Seattle society photographer Edward S. Curtis forsook a lucrative studio and finally the security of his family and approval of his peers in his thirty-year endeavor to “make photographic history of the North American Indian.” Curtis came to defy the predominating contemporary view of the Native American as destined for extinction if not thoroughly erased through acculturation. With a wide circumference and reach, the simple style, built carefully around Curtis, his subjects and history, permits the striking photographs to speak eloquently from a middle place. Curtis’s work, viewed through layers of perception, challenged by questions of authenticity and intent, and humbled by the complexity of Native cultures, attempts a striking and humanized portrait of a people.