Lot 143: D.F. Barry - Custer & Sioux Wars Photo Portfolio

D.F. (David Francis) Barry (American, 1854-1934) - D.F. Barry Portfolio: "Custer, Prominent Military Structures, And The Men Who Fought The Sioux Wars" limited edition of 15 photographs. Number 124 in and edition of 150. Published in 1982 as a limited edition by Paul H. Harbaugh and the Denver Public Library, each image identified and authenticated verso. Printed using the original glass plate negative from the David Francis Barry Negative Collection in the Denver Public Library. The portfolio is complete and includes the case. The images will never again be reproduced, because the library (which has had the Barry negative collection since 1934) retired the use of the original negatives upon completing the 1982 edition. Size: portfolio measures 21.375" L x 17.25" W (54.3 cm x 43.8 cm)

Verso of the title page states, "Each image in the edition was contact printed using the original glass plate negative from the David Francis Barry Negative Collection acquired by the Denver Public Library, Western History Department in 1934. The Portfolios were designed by Teresa Gabriel Harbaugh. The introductory pages were designed by Howard Klein. Portfolio cases were made by Museum Box Company, Warwick, Rhode Island…The Portfolio is number 124 in an edition of 150."

The "Introduction" is written by John M. Carroll and presents an informative view of historical interpretations - both written and photographic. Of D.F. Barry he writes, "Examination of the D.F. Barry negative collection shows that Barry loved the military personalities of the day and as the frontier closed he carried on a lengthy correspondence with many. It was to Barry that Captain Frederick Benteen confided so many "truths" aobut the historic personalities within the 7th Cavalry when they met on the Tenth Anniversary of the Little Bighorn at the battleground. It was from McDougall that Barry assumed so many of his personal mannerisms. But the most revealing truth to emerge from all the correspondence with those in the 7th was the stinging realization that D.F. Barry and his art was not appreciated during his lifetime. He was as much a victim of the existing civilization as was the Native American. Barry had to struggle to sell his photographs and to earn a living; today I must struggle just to find and collect his work." He continues, "Now, with this excellent and carefully chosen selection of photographs produced as if in the days of that photographer, we are fortunate to view a somewhat chronological study of the military heroes of yesteryear. The captions which accompany them reveal a story which cannot be rivaled in any other century or in any other place. The selection gives us a magnificent overview of frontier military life, and we are the richer for it."

The fifteen D.F. Barry photographs included in this volume are: Plate 16 Custer, Fellow Officers, Their Wives And Friends. Plate 17 Captain Thomas W. Custer (1845-1876). Plate 19 Captain Frederick W. Benteen (1834-1898). Plate 20 First LT. Edwards Godfrey (1843-1932). Plate 21 Captain Thomas McDougall (1845-1909). Plate 22 Charley Reynolds (ca. 1842-1876). Plate 23 Curley, "Ashishishe" (ca. 1859-1923). Plate 24 General Nelson A. Miles, "Bear Coat" (1839-1925). Plate 25 Fort Yates (1874-1903). Plate 26 Custer Battlefield Monument. Plate 27 Reno Hill, Survivors. Plate 28 Custer Hill, Ten Years to the Day. Plate 29 Survivors at Fort Custer. Plate 30 Fort Assinniboine (1879-1911).

According to Paul Harbaugh's "The D.F. Barry Negative Collection" statement, "In 1934, the Denver Public Library purchased the negative collection of the late frontier photographer, David Francis Barry… Since acquiring the collection of some 1,000 negatives, the library has catalogued the images using what little information Barry provided (mostly pencil-written titles on the emulsion side of the collodion and early dry plate negatives). The uniqueness of these images will never again be reproduced, as the library has contractually agreed to retire from further use the D.F. Barry Collection of original negatives upon completion of this edition. The edition consists of 45 select negatives from the total collection. Each negative is printed 150 times for the present portfolios plus nine times for photographer-artist proofs. These 150 prints from the 45 select negatives comprise the first part of the edition of 300. In the year 2009, the library has consented contractually to allow the printing of the second and final part of the edition…Following the 2009 edition, the Barry Negative Collection shall be retired: that is, all original prints ever to be produced from these negatives will have been printed."

D.F. Barry was an important frontier photographer of the 19th century. Though born in upstate New York, near Rochester, Barry’s family moved West to Wisconsin when he was just seven years old. During his teenage years, Barry apprenticed to O.S. Goff, an itinerant photographer who was a master of the collodion wet plate and had become a photographer of Native Americans as well as the 7th Cavalry. While working for Goff, Barry traveled throughout the frontier and set up temporary studios at military forts where he created photographs of legendary Indians as well as military men.

With his photographs of Native American men and women, frontier scouts, trappers, soldiers, forts, and battlefields, Barry created a remarkable visual record of the American West during this period. Barry’s relationship with the Sioux who gave him the clever nickname "Little Shadow Catcher" was especially close. His photographs embody a veritable Who’s Who list of elite Plains Indians at the close of the 19th century. Barry also took photographs of the aftermath of Little Bighorn and was the only photographer invited to the tenth anniversary of the Custer Battle, where he photographed the surviving participants who were actually retracing their positions!

Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection

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#134538

This portfolio is complete (including all 15 photographs) and in overall excellent condition. Each photograph is mounted on ivory-hued museum board and the boards are separated via acid-free paper. Lovely informative and decorative cards issued by the Western History Department, Denver Public Library titled "D.F. Barry Photographer" with an attractive rendering of two Native Americans before a tipi below and notes regarding the plate numbers, subjects depicted, sequence numbers, Paul Harbaugh's signature, another signature representing the library department, and the copyright date on the versos.