Jennie Ross Cobb

{{short description|Cherokee curator and photographer (1881–1959)}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Jennie Ross Cobb

| image = Jennie_Ross_Cobb.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Jennie Fields Ross

| birth_date = {{birth date|1881|12|26}}

| birth_place = Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|01|19|1881|12|26}}

| death_place = Tahlequah, Oklahoma

| nationality = American, Cherokee Nation

| movement =

| awards =

| patrons =

| imagesize =

| field = Native American photography

| training = self-taught

| works =

| influenced by =

| influenced =

}}

Jennie Ross Cobb (Cherokee, 1881–1959) is the first known Native American woman photographer in the United States. She began taking pictures of her Cherokee community in the late 19th century. The Oklahoma Historical Society used her photos of the Murrell Home to restore that building, which is now a museum. Trained as a teacher, Cobb worked as a florist in Texas before returning to Oklahoma to spearhead the restoration of the Murrell Home.

Early life

Jennie Fields Ross was born on December 26, 1881{{sfn|Dawes Rolls|1906}} in Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory to Fannie D. (née Thornton) and Robert Bruce Ross. She was named after her father's mother, Jennie Fields{{sfn|The Chronicles of Oklahoma|1930|p=355}} and was a great-granddaughter of Cherokee Chief John Ross.{{sfn|The Daily Oklahoman|1959|page=37}} Her father was treasurer of the Cherokee National Council and served in other tribal administration capacities,{{sfn|The Chronicles of Oklahoma|1930|p=356}} as well as farming on the Ross homestead near Park Hill.{{sfn|The Chronicles of Oklahoma|1930|p=357}}

During her teenage years, Ross spent much time among the various Ross relatives in Park Hill. The family lived in the "Hunter's Home," now known as the Murrell Home, and Jennie, an amateur photographer, took photographs of the house, surrounding areas{{sfn|Ridge|2008}} and her school mates.{{sfn|Jensen|1998}} She began taking pictures around 1896 and continued until around 1903,{{sfn|Till|1994|p=54}} developing her photographs in a closet at the Murrell Home.{{sfn|Ridge|2008}} The images "defied the stereotypical photographic views" of Native Americans at the time, showing that the Cherokee were educated, fashionable, and proud of their culture.{{sfn|Jensen|1998}} Ross attended school at the Cherokee Female Seminary, which had been rebuilt in 1889{{sfn|Starr|1921|p=235}} and may have graduated in 1900{{sfn|Starr|1921|p=237}} or 1902.{{sfn|Till|1994|p=54}}

Career

File:CherokeeSeminary.png students stroll along boardwalk that led from school into Tahlequah, photograph by Jennie Ross Cobb, ca. 1902, collection of the Oklahoma Historical Society]]

After completing her own studies, Ross became a teacher{{sfn|Till|1994|p=54}} at the Cherokee school in Paw Paw.{{sfn|Mihesuah|1997|p=120}} She married Jesse Clifton "J. C." Cobb{{sfn|Maddox|2005|p=217}} in 1905 and they subsequently had one child, a daughter named Jenevieve in 1906.{{sfn|Till|1994|p=55}}

In 1928, the family moved to Arlington, Texas, and by the early 1930s, Cobb was running a floral shop business called the Flower Market.{{sfn|Till|1994|p=55}}{{sfn|The Arlington Colt|1934|p=2}}{{sfn|The Arlington Colt|1935|p=4}} J.C. was an engineer in the oil business.{{sfn|U. S. Census|1930|p=18B}} After his death in 1940,{{sfn|U. S. Census|1940|p=11B}} she and Jenevieve worked together in the florist shop.{{sfn|Till|1994|p=55}} Cobb was involved with the rose garden in Arlington's Meadowbrook Park. She and Jenevieve worked with the Arlington Garden Club to help them win an award from Woman's Home Companion in a contest.{{sfn|The Daily News Texan|1959|p=3}} Jenevieve died on August 8, 1945, in Arlington{{sfn|Texas State Board of Health|1945}} and Cobb took her two grandchildren, Jennifer and Cliff Biggers, to raise.{{sfn|The Daily News Texan|1959|p=3}}

