A museum demonstration looked like proof that he embodied Yahi culture.

A close portrait looked like the face of “the last man.”

The circular logic was powerful.

Modern editors have a responsibility to break it.

When using Ishi’s images, the point should not be to recreate the spectacle that surrounded him.

The photograph should function as evidence.

It should help readers see the real person while the text explains the conditions under which the image was made.

That difference separates historical journalism from nostalgia.

The goal is not to make the past look mysterious.

The goal is to make the historical mechanism visible.