Edward Sheriff Curtis, b. Feb 16, 1868, (116 years before Feb 16, 1984), is known for his documentation of the American West and Native Americans. Commissioned in 1906 by J.P. Morgan to produce a series of 15,000 images (to a tune of $75,000) documenting this culture, he is one of the most prolific to approach the subject matter.
I worked at a photography auction back in 2007 showcasing some of his original glass plates, from the estate of Jack Naylor who collected many of these in his lifetime. The one above went for a crazy six figures, but you get to enjoy it in RGB for free.
Curtis sometimes retouched his photographs to exclude objects (a clock next to a tepee, for example), which makes him nowadays controversial raising questions about straight documentation vs. idealization.