In 1952, Cobb left Arlington{{sfn|The Daily News Texan|1959|p=3}} and returned to Oklahoma to help restore the Murrell Home. Armed with her photographs from the turn of the century and her memories, Cobb assisted restoration experts to creating a more accurate version of the home. Pilings which indicated a wrap-around porch had once been there were shown to be a later addition and not restored. She supervised gathering furnishings and artifacts from Ross family members and other Cherokee families, overseeing the opening of the museum.{{sfn|Ridge|2008}}

Death and legacy

Cobb died from a heart attack on January 19, 1959, at a hospital in Tahlequah{{sfn|The Daily Oklahoman|1959|page=37}} and was buried beside her husband and daughter at Rose Hill Cemetery in Arlington, Texas.{{sfn|The Daily News Texan|1959|p=3}}

Cobb is often credited with being the first, first woman, or one of the first, Native American photographers in the United States.{{sfn|Claviez|Moss|2000|p=265}}{{sfn|McDonnell|2014}}{{sfn|Biles|2013}} The Oklahoma Historical Society maintains the Jennie Ross Cobb Collection of photographs, which has toured in several exhibitions through the years, such as the 1995 Photographers in Petticoats: Oklahoma Territories 1890-1907 exhibition at the Pioneer Woman Museum in Ponca City{{sfn|Till|1994|p=55}}{{sfn|NewsOK|1995}} and a traveling exhibition called Our People, Our Land, Our Images: International Indigenous Photography, curated by Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie (Diné/Muscogee/Seminole) and Veronica Passalacqua, which has toured the country since 2007.{{sfn|McDonnell|2014}}{{sfn|Biles|2013}} The University of Oklahoma Libraries' Western History Collections also has a collection of her documents relating to the restoration of the Murrell Home and other Ross family memorabilia.{{sfn|Western History Collections|2016}} The Cherokee National History Museum featured her work in a 2020-21 exhibition, “Through the Lens: The Photographic Legacy of Jennie Ross Cobb,” noting: "Informal, casual and unguarded, Jennie’s images resonate with viewers today. They tell the story of her unique experience as a young woman from a highly influential and progressive Cherokee family in those golden days before statehood swept over Indian Territory."Shade, Karen. "Through the Lens" https://visitcherokeenation.com/blog/through-the-lens

