Rare group of cabinet card photographs showing scenes in and around Chickasha Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) by the photographer William E. Irwin. Notably, one image apparently shows Quanah Parker, standing beside a grass roof summer arbor. Parker was photographed many times by Irwin, and we can find no other example of this previously-unknown photo elsewhere.

Also included is a photograph, captioned “‘Cynthia’ Apache interpretor [sic]” shows Cynthia Frakes, a Cheyenne Indian Agency Employee. There is also a fascinating still life of clothing, weaponry, and beadwork, and a photograph of a “Wichita Grass House.”

William E. Irwin was born in Red Oak, Missouri in 1871. It is believed he learned photography in Indian Territory or Texas in the early 1890s. Irwin operated photography studios first in Chickasha, Indian Territory, and later in Silver City and Bisbee, Arizona, where he operated a studio from 1904 to 1922. In 1922 he opened a studio in Douglas, Arizona, which he operated until his death in 1935.