author
D.C. of Washington Thomas Foster
Best known for preserving material on the Iowa people, this little-documented writer appears in historical records as a Washington, D.C.–based editor and compiler rather than a widely known literary figure. His surviving work has endured because it captures and republishes early ethnographic and historical material that might otherwise have been harder to find.
1 Audiobook
The Iowa
by D.C. of Washington Thomas Foster
About the author
Thomas Foster is listed in library and digitized-book records as “Thomas Foster (of Washington, D.C.)” and is chiefly associated with The Iowa, published by Torch Press in 1911. That volume was issued with an introduction and editorial work by William Harvey Miner, and it preserves material drawn from Foster’s earlier publication, Foster’s Indian Record and Historical Data.
The surviving evidence suggests that Foster worked as a researcher, editor, or compiler focused on Native American history, especially the Iowa people. In the prefatory material reproduced in later digital editions, he is described as having called himself an “Indian historiographer,” and the record indicates that his original periodical was short-lived.
Because so little biographical information is readily confirmed online, a full personal portrait of his life remains unclear. What does stand out is the afterlife of his work: The Iowa has remained available through major public-domain archives and library catalogs, giving modern readers access to a rare early historical source.