Curtis Legacy Foundation Taps Shawnee Real Bird for New Curator Role

The Curtis Legacy Foundation (CLF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, announced today the hiring of Shawnee Real Bird (Apsáalooke Nation) as Curtis Legacy Curator. She will report to Coleen Graybill, executive director. Real Bird’s responsibilities include descendant outreach, exhibit curation, and oversight of engagement practices to ensure cultural care and consistency across CLF’s core initiatives, including the Descendants Project.

Real Bird is a descendant of Richard Wallace, an Apsáalooke man photographed by Edward S. Curtis in 1908 — a connection that signals a meaningful shift toward descendant-led stewardship and interpretation of Curtis-related materials. She is a Crow photographer, writer, poet, event planner and cultural connector.

“When I first saw Richard Wallace’s photograph in Edward Curtis’s work, he was a stranger, an oral history. Through the Descendants Project, he became family; he became memories,” Real Bird said. “I hope Indigenous communities connected to these images can find that same sense of belonging, claiming space within a history we did not write and attaching our own stories, emotions, and life to them. Through my position as Curtis Legacy Curator, I will work to bring this feeling to all those impacted by Edward S. Curtis’ work.”

“Maybe once in a lifetime do you get to hire someone so uniquely aligned with your mission and who embodies the very values you stand for. We’ve been fortunate enough to do that in hiring Shawnee Real Bird,” said John Graybill, president of the Curtis Legacy Foundation.

Building on the Unpublished Series books, 2026 exhibitions will include Unpublished Southwest at Buena Vista Heritage Museum (May–June 2026) and at the Bond House (July–October 2026).