Frank S Matsura - Portraits From The Borderland

The Mac in Spokane has this display room for photos that were taken by Frank Matsura in Okanogan around 1910. This is a small selection of his vast trove of images that show the Native Americans who lived in the region at that time. Most of these images speak for themselves and show a rather grizzled people who endure the elements and were living in a very quickly changing world where they would soon see their land gone and their people scattered like most all tribes at that time.

My grandparents made buckskin clothing during my childhood and my grandmother did a lot of Indian beading very much like this. It was really cool to see work very similar to the things she made.