Essay by Kurt Christoffel, Professor of Chemistry

For a quarter century (1878-1903), Ben Wittick (1845-1903) who learned and practiced photography in Moline, Illinois, documented the lives of Native tribes in the American Southwest. There these years saw the final U.S. military victories over the Native peoples and their confinement to reservations, the expansion of the railroads, a boom in white settlement and the beginning of tourism. The tribes of the Southwest were subjected to enforced assimilation into the dominant white culture. This period brought radical change and cultural upheaval to these peoples and Wittick's photographs documented his subjects' confusion over their cultural identity. During his years in the Southwest, Wittick supported himself through his photography because he was able to produce images that appealed to prospective buyers seeking (what they imagined to be) authentic images of the life of the Native inhabitants. Thus Wittick's photos often blended real and imaginary aspects of that life to maximize their commercial potential.

General Logan and Party at Pueblo Zuni, September 14th, 1882 was shot while Wittick was accompanying a party that included Major General (U.S. Army, retired) John A. Logan (1826-1886) to the Zuni Pueblo. Largely forgotten today, Logan then held a position of national prominence. After distinguishing himself during the Civil War, Logan, a radical Republican, represented Illinois in the House of Representatives (1867-1871) and in the Senate (1871-1877; 1879-1886). Logan was a prime mover in the founding of the Grand Army of the Republic and the creation of Memorial Day. In 1884 he ran unsuccessfully as the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate. In September 1882 Logan and his wife were enjoying an extended visit with their daughter and son-in-law in Santa Fe (Jones 158).

This image was produced using the cumbersome wet-plate process in which the entire photographic process from negative plate preparation through to its development required completion before the plate dried (about 10 minutes)-all in situ under potentially challenging environmental conditions. This photograph is one of Wittick's late wet-plate images. Soon afterward he adopted the dry-plate process in which plates were prepared in advance and developed later in the studio. Here a wide view of the traditional Zuni multilevel stone pueblo dwellings shows the Logan party in the foreground. (Logan is the stout man wearing a topcoat and a light colored hat in the middle foreground.) The focus of Wittick's composition is the extensive network of stone dwellings. The humans appear largely oblivious to the photographer and are insignificant compared to the dwellings. Wittick documents a type of traditional dwelling that soon disappeared from the Zuni Pueblo to be replaced by the one-story concrete block dwellings commonplace there today. The spatial relationship of the humans (whites and Native Americans) in the photo is telling. This seems a testimonial to the reality of two cultures in close proximity yet worlds apart. The general's party does not appear to be attempting any meaningful interaction with the Zuni. The Zuni appear to be scrutinizing the unusual strangers. Thus the photo reflects a gulf between these cultures that persists to this day.