Narrator: THE AMAZING STORY OF EDWARD S. CURTIS
T-Rex: Edward S. Curtis was a photographer of American Indians in the early 1900s! I know he was tough because his middle name was "Sheriff".
T-Rex: For most of his life he documented the disappearing "great race" of the Indian!
T-Rex: He took over 40 thousand photographs - not bad for one guy! And in many cases, his records are the only recorded history we've got. But what's amazing about Curtis is that he specifically set out to record the doomed people his culture imagined Indians to be: the noble savage, the Indian that was alien, stoic, exotic and dying.
T-Rex: And when he met Indians that DIDN'T meet his expectations, he just changed them for his photographs!
Utahraptor: How?
T-Rex: Man, he carried boxes of "Indian" clothing and wigs with him: ethnic signifiers for his subjects if they didn't look Indian enough! And his Indian was clean-shaven, so he'd pay men to shave.
Utahraptor: It's an interesting conflict in the guy: record the Indian before they "die out", but already know what you want to see.
T-Rex: Yep! I think it's amazing how we've still got this idea of the Indian that we look for. If there's no headdress we're disappointed!
Off panel: Only if we're RACIST, T-Rex.
T-Rex: That's what I'm saying!
T-Rex: Everybody's friggin' racist!
