The Photographer:

Frank Fuller (known as F.F.) Avery was born in Indiana on February 24, 1862. He began working for the Indian School Service on September 22, 1890. Before moving to Washington State he and his wife, Anna Avery, whom he married in 1892, were employed by the Indian Service in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Crow Creek, North Dakota. From 1898 to 1916, Avery was connected with the Colville Indian Agency, first as superintendent of the Indian Boarding School at Fort Spokane until 1907, and then as inspector of Colville Agency Day Schools. He was once recommended by John McAdam Webster, the Superintendent of the Colville Indian Agency, to succeed him. Correspondence between Avery and Webster appears in the John McAdam Webster Papers in the Washington State University Library

The Collection:

The collection consists of 800 images selected from 894 5x7 inch glass negatives taken by Avery during the period 1901 to 1916 when Avery was assigned to the Colville Indian Agency. Among the major subjects included in his collection are photos of agency headquarters and personnel, including several pictures of John McAdam Webster, superintendent of the Colville Indian Agency, scenes of Eastern Washington, and family photos of Avery's wife Anna, and his two sons, Warren and Frank.

For more information about the Colville Reservation and secondary souces used in this database, see the Colville Indian Reservation Chronology and Avery Project Bibliography. The complete list of images in the Avery Collection is also available online.

Searching the Database:

Entering search terms in the box located at the top of the page will search across all of the database fields. A select list subject topic is provided below in a drop-down box. Choose a topic from the options and click on the search button to see the results. Search results are displayed as a series of thumbnail images that may be browsed, both forward and backward. To view the larger image and its corresponding description, double click on the thumbnail. Any highlighted text in the description below each full-size image is searchable; just click. Options to return to the Avery Collection front page, the MASC front page, the Historical Photographs page and ordering images, are provided along the top banner, as is a choice to return to your search results. Clicking on the "students" icon will also initiate a database search.

Creating the Database:

Trevor Bond, Special Collections Librarian, oversaw the project. Ducan Shea and Magnus Wood scanned original photographic prints as 300 dpi TIFF files on a Microtek 9600XL scanner and then added 72 dpi JPEG files to the CONTENT database. Francesca Pena entered additional descriptive information along with subject and genre terms. Jon Middaugh and Mari Hillstead researched and wrote additional descriptions. Al Cornish provided technical support for CONTENT and aided Joseph Groh, Mike Walpole, and Trevor Bond in the site's design.

This project was made possible by support from the Department of General Education. We would also like to thank members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation for their assistance in identifying the people and places documented in the Avery Collection.

 

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