Densmore’s Recordings and Photographs
Frances Densmore recorded all of the songs she collected on a portable phonograph that engraved wax cylinders. She could record several songs on each cylinder depending on the length of the songs being sung. Later, she would replay the cylinders and transcribe the music into Western notation, a practice that helped her analyze the music and display it in an accessible way to her mostly white audience, but ultimately misrepresented Indigenous music as a whole by doing this. Densmore’s wax cylinders were all kept in her Smithsonian archive, but, due to wax cylinders’ degradation over time, only a few were salvageable. Nevertheless, there are songs that Densmore recorded that were able to be digitized. There are a few more that are only available at her Smithsonian archive, but are not available online. The album linked below is a collection of a sizable portion of those remaining recordings that are accessible online, created by Smithsonian Folkways recordings and taken from her archive.
Photographs
Only a few photos taken of Densmore survive today, but she took many photographs on her journeys, many of which she added to her bulletins. Here is a small selection of photos with captions, both of her and taken by her, courtesy of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the Library of Congress. This gallery holds all the pictures that are displayed on the website and include captions providing context for each photo.
Several Lakota men sing into Densmore’s phonograph near Fort Yates, ND.
Piegan Mountain chief recording with Densmore in 1916.
Densmore and Rev. Charles Hall beginning to unload her phonograph while unpacking her things in Fort Yates, South Dakota, in 1911.
Four of Densmore’s wax cylinders, located in the archives of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Densmore studies Indigenous-made violin and elephant-tusk horn.
Photograph of Lakota people on the Standing Rock reservation in Fort Yates, ND, taken by Densmore.
Densmore cooks a meal at her camp.
Densmore poses with Chippewa man.
Densmore transcribes her “canned music” on her home phonograph in 1915.