The Punch Bowl before 1887

Frank Jay Haynes made this photograph called, ‘The Punch Bowl.’ Haynes was known for his images of Yellowstone National Park. But beyond the image itself, we have to consider the context in which these images were made, and for whom. These were, after all, being created in a period of westward expansion, and often were used to encourage settlement, and even function as advertisements. It’s hard not to wonder about what this landscape meant before it was a National Park, before it was photographed, before it was settled. What was the relationship between the land and the native people who lived here? Today, let’s think about the weight of history in this picture.