Visit the Exhibition

The American West during the latter half of the nineteenth century supported a remarkably heterogeneous population. Complementing the region’s diverse Native presence, settlers from throughout the United States—and many parts of the world—decided to make the West their home. These new inhabitants came for different reasons, but for many the possibility of achieving economic and religious freedom was most important. In the West it was believed that one could reinvent oneself, and often this dream was realized. Yet the arrival of so many people also caused new frictions that led to dissension, intolerance, and sometimes violence. It also prompted reform; movements such as populism, temperance, women’s suffrage, unionism, and Native American rights emerged as significant issues in the West. The individuals in this section played important roles in transforming the West’s identity and its relationship with the rest of the nation and the world.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by University of Oklahoma Press. The curator of the exhibition is Frank Goodyear III, associate curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery.

Faces of the Frontier: Photographic Portraits from the American West contains additional portraits not included in this Web site; it opened on September 25, 2009 and closed on January 24, 2010. The exhibition was then displayed at the San Diego Historical Society, California, from March 12 through June 6, 2010, and the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from October 9, 2010, through January 2, 2011.

 

The National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, tells the stories of America through the individuals who have shaped U.S. culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts, and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists who speak American history.

Location: The National Portrait Gallery is conveniently located at Eighth and F Streets, NW, in Washington D.C., above the Gallery Place–Chinatown Metrorail station (red, yellow, and green lines).

Museum Hours: 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m. daily. Closed December 25. Admission: FREE. For more information on visiting the museum, please visit the National Portrait Gallery's Web site.


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