Spotlight: Killers of the Flower Moon and the Ford Film Collection

At first glance, Martin Scorsese, the Osage Nation, and Henry Ford have nothing in common. Scorsese is an award-winning American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. The Osage Nation is a thriving American Indian tribe whose ancestral land includes much of Oklahoma, and Ford is an industrialist who changed the manufacturing landscape. But despite assumptions, … Continue reading Spotlight: Killers of the Flower Moon and the Ford Film Collection

Summer Road Trip: Albuquerque to Las Vegas

Entering: Albuquerque, New Mexico This post was co-written by Kevin Quinn and Caitlin Hucik As we leave Texas and the Boll Weevils in our rear-view, we continue our journey through the Southwest with a stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We enter Albuquerque through Record Groups 18-AA: "Airscapes" of American and Foreign Areas, 1917 – 1964; … Continue reading Summer Road Trip: Albuquerque to Las Vegas

“A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”

"A picture is worth a thousand words...." Or so the saying goes. In reality, a photograph only documents a second in time, and as time goes on, it is easy to forget why a particular moment was so important to capture. However, well-captioned photographs can tell us stories; they can give us information about the … Continue reading “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”

“Who Has Given More Than The Indian?”

The following photo essay and accompanying poem were recently discovered in an accession of Indian Health Service records. The work appears to be attributed to Mr. Allan Cayous. The content and captions are all original to the author and the intended order of presentation has been preserved in this blog post to the best of my ability. Allan Cayous was heavily … Continue reading “Who Has Given More Than The Indian?”

Dr. Paul Owen: The First PHS Optometrist

Paul Owen grew up in Jacksonville, Florida in the mid-20th century. He attended Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where he earned his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and then his Doctorate in Optometry (O.D.). In 1966, Dr. Owen became the first optometrist in the Public Health Service commissioned Officer Corps. Prior to this, any necessary … Continue reading Dr. Paul Owen: The First PHS Optometrist

The Indian School for Practical Nursing

By: Kelsey Noel Several weeks ago, the Still Picture Branch received a particularly fascinating accession when a number of boxes arrived filled with records from the Indian Health Service. On any given day around here it is almost impossible not to encounter something fantastic and fascinating. Yet every now and then, something of particular interest … Continue reading The Indian School for Practical Nursing

Images of the Week: Select Lists

This week I’ve decided to highlight some of the images selected by staff, mostly in the 1970s and as late as the 1990s, to be part of hard copy leaflets on popular subjects.  For a number of years, these select audiovisual lists could be ordered as complete slide sets by researchers.  In the 1990s, the … Continue reading Images of the Week: Select Lists