Panorama Photograph of the Osage Princess Ceremony, 1929

N.p., probably printed later. Gelatin silver print on glossy paper. 23 x 5, archivally mounted and matted. Very Good. This large-format photograph depicts a large group of Osage on the farm of a well-known original allotment holder, Robert “Bob” Morrell (and his wife Grace Penn Morrell), on the Osage Nation reservation. This was a critical time in the history of the reservation. In the early 1920s, the Osage were targeted for the rights to oil discovered on their land. Despite violence, deceit, and theft by non-Osage, the oil boom enriched some of the nation; by the mid-1920s mineral rights holders were described as the “richest people in the world.” A family of four with full allotment could have earned the equivalent of $600,000 a year from their rights.

The occasion of the first Princess celebration on June 10, 1929 does not appear to be otherwise recorded, and may have been the precursor to the current Osage Tribal Princess Sorority, which elected its first princess in 1941. The Osage Tribal Princess represents her nation with other tribal princess representatives at the annual American Indian Exposition.

A very good example, archivally remounted and matted.