Natalie Curtis

Natalie Curtis (born April 26, 1875 in New York , † October 23, 1921 in Paris ) was an American ethnographer and music ethnologist who became famous for her research among the Indians .

Vita and work

Natalie Curtis Burlin

As a doctor's daughter, Curtis enjoyed a good upbringing and was initially trained as a pianist. At the age of 25, she accompanied her brother on a trip to the southwest of the States, which determined her fate when she met Indians .

From then on, until the end of her life, Curtis collected poems, songs, fairy tales, myths and stories from various Indian tribes as valuable testimonies of native American culture. Their work is comparable to that of the Brothers Grimm , who in Germany saved fairy tales from being forgotten. Curtis was committed to Theodore Roosevelt for the rights of the Indians.

Curtis found international recognition, for example in October 1921 she gave a lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris. Shortly afterwards, she was run over by a taxi and died.

Publication in selection

• Words of Hiparopai (1907)
• The People of the Totem Poles: Their Art and Legends (1909)
• "Theodore Roosevelt in Hopi Land". The Outlook , March 5, 1919
• The Indians' Book. Authentic Native American Legends, Lore & Music. Recorded and edited by Natalie Curtis. Illustrated with Native American Drawings & Turn-of-the-Century-Photographs. 576 S. Gramercy Books. Distributed by Outlet Book Company, a Division of Random House. 40 Engelhard Avenue, Avenel, New Jersey 07001 ( digitized )