Edward S. Curtis (1868 - 1952) was born in rural Wisconsin. He was born to Ellen Curtis and Reverend Johnson Curtis. By the time of his birth, his father had just returned from the Civil War debilitated and penniless. Curtis and his siblings had grew up in abject poverty and had to go for days or even weeks on a diet of only potatoes. Still Reverend Curtis managed to successfully raise the family of four children. Before Curtis’ 5th birthday, the family moved to Cordova, Minnesota, and his father continued his vocation as an itinerant preacher.
After completing his formal education at age 12, Curtis built himself a camera, using a stereopticon lens his father had brought back from the Civil War. He thus unwittingly embarked on his photographic career. He later spent a great deal of his time reading about and experimenting with photographic ideas and techniques. And at 17 years of age, he moved to St. Paul, MN where he spent time as an apprentice photographer. Soon, Curtis was well versed in the fundamentals of photography and became a dedicated and serious practitioner.
Following his entrepreneurial spirit, Curtis used the family homestead as collateral to secure a loan and invested the money into a share in a photography studio in Seattle. Two years later, he married a family friend, Clara Phillips and began a family immediately. Around 1898, he began receiving recognition from both the general public and the photographic community for his American Indian photographs.
