Description:
Indian Tribal Series, 1978. Paperback. Very Good. Charles Bird King. Quarto, softcover, VG in beige pictorial wraps. 22 pp. Indian tribal series. The M'Kenney-Hall portfolios. Cover of Ma-Has-kah b & w photos throughout of Indian paintings (which were lost in fire at Smithsonian). Articles on Eskimo Country and Osage Peace medal at back. One in Indian Tribal Series.
Me-Te-A, a Pottawatomie Chief by MCKENNEY, Thomas L. (1785-1859) and James HALL (1793-1868) - 1836
by MCKENNEY, Thomas L. (1785-1859) and James HALL (1793-1868)
Me-Te-A, a Pottawatomie Chief
by MCKENNEY, Thomas L. (1785-1859) and James HALL (1793-1868)
- Used
Philadelphia: F.W. Greenough, 1836. Hand-coloured lithograph. A fine image from McKenney and Hall's 'Indian Tribes of North America': `One of the most important [works] ever published on the American Indians' (Field),` a landmark in American culture' (Horan) and an invaluable contemporary record of a vanished way of life. A dignified and extremely influential Potawatomi chief, Me-Te-A was a prominent spokesman for his tribe at the 1821 council that convened in Washington to negotiate the 1821 Treaty of Chicago, in which the Potawatomi relinquished much of their land in Michigan to the federal government. In accordance with his belief in the importance of education, he sent several boys from his tribe to the Fort Wayne Indian agent in 1827, who enrolled them in the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky. The Potawatomi were closely associated with the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes and inhabited the Northeastern region of the United States. McKenney and Hall's 'Indian Tribes of North America' has long been renowned for its faithful portraits of Native Americans. The portraits are largely based on paintings by the artist Charles Bird King, who was employed by the War Department to paint the Indian delegates visiting Washington D.C., forming the basis of the War Department's Indian Gallery. Most of King's original paintings were subsequently destroyed in a fire at the Smithsonian, and their appearance in McKenney and Hall's magnificent work is thus our only record of the likenesses of many of the most prominent Indian leaders of the nineteenth century. Numbered among King's sitters were Sequoyah, Red Jacket, Major Ridge, Cornplanter, and Osceola. After six years as Superintendent of Indian Trade, Thomas McKenney had become concerned for the survival of the Western tribes. He had observed unscrupulous individuals taking advantage of the Native Americans for profit, and his vocal warnings about their future prompted his appointment by President Monroe to the Office of Indian Affairs. As first director, McKenney was to improve the administration of Indian programs in various government offices. His first trip was during the summer of 1826 to the Lake Superior area for a treaty with the Chippewa, opening mineral rights on their land. In 1827, he journeyed west again for a treaty with the Chippewa, Menominee , and Winebago in the present state of Michigan. His journeys provided an opportunity to become acquainted with Native American tribes. When President Jackson dismissed him from his government post in 1830, McKenney was able to turn more of his attention to his publishing project. Within a few years, he was joined by James Hall, a lawyer who had written extensively about the west. McKenney and Hall saw their work as a way of preserving an accurate visual record of a rapidly disappearing culture. (Gilreath). Cf. BAL 6934; cf. Bennett p.79; cf. Field 992; cf. Howes M129; cf. Lipperhiede Mc4; cf. Reese, American Color Plate Books p. 24; Sabin 43410a.
- Bookseller Donald Heald Rare Books (US)
- Book Condition Used
- Quantity Available 1
- Publisher F.W. Greenough
- Place of Publication Philadelphia
- Date Published 1836