When the twentieth century was just getting under way, Edward S. Curtis began documenting North Amencan Indian culture in words and photographs. Today, almost one hundred years later, his work still stands as the most extensive and informative collection of its kind. His photographs are more than mere documents, they are works of art revealing subtleties of human expression missing from other history and anthropology records.

For thirty years, Curtis devoted himself to compiling The North American Indian, twenty volumes of text and oversized photogravure plates. This was a largely unprofitable project, and Curtis sacrificed his family life and his health to make lengthy visits to American Indian communities throughout the western United States and Canada.

Filled with Curtis's breathtaking photographs, Shadow Catcher traces Curtis's life and work from his boyhood in Wisconsin, through his first photo expedition to Alaska in 1897 and the completion of The North American Indian collection in 1930, to his death in 1952.