(WEST) Archive of photographs from the early days of Anadark

Sale 2546 - Lot 249

Unsold

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

(WEST.) Archive of photographs from the early days of Anadarko, Oklahoma. 17 items in one folder: 15 photographs of various sizes ranging up to 5 x 8 inches (minor wear with a few chipped mounts), one manuscript document, and one newspaper. Anadarko, OK and elsewhere, bulk circa 1901

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An interesting cross-cultural photographic archive from early Oklahoma. In 1901, the federal government set aside land from the Kiowa, Comanche and Arapaho reservations southwest of Oklahoma City and held a public auction of land in the new town of Anadarko. These photographs were gathered by one of these original white settlers, George W. Conover (1848-1936), who had first come to Oklahoma as a soldier and trader in 1867. The photographs depict both Indian and settler life. 3 smaller photographs, about cabinet card-sized, are by Mrs. C.R. [Annette] Hume and depict Kiowa women plus Towaconie Jim, chief of the Wichitas. Most of the other photographs are larger (up to 5 x 8 inches) and on plain mounts, possibly by the firm of Irwin & Mankins, including 5 depicting unnamed American Indians and their settlements. One group of settlers is captioned in the negative "First jury in Anadarko, Sept. 5 1901," while in another, men pose before a crude tent occupied by the First National Bank of Anadarko (illustrated). Conover is identified in several images: in a Masonic group portrait; standing with fellow hunters in front of dressed deer in "A Hunting Scene"; on horseback in a line of cavalrymen; and in his horse-drawn wagon with an African-American assistant. Finally, a cabinet card of a young soldier taken in New Brunswick, NJ may be Conover as a young man. Accompanying the photographs are a grazing lease of tribal lands issued to Conover in 1901, and a 1936 issue of the Anadarko American-Democrat featuring a long obituary of Conover.