OGALLALLA SIOUX [portfolio cover title]

Book Description

[Washington, D.C.: Photographed for Trustees of Blackmore Museum, Salisbury, England, 1872].. Total of twenty-seven albumen prints, 5 1/4 x 4 inches, mounted to lithographed, gilt mounts with letterpress titles, each mount measuring 12 x 10 inches. Plus a contents leaf, printed in blue. Laid into original red roan portfolio, stamped in gilt and blind, string-ties. Portfolio worn at the extremities and the edges. A few of the mounts lightly soiled or worn at the edges. An occasional photograph is lightly faded, but on the whole they are crisp, clean impressions, in excellent condition. A rare portfolio of portraits of the famed Sioux Chief Red Cloud and his braves, taken by Alexander Gardner during the delegation's visit to Washington, D.C. in 1872. The photographs were commissioned and the portfolio issued by William Blackmore, a British lawyer and ethnographic collector, who was also an active speculator in western American lands. The present portfolio contains twenty-seven portraits (out of a full complement of thirty-four) of the Sioux braves and squaws. William Henry Blackmore (1827-78) was born in England and trained as a lawyer. Though little-known today, he created one of the largest collections of American Indian photographs and artifacts of the 19th century. In the 1860s he began investing in American lands, especially in the West in places such as Colorado and New Mexico, and he took part in railroad development as well. Blackmore promoted one plan for development in Colorado by issuing a photographically- illustrated book, called COLORADO: ITS RESOURCES, PARKS, AND PROSPECTS AS A NEW FIELD FOR EMIGRATION. Blackmore's investments brought him great wealth and he helped fund several western surveys. His interest in developing a photographic record of American Indians was spurred by the pioneering photographically-illustrated work, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA. Blackmore collected existing photographs, and commissioned several Washington-based photographers to take portraits of Indian chiefs and their delegations when they visited the nation's capitol. Eventually, Blackmore amassed a collection of more than a thousand Indian portraits and images, and proposed to the Smithsonian Institution that they be collected into a multi-volume work illustrating American Indians. The proposed series would consist of several volumes, each containing photographs of members of particular tribes. That project failed to materialize due to lack of funding, but Blackmore built a museum in Salisbury, England to house his collections. Undeterred by the Smithsonian setback, Blackmore and the trustees of his museum pressed on with their plan to issue photographic portfolios of American Indian tribes, producing a few different series relating to specific tribes, including the Oglala Sioux, the Brulé, and others. The 1870s saw a series of financial setbacks for Blackmore, as he was taken advantage of in his land speculations. He committed suicide in 1878. The first portfolio issued by Blackmore and his museum is the present work, focused on the Oglala Sioux. The photographs were taken by Alexander Gardner, one of the most important photographers of his day. Gardner (1821-1882) gained fame through his work during the Civil War, first with Mathew Brady's studio and then as official photographer for the Army of the Potomac, when he produced several now- iconic images. After the war he became a field photographer for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1870s he established a studio in Washington, D.C., and made contracts with William Blackmore to photograph visiting Indian delegations. The Indians depicted in the present portfolio are members of the Oglala Sioux, including their renowned chief, Red Cloud. Red Cloud (1822-1909) rose to the leadership of his tribe not as a hereditary chief but through his own accomplishments and the force of his character. From 1866 to 1868 he led the Sioux resistance to the U.S. government's attempt to build a railroad from Fort Laramie, Wyoming to the Montana gold regions, and to other encroachments on Sioux territory, winning several victories. This conflict, known as "Red Cloud's War," was the most successful Indian war ever waged against the U.S. military. It led to