Camp Keeper’s Diary
Where Have the Plates Gone?
Listen to the Camp Keeper
Many people have asked the Camp Keeper: how many Curtis copper photogravure plates were created, and where are they today?
Here is the full accounting.
There were 2,234 plates created in total — 722 Portfolio plates and 1,512 Volume plates. In 1981, my partner Kenneth Zerbe and I acquired all but 13 of them: 2,221 plates.
In 1985, we donated 114 Portfolio plates and 230 Volume plates to three institutions: the Smithsonian, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Center for Creative Photography.
In 2021, we donated an additional 145 Portfolio plates to seven institutions, including the Smithsonian again, the University of Washington, the University of California–Davis, and the Montana Historical Society, among others.
Over the decades, 349 Volume plates and 203 Portfolio plates have been sold to tribes, private collectors, and institutions — including the Skokomish Tribe and the Cahuilla Tribe.
The plates did not disappear. They were placed.
That leaves 262 Portfolio plates and 933 Volume plates in the joint possession of the Curtis Collection Partners. Kenneth Zerbe holds 929 of the Volume plates.
The partners have recently begun distributing Portfolio plates to our own private collections. I hold 30 and Kenneth Zerbe holds 60, with more distributions to follow.
CurtisCamp.com offers plates owned by the Camp Keeper only. Others may be available on request.