Couse in the Classroom
Ed Tangen (1873–1951), Classroom with Pueblo Indian Lesson, 1929, Photographic print. Courtesy of History Colorado, Denver
By the late 1920s, E. I. Couse’s imagery was firmly established in classrooms across the country. In the photo Classroom with Pueblo Indian Lesson, we see students in Pueblo, Colorado, encountering Native identity through Couse’s paintings, reproduced in a variety of media. The images taught them as much about popular ideas of the Southwest as Pueblo people themselves.
Educational books such as Great Pictures and Their Stories introduced students to art through reproduced images and classroom lessons. A Couse painting of model Jerry Mirabal of Taos Pueblo is reproduced on page 84 of Book 3 of this series. By appearing in this setting, Couse’s work helped shape how children learned to imagine Pueblo life and Native identity. E. I. Couse gave a copy of this book to his granddaughter Elizabeth.