Frank Cundill

Honyocker Photographer

The local images taken by Frank Cundill cover a time period from 1911 until the mid 1920s. They were taken in Dewey and Corson counties (the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations) of South Dakota.

Frank Cundill was born August 26, 1887 in Maquoketa, Iowa. He the oldest of four children born to Will and Ella Cundill. He had three sisters, Bess, Charlotte, and Edna. During their childhood their father was establishing himself as one of Iowa’s top photographers. As a boy, Frank worked in his father’s studio. After he graduated from high school in 1905 he attended Southern School of Photography in McMinville, Tenn. Following this he worked as a professional photographer in Fort Wayne, Ind., Chicago, Ill., and again in his father’s studio in Maquoketa.

In 1911 he joined the migration of people settling the newly-opened Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations in South Dakota. He filed on a homestead nine miles south of Firesteel. He would live on this farm for the next 46 years. In 1914 he married Josephine Gormally, a school teacher who lived nearby. Frank’s sister Bess also homesteaded in the Firesteel area and married Shorty Bristol, who farmed and was the local game warden.

Almost as soon as he arrived in South Dakota, Frank Cundill began taking pictures and selling post card prints of his work. Cundill’s photography basically falls into the following categories 1) rodeos & celebrations, 2) children, 3) homesteading scenes, and 4) Indians. Young Cundill stamped most of his photographs with “F. Cundill, Honyocker Photographer.”

In South Dakota, Frank Cundill never had a photo studio for taking pictures or making enlargements. Most of his glass plates and negatives were sent back to his father’s studio in Iowa for developing and printing or contact printed to post card size. Cundill’s original images were recorded on 5” x 7” dry plates or negatives. These were used to contact print post cards. His post card prints were then sold locally and eventually found their way all over the country.

In some ways the lack of a studio worked to his advantage. It gave his photographs a more natural or honest quality. His Indian subjects were photographed in front of their homes or tents in their own regalia or everyday dress. He photographed children outdoors with whatever was handy for a backdrop. Sometimes the farm animals were placed in the picture along with the kids. What Cundill gave-up in technical quality he gained in historical value.

The bulk of his known photographic work was completed between 1911 and the late 1920s. Like his father, he was an innovator in all he did. Throughout his adult life he was active in public affairs and always had interest in the things around him. His interest in photography continued into his retirement. By the 1940s he was taking color photographs and slides.

Frank Cundill recorded the every day life of his friends and neighbors. This was the last of the homestead frontiers. Cundill was both a participant in and an observer of the struggle to open the reservation and develop a new community. Many stayed only a year or two and most had left by the end of the Dirty Thirties. Frank and Josephine were among the few who stuck it out.

Over the years Frank held many local offices and served on many local boards. He was a charter member and served on the board of directors of the Farmers Cooperative Elevator of Firesteel for 16 years; he was a charter member of the South Dakota Hereford Breeders Association; he was a charter member of both the state and local Isaac Walton League; he was active in the local and state Crop Improvement Associations; he was a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Aberdeen; and served as the first president of the board for the Mobridge Community Hospital. He served three terms in the South Dakota Legislature. He was elected to the House in 1923 and to the Senate in 1925 and 1927. In 1931 he was appointed as a member of the South Dakota Game and Fish Commission for a six year term. In 1937 he was appointed to the South Dakota Board of Regents of Education. He was re-appointed in 1943 and 1949. In all he served 18 years on the Board of Regents.

In 1955, at the School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, he was awarded the Certificate of Meritorious Achievement for his outstanding public service. In 1956, at the South Dakota State College of Agriculture in Brookings, he was awarded the title of “Eminent Farmer’ in recognition of his services in the agricultural development of the state. In 1957, he was named “Tree Farmer of the Year” in South Dakota. In 1986 Cundill was posthumously named to the South Dakota Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame. Frank and Josephine Cundill retired from farming in 1957, sold their farm, and moved to Mobridge. Josephine passed away in 1964 and Frank in 1965.

Today, the Timber Lake and Area Historical Society owns much of Frank Cundill’s original photographic work. The organization continues to gather more photos and develop the collection. At present there are 235 original 5” x 7” glass plates, 47 original 5” x 7” negatives, 30 original lantern slides, hundreds of original post card prints, as well as carte-de-visite, cabinet mounts and other Cundill family photographs from the 19th Century.

A traveling exhibit of 7 double-sided table-top panels of enlargements of Cundill photos and related items is available.