Unique proof print with hand-written color notations, c. 1906
From The North American Indian, Volume I, Portfolio I

This rare proof impression of The Fire Drill — Apache is distinguished by a hand-written and underlined note in the upper right margin, indicating that the photogravure’s ink color required adjustment. The image itself, made in 1906 for the first volume of Edward S. Curtis’s monumental project The North American Indian (1907–1930), depicts two Apache individuals creating fire with a traditional drill—a vital method of producing flame through friction.

By focusing on this everyday act of survival, Curtis underscored both the ingenuity and cultural continuity of Apache life. At the same time, his carefully staged, soft-toned photogravure exemplifies his broader project: a mixture of ethnographic record and romanticized artistry. Though shaped by early twentieth-century ideas of a “vanishing race,” Curtis’s images remain a significant—if complex—archive of Indigenous traditions that continue to be practiced and sustained by Apache communities today.