4-pg document signed by Edward Curtis and his wife Clara Curtis for $1500, mortgaging land in Lindsay District of Tulare, California to George Hopkins. Recorder's copy, the printed form filled out in carbon typescript. Curtis signed the document while he was in New York, as attested by the notary public there. 13¾x8½.

Edward S. Curtis labored for over twenty years on his massive and legendary portfolio on the North American Indian. Although he received initial funding from J.P. Morgan, the expenses of the project were colossal and Curtis never compromised on his artistic vision. This mortgage represents his desperation for money already in 1911. By the time the set was finally finished in 1930 it cost over a million dollars, Curtis was bankrupt, and his wife Clara had left him in a bitter divorce.