved In Its Activities, Such As His Friend, Los Angeles Times Editor Charles Fletcher Lummis. In 1897, Vroman Was Employed By The Bureau Of American Ethnology To Photograph Katzimo ("Enchanted Mesa") In Central New Mexico. His Sweeping Views From Its Summit Were Used As Evidence Of The Prior Native American Habitation Of The Area And Were Later Published In Benjamin Brooks's Book The Enchanted Mesa (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904). In 1899, Vroman Again Accompanied The Bureau Of American Ethnology To The Southwest, This Time On A Survey To Document The Pueblos And Cliff Dwellings Of New Mexico. Several Of The Photographs He Made Were Included In The Smithsonian's Multivolume Handbook Of American Indians North Of Mexico (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907), An Encyclopaedic Classification Of Over 2,500 Cultural And Linguistic Groups. In 1901, Vroman Served As The Official Photographer On The Museum-Gates Expedition, An Archaeological Survey Of The Southwest Led By Ethnologist Walter Hough. Alongside His Work On Native American Communities, Vroman Documented Spanish Missions In California Over A Ten-Year Period (1895-1905), Often With Friends And Photo Enthusiasts Who Constituted The "Club Of Four," A Group He Founded. In Addition To Vroman, The Group Comprised Homer Eachus Hoopes, H.C. Chatfield, And G.J. Kuhrts. A Collector Of Netsuke (Miniature Japanese Carved Objects), Vroman Toured And Photographed In Japan In 1903 And 1909. He Also Made Photographs In France And Germany (1912), Canada (1914), And On The East Coast Of The United States (1914). Vroman's Images Of Native American Peoples Have Long Been Regarded As Respectful Portrayals, In Part Because He Purportedly Gifted Prints To Numerous People He Depicted. More Recently, However, Re-Evaluation Of His Work Has Revealed A More Complicated History, Situating His Aesthetic Choices Within The Scientific Aspirations Of The Bureau Of American Ethnology, A Prominent Institutional Exponent Of Social Evolutionary Theory.