Nez Perce photos on display at UI

MOSCOW, Idaho – The University of Idaho library has opened a new photography exhibit of Nez Perce portraits taken during the tumultuous 1890s when the Indian tribe lost most of its land.

The photos by E. Jane Gay portray life on the Nez Perce reservation between 1889 and 1892. The exhibit also features letters between Gay and Nez Perce tribal members.

Gay took more than 400 pictures while living with the Nez Perce. The exhibit is on display until Nov. 15.

The photographs document the Nez Perce at a time when government changes resulted in the allotment of their tribal lands, Nicole Tonkovich, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, said Monday at the exhibit’s opening.