[The Eclipse Dance]

Dance is an integral component of most cultures and very often serves as a form of religious, social, and artistic expression. The Pacific Northwest coast Kwakiutl tribe, shown here, were especially noted for their elaborate ceremonies, often involving dance.

From 1896 until 1930, Edward Curtis engaged in a project to document Native American peoples. He made more than forty thousand negatives, most of which were glass plates. He published the resulting work in a series of twenty volumes titled The North American Indian, the largest volume of which was devoted to the Kwakiutl and their customs.