BIG EYES: THE SOUTHWESTERN PHOTOGRAPHS OF SIMEON SCHWEMBERGER,
1902-1908 by Paul V. Long. University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1591. Illustrated, bibliography, notes,
list of sources. 204 pp., $32.50. 0-8263-1302-7
REVIEW
"Big Eyes" was the name given by the Navajo to Schwemberger,
who was a Franciscan lay brother from 1901-1908 at the Mission of
St. Michaels near Window Rock, Arizona. An amateur photographer,
he collected over 400 snapshots while at the mission.
The dry-plate and glass plate negatives sat at the mission for
over sixty years before funding could be procured for cleaning,
restoration, and identification of those photographed. The
pictures are now part of the mission archive.
The 129 photographs in this book show Native Americans during
their initial adaptation to the European culture. They are
beginning to wear western clothing, and several pictures show the
pain of transition from their native religion to Catholicism.
Schwemberger was in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New
Mexico at a unique time, and he captures many of the pivotal events
in the lives of Navajo, Hopi, and the Pueblo tribes. Most
importantly, he captures on film the 1906-7 split between the Hopi
Friendlies and Hostiles over government intervention in Hopi
education.
On facing pages are pictures of the old and new chiefs. The
deposed chief sits on the ground, looked after by U.S. cavalry
soldiers, and the new chief looks none to sure about his own fate.
Schwemberger was allowed to take pictures of many ceremonies.
The book focuses on a 1905 Navajo Night Chant, showing the erection
of the Medicine Lodge, the Kitchen, the Sweat-House, several
sandpaintings, and the initiation of the youth.
The accompanying text is fascinating, as it describes the
confrontations that took place that year between the U.S. soldiers
led by Reuben Perry, head of the Navajo Agency, and the tribe over
the handling of a prior legal matter and the drinking of whiskey at
the ceremony. Schwemberger also details the ceremony in depth.
Without his help, the ceremony could not take place, as the
ceremony was costly. The Medicine Man charged $200, and the
patient had to provide food to him and his assistants for the nine
days of the ceremony. Mr. Charles Day, an Indian trader, said that
he would provide the funds for the ceremony if Schwemberger would
be allowed to photograph it.
Other essays detail Schwemberger's life and art, life at St.
Michaels, and an essay by Michele M. Penhall places Schwemberger's
work in a historical context.
The discovery of these plates is an important contribution to
the preservation of the history of the southwestern tribes. Oraibi
looks the same today as depicted here in 1906, and there are turn-
of-the-century scenes of the Pueblos of Jemez, Conchiti, Isleta,
Acoma, and Laguna. Many chiefs, headmen, and medicine men are
shown, such as Black Horse and Taiyoni (Navajo War Chiefs),
Santiago Quintana (Conchiti governor), Chee Dodge and Charlie
Mitchell (Navajo headmen), and Slim Navajo (also called Dine Tsosi
- last of the Navajo War Chiefs). Absorbing and informative.