Indians of the Past Early Photos by Edward S. Curtis

1930 - With almost no fanfare Curtis published the final two volumes of "The North American Indian." It has been estimated that during the project Curtis took over 40,000 photographs and made 10,000 wax cylinder sound recordings of Indian speech and music. About 200 sets of the works were printed and Curtis delivered 25 sets to J.P. Morgan as promised for partially financing the project. The Morgan Company later sold 19 of those sets. The Library of Congress has a set. October 19, 1952 - Edward Sheriff Curtis died of a heart attack at the age of 84, in the home of his daughter Beth. A seventy-six word obituary in the New York Times mentions simply that Curtis had been an authority on Indian history and that he had also been known as a photographer.