19世纪末罕见的美国土著居民照片

Rare Pictures Capture Native Americans in Late 1800s 19世纪末罕见的美国土著居民照片

Over a century ago, Walter McClintock captured rare images of Native Americans and their culture. McClintock was the son of a wealthy businessman from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He developed an interest in the American West after he went there in 1895 to recover from typhoid fever.

A year later, he returned to the West. This time he went as a photographer. His job was to take pictures for a federal investigation¹ of national forests. While there, he came into contact with the Blackfoot community in northwestern Montana, and began a life-long interest in them.

Over the next 20 years, he took several thousand photographs of the Blackfoot Indians. The name Blackfoot is thought to have come from the color of their footwear, which were painted or darkened with ash.

Walter McClintock worried that the expanding American West would wipe out the Blackfoot. Fearful that their traditional culture would be lost, he recorded their way of life before it disappeared.

McClintock wrote books and spoke² in public about his experiences with the Blackfoot people.

During the early 1800s, the Blackfoot had about 20,000 members. However, their population was reduced to fewer than 5,000 by the early 20th Century. Starvation, war, and disease brought by white settlers had killed them.

Today, there are about 16,000 registered Blackfoot Indians living on the Blackfeet Reservation in northwestern Montana on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains.

Sherry L. Smith, a writer and historian, says one of McClintock’s favorite images was of a Blackfoot lodge³. The structure gives off “a warm, radiant incandescence⁴” from within. She noted⁵ that the photographer “tried his best to enter that lodge and explain its interior life to other Americans”.

Below are some hand-colored, transparent⁶, glass lantern slides Walter McClintock made around the year 1900. A lantern slide is a photograph on a glass slide. It is often hand-painted to look more appealing. In McClintock’s case, the pictures represent an idealized version of an endangered culture at the beginning of the modern age.

Words in This Story

photographer – n. someone who takes pictures, usually as a job

typhoid fever – n. a disease spread by contaminated water and food

radiant – adj. bright and shining

incandescence – n. producing radiation or a bright light that can be easily seen

transparent – adj. able to be seen through; easy to notice

lantern – n. a flame usually covered by glass for light

slide(s) – n. a photographic image on a small plate or film

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

4 incandescence   

n.白热，炽热；白炽

参考例句：

• A fine wire is heated electrically to incandescence in an electric lamp. 灯丝在电灯中电加时成白炽状态。 来自辞典例句
• A fine wire heated electrically to incandescence in an electric lamp. 电灯光亮来自白热的灯丝。 来自互联网

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。