The papers and photographs in this collection document the history and customs of the Piegan Indians (also known as the Blackfeet Indians) in Montana, and their contact with Europeans and Anglo Americans. The collection provides detailed information about McClintock's photographic practice, as well as his public presentations about the Piegan Indians. A significant part of the collection records the development and production of Poia, an opera based on Piegan Indian legends, composed by Arthur Finley Nevin, with a libretto by Randolph Hartley (1870-1931).
The photographic material in the collection provides rich visual documentation of the activities of Piegan Indians in the early twentieth century, as well as views of the landscape in western Montana and southern Alberta. McClintock used these images for lantern slides to accompany his lectures, to create prints for his photographic exhibitions, and to illustrate his publications.
Photograph albums in the collection document the activities of McClintock as student at Yale College from 1887 to 1891, as well as his participation in the Princeton University Expedition in Utah and Yellowstone National Park in 1895 and a tour by the National Forest Commission in the western United States in 1896. Many albums also detail the activities of the Piegan Indians. Scrapbooks document Poia, his lecture series, photographic exhibitions, and books.
The collection includes contemporary archival reproductions of most of the original negatives created by McClintock, as well as a set of contemporary photographic prints made from the reproduced negatives. The contemporary prints represent the most complete set of prints of McClintock’s work in the collection. A microfilm of these prints provides an alternate way to browse the collection.