the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, in which the federal government largely conceded to the Sioux demands, abandoning forts along the Bozeman Trail and acknowledging the Sioux possession of western South Dakota (including the Black Hills) and large parts of Montana and Wyoming. Red Cloud, several of his braves, and two of their wives visited Washington in 1871 and 1872, causing great excitement among the local population. The government brought them there in the hopes of persuading them to move from the Red Cloud agency on the North Platte river to another location in Nebraska. In September 20, 1872, the Sioux sat for portraits at Gardner's studio, and the next day they visited the Smithsonian Institution, where they likely saw some of the photographs in Blackmore's collection. It was during this September visit that Gardner photographed Red Cloud and the other Sioux leaders in this portfolio, including Big Foot and Lone Wolf (and their squaws), Red Dog, Poor Elk, and several more. The contents leaf in this portfolio lists a total of seventeen Sioux, each of whom would have had a full face portrait and a profile view, for a complete set of thirty-four pictures. The present portfolio contains twenty-seven portraits, though each Sioux is represented in at least one photograph, save for "Tchan-gm-ani-tah-an Ka-ti-ah," (also called High Wolf). The photographs in the present portfolio (following the numbers as listed on the contents leaf and adding an "a" number for the profiles) are as follow: 1) "Red Cloud -- Ma-kpe-ah-lou-tah." 1a) Profile view of Red Cloud. 2) "Red Dog -- Shon-kan Lou-tah." 2a) Profile view of Red Dog. 3) "Lone Wolf -- Tchan-gm-ani-to-i-sh-na-lah." 3a) Profile view of Lone Wolf. 4) "Ear of Corn -- Va-how-a-pah." [The squaw of Lone Wolf] 5) "Big Foot -- Che-tan-keah." 5a) Profile view of Big Foot. 6) "White Hawk -- Ta-chon-ka- ska." [The squaw of Big Foot] 6a) Profile view of White Hawk. 7) "One Afraid of the Eagle -- Vua-lluh-ko- ke-pah." 7a) Profile view of One Afraid of the Eagle. 8) "Blue Horse -- Shon-keh-tah." 9) "Stabber -- Vua- sha-peh." 10a) "Dirt Face -- Ma-ka-teh-kon." [a profile view] 11) "Good Buffalo -- Ta-tan-kah-nua-sh-tah." 11a) Profile view of Good Buffalo. 12) "Poor Elk -- E-ka-ta Ta-Ma." 12a) Profile view of Poor Elk. 13) "Two Elks - - I-hh-a-tah-num-pah." 13a) Profile view of Two Elks. 15a) "Cayote -- Tshan-gma-ne-toh." [a profile view] 16) "Hard Heart -- Tshan-teh Shout- ah." 16a) Profile view of Hard Heart. 17) "Slow Bull -- Ta-tan-kah Hun-ki- sh-neh." [title written on mount in manuscript] 17a Profile view of Slow Bull. To our knowledge there is no definitive account of the number of Indian photographs commissioned by William Blackmore, or the composition of the photographic portfolios of Indian tribes produced by the Blackmore Museum. The present portfolio of photographs of Sioux Indians appears in at least two different incarnations. The copy offered here is in a portfolio stamped OGALLALLA SIOUX on the front cover, and contains a numbered table of contents leaf listing seventeen pairs of portraits. The photographs are sometimes rectangular and sometimes oval, and the mounts are numbered in the lower left corner (corresponding to the table of contents). There is no printed caption identifying the subject or crediting the Blackmore Museum, though Alexander Gardner's name is printed on each mount. The other issue comes in a portfolio stamped PHOTOGRAPHS OF RED CLOUD AND HIS BRAVES on the front cover, and contains the same thirty- four photographs as in the present issue, along with an additional portrait of Red Cloud and William Blackmore. We are aware of five institutional sets of Gardner's PHOTOGRAPHS OF RED CLOUD AND HIS BRAVES, only two of which are complete, with the other three each lacking four plates. A set of the other issue with thirty-three photographs was included in the Frank Siebert collection of works on American Indians, and brought $129,000 at his sale in 1999. We are unable to locate any other copies of the present issue of Gardner's photographs that come in a portfolio entitled OGALLALLA SIOUX, as in the present copy. A rare, important, and early collection of portraits of Sioux, including Red Cloud, among the most important Indian chiefs of his time. SIEBERT SALE 748 (ref).

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