(American West / Native Americans / Early Photography) Two Exceptional Original D. F. Barry Silver Gelatin Photographs Depicting Sioux Indian Burial Scenes, Along With the Original ALS From Barry to the Recipient of the Photos Describing How He Was Able to Take These Two Pictures (3 items). Superior, Wisconsin: D. F. Barry, Photographer, 1884 (printed later). Two silver gelatin photographs, 8" x 6" (sight), individually matted to 12-3/4" x 8-1/4", both exhibiting the distinctive authentic "BARRY" blind-stamp to the lower right margins of the photographic prints and the coordinating mats. Housed together in the original stiff card D. F. Barry portfolio featuring the printed studio label reading "D. F. Barry / Photographs of All Noted / Indian Chiefs / Photographer / 1312 Tower Ave. / Superior, Wisconsin" on the upper left of the back panel, accompanied by a physical pencil inscription reading "Dead Indians / Sioux" written in Barry's own hand on the upper right. The first photograph documents two trees with branches structurally supporting platforms holding deceased bodies draped in cloth. The second photograph captures a traditional tribal burial scaffold in the foreground holding aloft several cloth-wrapped bodies, set against a visible background tepee that has lost its canvas cover. Also preserved with this lot is the original two-page autograph letter signed (ALS) from D. F. Barry (1854–1934), penned in ink on two sheets of 8-1/2" x 11" printed D. F. Barry stationery, dated "30th Aug 1929" and addressed to prominent Western collector Mr. R. S. Ellison of Casper, Wyoming, detailing the high-stakes field circumstances under which Barry covertly captured these specific images in June 1884 near the Grand River and Standing Rock Agency.
The physical condition of the photograph, the mats and the portfolio is graded NEAR FINE (utilizing the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper). The photographic prints retain excellent tonal depth, clarity, and contrast. The original mats and portfolio remain structurally sound and in lovely condition, showing only a small area of localized historic adhesive residue on the upper right corner of the portfolio rear panel. The physical condition of the letter is graded FINE (utilizing the same grading scale for works on paper), remaining entirely clean, crisp, and intact with standard mailing folds.
David F. Barry and the Covert Documentation of Lakota Mortuary Customs
David Frances Barry stands as one of the preeminent frontier photographers of the American West, celebrated for his intimate portraits of Lakota chiefs such as Sitting Bull, Gall, and Rain-in-the-Face. Captured in June 1884, these field photographs document traditional scaffold and tree burials—sacred, open-air mortuary practices central to Plains Indian cosmology that were rapidly suppressed by Federal authorities and Christian missionaries. Barry’s accompanying 1929 autograph letter to collector Robert Spurrier Ellison provides an unparalleled primary perspective on the extreme cultural boundaries and physical dangers inherent in early western documentary photography. Barry writes candidly that he "went expressley [sic] to get these two pictures," hired a team, and was guided secretly to the locations, noting it was "never done for a Sioux to have caught me doing that" and that he "never showed those photos at the agency to any one." This incredible manuscript context elevates the photographs from mere ethnographic curiosities to highly sensitive, illicit records of traditional life during the dawn of the reservation era.
Institutional Census, Provenance, and Material Scarcity
Because open-air scaffold and tree burials were intentionally hidden from outsiders and culturally protected, authentic nineteenth-century photographic depictions remain exceptionally uncommon. The survival of these prints within their original, studio-labeled commercial portfolio—complete with Barry's hand-penciled outer identification—is an exceptional archival rarity. This specific lot boasts a distinguished provenance, originating from the personal collection of R. S. Ellison, an influential executive and patron of Western Americana history. A current global sweep of the OCLC/WorldCat database locates only 4 specimens preserved in institutional special collections worldwide: Denver Public Library, the Library of Congress, the Montana Historical Society, and Yale University.
THIS MUSEUM-QUALITY ARCHIVAL LOT, BRIDGING RARE NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRONTIER PHOTOGRAPHY WITH AN UNSURPASSED PRIMARY SOURCE MANUSCRIPT CONFESSION BY PHOTOGRAPHER D. F. BARRY, REPRESENTING A CRITICAL ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF WESTERN AMERICANA, NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN ETHNOLOGY, OR THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY.
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