Sold for $540

2 photographs taken at the Rosebud Indian Reservation in 1894, including: 3 3/4 x 4 3/4 in. photograph on cardstock mount capturing the Omaha Dance (AKA Grass Dance), Sioux. Verso imprint of A. Langer, West Point, NE, although the image is known to have been taken by Ella J. Debell. -- 3 5/8 x 4 1/2 in. photograph on cardstock mount of Chief Two Strike delivering a speech at the Rosebud Indian Reservation (residue on verso). Lacking a studio imprint, but the image is known to have been taken by Ella. J. Debell. See Cowan's, American Historical Ephemera & Early Photography, 26 June 2020, Lot 351, a photograph album documenting daily life at the Rosebud Indian Reservation by Ella J. Debell, in which examples of the same photographs are included. -- Together, 2 photographs. Condition generally very good, with some light soiling and edge and corner wear to mount.

Ellen "Ella" J. DeBell (1868-1936) was the daughter of Professor Lawrence Bruner, entomologist at the University of Nebraska. She graduated from the Bagnell School of Music at the University of Nebraska, prior to moving to Rosebud, South Dakota in 1893, where she married Dr. E.J. DeBell (1847-1935) two years later. Dr. DeBell was a physician at the Winnebago Agency in Nebraska as well as Pine Ridge Agency, Dakota Territory, prior to working at Rosebud. The DeBells had three daughters while at Rosebud (1893-1908) before moving to West Point, Nebraska. The photographs that Ella J. DeBell took during this 15-year-period at the Indian Reservation present a valuable record of the life and activities of Sioux Indians. Several of her photographs are held at the Nebraska State Historical Society.