Most of the photographs taken by Throssel depict the Crow, or Apsaroke, as they referred to themselves, from 1905-1910. By the early 1900s, the Crows, like other tribes in the country, were being encouraged to assimilate into mainstream white society on reservations. During the reservation period, both men and women continued to use dress and other elements of traditional material culture to retain a sense of individual and cultural identity. Crows had earned the reputation of being "good Indians" by working as scouts for the U.S. Army, especially for General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.

Throssel showed Crow life from the perspective of a near-insider. He documented a broad range of cultural displays, providing a record of context and change for the Crow's adaptation to reservation life. Many of the works convey spontaneity, with the subjects seemingly unaware of the camera.