Historic Hood River
Chief Hash-Na-Shut
7-31-2018
Notes
An HHR reader loaned us his wonderful folio of Benjamin Gifford photogravures, published in 1912, so we could share the images with you.
Benjamin Gifford made his name with romanticized images of local tribal members photographed at his studio in the Dalles. This image of Hash-Na-Shut, Chief of the Wasco, is a classic example of his work.
Buzz
Arthur, how is this image romanticized. His attire doesn’t seem unreal for a formal picture of a chief wearing traditional clothing and feathers of his people during that time period.
nels
The lines and scars in his face speaks much o f the life he lived.
L.E.
I wonder if he also had a white man name?
I have an Indian friend who has made her kids promise not to bury her in a Pendleton blanket.
Buzz
L.E. maybe because of the common very derogatory name that was sometimes used by bigots when referring to Indians.
Charlott
Every time I see these photos I wonder how many of them my great grandfather knew during his time at Biggs, when they went to and fro to Celilo. He would have been able to communicate with them as he knew the Chinook language and could sign also.
L.E.
Some other online sources name him Chief Hash-Nash-Shut.
L.E.
One source also says he was photographed at Pendleton Round-Up.
These differences make me wonder if Benjamin Gifford did not do an accurate job of documenting his photos, or if documentation was lost after years of commercial use.
Arthur
It certainly has the appearance of a studio portrait to me. Oregon State University has the Benjamin Gifford archives. Their website is not fully functional right now so I can’t access the records on Gifford’s Chief Hash-Nash-Shut image or images.
Arthur
Hate to post a link like this, but here are OSU’s Gifford images of Native Americans:
https://oregondigital.org/sets/oregon-multicultural-archives?f%5Bdesc_metadata__photographer_label_sim%5D%5B%5D=Gifford%2C+Benjamin+A.%24http%3A%2F%2Fid.loc.gov%2Fauthorities%2Fnames%2Fn92004880