Notes on Hillers' Photographs of the Paiute and Ute Indians Taken on the Powell Expedition of 1873 provides a detailed analysis and contextual study of the photographs captured by E. O. Hillers during Major John Wesley Powell’s second expedition through the Colorado River and surrounding regions. These images, taken in 1873, document the lives, customs, and material culture of the Paiute and Ute peoples, offering one of the earliest visual records of Indigenous communities in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau.
This work situates Hillers’ photographs within both the ethnographic and historical context of the Powell expeditions, explaining the significance of each image and its contribution to understanding Ute and Paiute lifeways, attire, tools, dwellings, and ceremonies. The notes also address the methodology and intentions behind the photographs, highlighting the interplay between scientific exploration, ethnographic documentation, and the Euro-American gaze during this period.
By combining photographic analysis with historical commentary, the book offers a rich resource for scholars of Native American history, ethnography, visual anthropology, and the history of Western exploration. It preserves and interprets a unique record of 19th-century Indigenous life, demonstrating how visual documentation can complement textual and oral histories to illuminate the experiences and cultures of Native peoples.
