Post by bruns/randall on Oct 7, 2023 13:43:24 GMT -5
Yep. Part of the poroblem with Cross is that he worked over such a long period of time and was making Native American images from the late 1870s through to the 90s and it's not always easy to group the images together for each particular time period. On top of that, attribution isn't always easy because there are instances where he is clearly selling images he didn't take (Mitchell's Red Shirt in that sampler above, for example, and you can find one of Notman's images of Cody and Sitting Bull in the Digital Library of South Dakota); equally, of course, others sold images he did take. Moreover, he continued to sell the earlier images he took alomgside later images - and sometimes both appeared on samplers. The most obvious example of the latter would appear to be Bailey, Dix and Mead's photographs of Sitting Bull's people at Fort Randall after he surrendered.
When he and his family spent several months at Spotted Tail from 14 February 1878, he took numerous images of the the Sicangu and - as Dietmar and/or Ephriam have pointed out - they tend have bare branches in the background against a blanket backdrop or the show people wrapped up in blankets or coats for winter. In July 1878, he was off th photograph at the Santee Agency - though I haven't seen any images from this trip. But he was also photographing Yankton people - during the same period?
Later, from July 1883 we find him working with his apprentice, John Anderson, first at Fort Niobrara in 1886 and then at Fort Meade in 1888 and then on his own, around the Hot Springs area and in January 1891, he travelled to Pine Ridge to take photographs in thre aftermath of Wounded Knee, but how many of these have been mistaken for the works of the likes of Trager and Kuhn, who knows? Did he still photograph Native American subjects after this or was it just that he continued to sell images - including the older ones - marked with his Hot Springs logo?
www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-20-2/william-richard-cross-photographer-on-the-nebraska-south-dakota-frontier/vol-20-no-2-william-richard-cross-photographer-on-the-nebraska-south-dakota-frontier.pdf
I'm not sure at what point he would have been in a position to photograph Kill Eagle, which is why I'm uncertain about the attribution, but maybe he took it during the period he was photographing Sitting Bull's band at Fort Randall. As for Stillwell, was he even a photographer or just someone who sold images made by others. You can find George Spencer photographs with his stamp on too.
Most of the Cross images I've posted here have disappeared courtesy of Tinypic, so I intend to repost them - but bear with me if I post duplicates, please!
Here are a few more studio photos from the 1878 set:
Yellow Hair
Sadly, these are the best versions I've seen of this one: Red Nose and boy
Lakota woman
The same Cheyenne man (Black Prairie Chicken? I've also seen him identified as Miniconjou) from my post above - I wonder if he took more alternate views...
Spotted Tail's wife
Unidentified
Flat Nose John
Horned Antelope
Lakota woman
Spotted Tail's son and family