Born in Wilmington, Ohio, Carl E. Moon learned his craft as an apprentice to a photography studio. He moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, opened his own studio, and made pictorial studies of Indians in the region. Between 1907 to 1914, he worked for Fred Harvey in a studio at El Tovar, Grand Canyon, Arizona. He established a studio in Pasadena, California, where he continued to photograph and paint. During the last three decades of this career, Moon produced works for Henry E. Huntington, published Indians of the Southwest, and contributed illustrations for children's books written by his wife, Grace Purdie Moon.

Photographs, ca. 1903-1914, consisting of black and white copy prints of Apache, Hopi, Navajo, and other American Indians. The collection is artificially arranged into seven series: Portraits, Cafts, Music, Men, Habitat, Ceremonies and Family. Printed on fiber paper 5 by 8 inches or smaller, these photographs are annotated with names and places, and some are dated. The bulk of the images consist of portraits of individuals, groups, and ceremonies.