Presented by the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum – A Historical Museum Fundraiser

The Bainbridge Island Historical Museum is excited to invite you to their spring fundraiser, An Evening with Edward S. Curtis. Humanities scholar and author Clay Jenkinson, will lecture on Edward Sheriff Curtis (February 16, 1868 – October 19, 1952) the American photographer and ethnologist from Washington State whose work focused on the American West and Native American peoples. He will discuss Curtis’s life and work, slipping into character of Curtis now and then, including his work with JP Morgan, his many visits to the heart of Indian America, his relationship with Theodore Roosevelt, and the compilation of Curtis ‘20 volumes of his book “North American Indian.” Clay will also talk about some of the more controversial issues around Curtis’ work (cultural appropriation, his treatment of his wife and family, the ways in which he cajoled Native Americans into showing him sacred objects or dressing in a sacred way, and divulging cultural secrets).

Jenkinson has won numerous awards, including the National Humanities Medal, the highest honor conferred on a public humanities scholar in the United States. He has been named Humanities Scholar of the Year in Kansas, Nevada, and North Dakota. Clay was one of the creators of the modern Chautauqua movement. He has portrayed a dozen historical characters, including Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Meriwether Lewis, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and John Wesley Powell.