Collection of over 300 silver gelatin photographs mounted within two separate albums, lacking original covers, measuring 5.75 x 13 in. and 8.5 x 13 in. respectively. The majority of the photographs measure approx. 3.5 x 4.5 in., but approx. 35 range in size from 4.75 x 6.75 in. to 4.5 x 12 in. The photographs are mounted between one and three per page, and most are accompanied by penciled captions. Ca 1915.
These impressive albums showcase the photographs taken by the consignor's great grandfather, Charles I. Rice, during the summer of 1915, which he spent on the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, MT, and surrounding Glacier National Park. The consignor relates that Rice was superintendent of music in the public schools of Worcester, MA. In the summer of 1915, he had the opportunity to photograph the raising of the medicine lodge of the Blackfeet Indians at their reservation in Browning. Rice became acquainted with the Blackfeet through Mr. Thomas B. Magee, who had married an Indian squaw named Mahnarkie. During that summer, Mr. Rice, his wife, and teenage daughter lived with Mahnarkie and her daughter Istokopena (Tears-in-her-Eyes) in their tipi, next to the tipi of Chief Little Dog, the chief of the tribe. Over the course of that summer, he photographed the traditional raising of the Medicine Lodge and created several additional photos of the Blackfeet in their daily lives. Many articles of clothing and other American Indian relics were given to the Rice family by Mahnarkie during that summer, and additional items were sent to them by Mahnarkie in the years that followed.
In addition to photographs documenting the preparations and sacrifices involved in raising the Medicine Lodge, the album contains views of the the tipi, including "action shots" involving putting them up and taking them down; distant shots of the encampment; snapshots of the Blackfeet, some identified, including Chief Little Dog and family, Mahnarkie and her daughter, Big Wolf Medicine Man and family, "Duck Head," "Calf Shirt (identified as a Blood Indian), Chief "All Over" and son, "Jack Big Moon," and more; and two photographs of Blackfeet children who attended the Holy Family Mission, an Indian boarding school that opened in Browning, MT in 1890.
The album also includes snapshots of the Rice family taken during their summer out west, as well as impressive views of the scenery, landmarks, and people and animals they encountered along the way. Some fine logging photographs and images at sea are also housed in one of the albums.
Album covers and pages, which consist of a thin brown paper, are in rough condition, with some short tears and staining along the edges, but the photographs remain in very good to near excellent condition in some cases.