Charles F. Lummis

1859-1928

BiographyIn September 1884 Charles Lummis began a 3,507 mile walk alone across North America. The epic walk began in Cincinnati and concluded 143 days later in Los Angeles, where he promptly took a job as city editor of the Los Angeles Times. During his journey, Lummis developed an appreciation for the Southwest and its inhabitants. The Times sent Lummis to document the Apache wars in 1891, an assignment that nearly ruined his health. He remained in New Mexico recovering and making photographs for four years, during which time he created records of Arizona and New Mexico's Pueblo cultures. He was especially interested in the Tiwa people of Isleta, with whom he stayed. Lummis became obsessed with recording their dances, ceremonies, songs and myths. In 1891 he returned to Los Angeles, though he periodically made further trips to photograph throughout the Southwest and Peru.

Lummis published almost twenty books, many of which are about the Southwest, as well as one book about his journey by foot, A Tramp Across the Continent. He founded the Landmarks Club to save historic Spanish missions from ruin; the Sequoyah League to lobby for better treatment for Indians; and, in 1907, Los Angeles's Southwest Museum, which is still in operation. With much justification and little humility, Lummis thought of himself as photographer, writer, poet, archaeologist, ethnographer, explorer, editor, librarian, architect, linguist, museum founder and musicologist.
http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/1706/charles-f-lummis-american-1859-1928/

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