Mourning Dove, 1915. Property of WSU Libraries.

Images of Native American Women from the
Lucullus V. McWhorter Photograph Collection
Washington State University

A chance meeting with prominent Nez Perce War veteran, Yellow Wolf, in October of 1907 prompted Lucullus V. McWhorter's investigation of the 1877 Nez Perce War, the Nez Perces, and Yakama. In the course of compiling material for his research, McWhorter worked diligently to acquire and appraise primary and secondary sources, including the photographs that are included in this digital collection. During the course of his research, McWhorter both photographed and collected images of Native American women and their daily work.

McWhorter recorded first-hand Native American oral testimony, maintained an extensive correspondence, and made direct assessments of battle-sites in an effort to establish an accurate and comprehensive account of the 1877 conflict between the Nez Perces and the Federal government. McWhorter's books supplemented, supported, or contradicted previously published accounts and interpretations of the same events. Working with Yellow Wolf, and by utilizing the mass of material he had gathered, McWhorter published Yellow Wolf: His Own Story in 1940.

After his death in 1944, Mrs. Ruth Bordin and Professor Herman Deutsch edited and completed McWhorter's larger account of the 1877 Nez Perce War. The manuscript material known as the "Field History" was first published as Hear Me, My Chiefs! in 1952. Lucullus Virgil McWhorter died at the age of 84 in Prosser, Washington.