Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Pioneering photographer Jessamine Spear Johnson shot her first images on her mother's glass plate camera around the age of 12 in 1897. Her family’s ranch lands sat near the border of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow reservations, where communities gathered in 1926 for the 50th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Spear Johnson’s photographs of the battle survivors who participated in the reenactment are an important part of the historic record of the battle itself.
Spear Johnson’s granddaughter, Tempe Javitz, shared these rare images in our Summer 2026 issue in her article titled “Battlefield Memories from 1926: Jessamine Spear Johson’s Little Bighorn Photographs.” We talked with Javitz about her research journey through her late grandmother’s photographs and diaries and Spear Johnson’s unique perspectives as an early female photographer. This video has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Pioneering photographer Jessamine Spear Johnson shot her first images on her mother's glass plate camera around the age of 12 in 1897. Her family’s ranch lands sat near the border of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow reservations, where communities gathered in 1926 for the 50th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Spear Johnson’s photographs of the battle survivors who participated in the reenactment are an important part of the historic record of the battle itself.
Spear Johnson’s granddaughter, Tempe Javitz, shared these rare images in our Summer 2026 issue in her article titled “Battlefield Memories from 1926: Jessamine Spear Johson’s Little Bighorn Photographs.” We talked with Javitz about her research journey through her late grandmother’s photographs and diaries and Spear Johnson’s unique perspectives as an early female photographer. This video has been edited for brevity and clarity.
