The Modoc War of 1872-73 in northeastern California has been a subject of both considerable popular interest and scholarly investigation during the past century. Many of its ethnic, social, and military dimensions have been evaluated in depth. Although most of the interpretive efforts have used photographic imagery produced at the time of the Modoc conflict, analysis of these photographic materials has been surprisingly casual.

Nearly 100 Modoc War photographs are known to exist. These photographs range from carte de viste style portraits of the Modoc Indian prisoners to stereographs of the warsite topography, the military encampments, the participants, and the military hardware. Curiously, these remarkable images have never been studied as a group, nor have the circumstances of their origin been explored in depth. For most writers who have dealt with the conflict, there has been one simple assumption: "Eadweard J. Muybridge took the Modoc War photographs." This paper will show that such is not the case, and that an almost forgotten photographer, Louis H. Heller, deserves equal credit with Muybridge for coverage of the Modoc War. A catalogue of Modoc War images is presented at the end of this paper, followed by a representative series of images by the photographers (Plates 1-33).

Some of our most interesting collections of native American photographs are virtually unknown outside the region of their origin. The collection of photographs taken by Mrs. Ruth K. Roberts and now in the Humboldt Room, Library, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, is an example. The collection consists of 536 images and contains a large number of original negatives of the northern California coast from Crescent City southward to the mouth of the Klamath River. These, together with copy negatives of original photographs collected by Mrs. Roberts, form a remarkable document of Indian life in the region from about World War 1 into the 1950s. Twenty-nine photographs from the collection are shown here. The captions are based on notes originally written by Mrs. Roberts, many of which were made at the close of her life when she suffered greatly from failing eyesight, and include additions by her son, Harry, "whose memory of events some fifty years before was not necessarily very good." Dr. Pilling has continued to investigate the accuracy of these notes and has clarified some (Arnold Pilling, personal communication 1983). All captions are quoted from Pilling (1969).

The stereograph brought the "World" into the parlor. Far-away places and historic happenings; occupational modes and mechanical innovations; renowned statesmen and stage personalities; the fine arts and Victorian humor; all became common knowledge through this pervasive medium. To study the development of the stereoscope in the United States is to participate vicariously in the modes, aspirations, and other phenomena of adolescent America. This article is intended to provide the reader with an overview of the history of stereoscopy and a concise look at photo-stereoscopic imagery as it relates to the Indians of California.