References

=Citations=

=Bibliography=

{{cite news|last1=Biles|first1=Jan|title=Flint Hills Discovery Center focuses on indigenous photography|url=http://m.cjonline.com/life/connected/2013-02-02/flint-hills-discovery-center-focuses-indigenous-photography|access-date=13 August 2016|newspaper=The Topeka Capital-Journal|date=February 2, 2013|location=Topeka, Kansas|archive-date=2016-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813213040/http://m.cjonline.com/life/connected/2013-02-02/flint-hills-discovery-center-focuses-indigenous-photography|url-status=dead}}
{{cite book|last1=Claviez|first1=Thomas|last2=Moss|first2=Maria|title=Mirror Writing: (re-)constructions of Native American Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hAiavPfofHwC&pg=PA265|year=2000|publisher=Galda & Wilch|location=Berlin, German|isbn=978-3-931397-25-8}}
{{cite web|last1=Jensen|first1=Joan M.|title=Native American Women Photographers As Storytellers|url=http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/NAW.html|website=College of Liberal Arts Purdue|publisher=Purdue University|access-date=13 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050705084300/http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Jensen/NAW.html|archive-date=July 5, 2005|location=West Lafayette, Indiana|date=1998}}
{{cite book|last=Maddox|first=Jerry A.|title=From Salacoa to Tahlequah: Plantation in the Valley The Martin-Erwin House|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtagYBbaGCsC&pg=PA217|year=2005|publisher=AuthorHouse|location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=978-1-4634-7237-5}}
{{cite news|last1=McDonnell|first1=Brandy|title=Interviews: Indigenous photography exhibit "Our People, Our Land, Our Images" opens TODAY at Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art|url=http://newsok.com/article/3954262|access-date=13 August 2016|publisher=NewsOK|date=April 11, 2014|location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma}}
{{cite book|last=Mihesuah|first=Devon A.|author-link=Devon A. Mihesuah|title=Cultivating the Rosebuds: The Education of Women at the Cherokee Female Seminary, 1851-1909|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0KBZBCJ-l8UC&pg=PA119|year=1997|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana, Illinois|isbn=978-0-252-06677-1}}
{{cite news|last1=Ridge|first1=Betty|title=Murrell Home to celebrate 60 years|url=http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/features/murrell-home-to-celebrate-years/article_e6ea43a2-3017-5921-8936-36a1ffb4f792.html|access-date=13 August 2016|publisher=The Tahlequah Daily Press|date=December 9, 2008|location=Tahlequah, Oklahoma}}
{{cite book|last1=Starr|first1=Emmet|title=History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore|date=1921|publisher=Warden Company|location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106005942559;view=1up;seq=237|oclc=2702462}}
{{cite thesis |type=B.A. |last=Till |first=Jennifer E. |date=1994 |title=Seven Female Photographers of the Oklahoma and Indian Territories, 1889 to 1907 |url=https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/12398/Thesis-1997-T574s.pdf?sequence=1 |publisher=University of Maryland |location=College Park, Maryland |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813182554/https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/12398/Thesis-1997-T574s.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=2016-08-13 }}
{{cite web|ref={{harvid|U. S. Census|1930}}|author=|title=1930 U.S. Federal Census: Arlington, Texas|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRZB-K9C?i=35&wc=QZFW-1T1%3A648808001%2C650626401%2C648893702%2C1589283017%3Fcc%3D1810731&cc=1810731|website=FamilySearch|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|access-date=13 August 2016|location=Washington, D. C.|date=April 14, 1930}}
{{cite web|ref={{harvid|U. S. Census|1940}}|author=|title=1940 U.S. Federal Census: Arlington, Texas|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MY-8JBZ?i=21&wc=QZX5-BZL%3A792575201%2C803891201%2C803899901%2C953807501%3Fcc%3D2000219&cc=2000219|website=FamilySearch|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|access-date=13 August 2016|location=Washington, D. C.|date=April 14, 1940}}
{{cite web|ref={{harvid|Western History Collections|2016}}|author=|title=Anne Ross Piburn Collection|url=https://libraries.ou.edu/locations/docs/westhist/Piburn.htm|website=University of Oklahoma Libraries|publisher=Western History Collections|access-date=13 August 2016|location=Norman, Oklahoma|date=2016|archive-date=15 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140515002138/http://libraries.ou.edu/locations/docs/westhist/Piburn.htm|url-status=dead}}
{{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Arlington Colt|1934}}|author=|title=Cobb-Allen Flower Market|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/susun-wilkinson/clipnumber/67369/|access-date=13 August 2016|publisher='The Arlington Colt|date=December 20, 1934|location=Arlington, Texas|via=Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
{{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Daily Oklahoman|1959}}|author=|title=Curator Dies at Tahlequah|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/susun-wilkinson/clipnumber/67185/|access-date=13 August 2016|publisher=The Daily Oklahoman|date=January 21, 1959|location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|via=Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
{{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Daily News Texan|1959}}|author=|title=Long Time Resident Here Dies|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/susun-wilkinson/clipnumber/67185/|access-date=13 August 2016|publisher=The Daily News Texan|date=January 21, 1959|location=Arlington, Texas|via=Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
{{cite journal |ref={{harvid|The Chronicles of Oklahoma|1930}} |title=Necrology |journal=Chronicles of Oklahoma |date=September 1930 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=355–356 |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v008/v008p350.html |access-date=13 August 2016 |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |issn=0009-6024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030127033320/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v008/v008p350.html |archive-date=27 January 2003 |url-status=dead }}
{{cite news|ref={{harvid|NewsOK|1995}}|author=|title=State Artists Shown at Gallery|url=http://newsok.com/article/2503044|access-date=13 August 2016|publisher=NewsOK|date=May 19, 1995|location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma}}
{{cite report|ref={{harvid|Texas State Board of Health|1945}}|author=|title=Texas Death Certificates, 1890-1976: Jenevieve Biggers|date=August 8, 1945|publisher=Texas State Board of Health|location=Austin, Texas}}
{{cite report|ref={{harvid|Dawes Rolls|1906}}|author=|title=The Final Rolls of the Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory: Jennie F. Ross|date=1906|docket=Card #6838, Roll #16357|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|location=Washington, D.C.}}
{{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Arlington Colt|1935}}|author=|title=The Flower Market|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/susun-wilkinson/clipnumber/67350/|access-date=13 August 2016|publisher='The Arlington Colt|date=April 11, 1935|location=Arlington, Texas|via=Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}