How many Native American peoples did The North American Indian document?

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Curtis, Edward S. — Edward S. Curtis Self-portrait, photogravure by Edward S. Curtis, 1899; in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The North American Indian, the monumental project by Edward S. Curtis, documented over 80 distinct Native American peoples.1

These groups were representative of all the culture areas of the trans-Mississippi West. The publication served as a vast repository of ethnographic information, including social organization, myths, language vocabularies, and biographies of leaders, compiled through the efforts of Curtis and his team of researchers and assistants.1