The collection consists of thirteen (13) hand-colored photographs of ledger drawings. The photographs were taken from a ledger book collected by Neal W. Evans, the post trader at Fort Reno, in 1887. The book is the work of several artists, and contains battle images and courting or social scenes. It bears an inscription stating that the drawings were made by the scouts at Fort Reno and the battle images are from the wars of the 1860s.
Original manuscript captions on drawings include Big Horse, Red Wolf, Bird Chief, Tall Red Bird, and Red Eagle. The photographs have hand-written numbers, apparently referring to pages in the original. One has a note by James Mooney on the reverse: "Cheyenne Pictures from Evans Cheyenne Picture Book 1906."
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Historical Note:
Fort Reno (located near present-day El Reno, Oklahoma) was a military camp established in 1874 to protect the personnel in charge of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency in Indian Territory. Besides overseeing the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation, Fort Reno personnel also assisted with extracting unauthorized settlements on Indian land prior to the 1889 land run and employed many American Indians as scouts. Between 1885 and 1895, Fort Reno employed Native scouts to assist U.S. Soldiers patrolling reservations in Indian Territory. Many of these scouts also produced a wide variety of drawings.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2018
Related Materials:
The ledger book from which these photographs were taken is now held by the Gilcrease Museum: Fort Reno Ledger Drawings. 4526.11. 1887. Tulsa: Gilcrease Museum, https://collections.gilcrease.org/object/452611.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Ledger drawings
Citation:
MS 2018 Hand colored photographs of drawings from a Fort Reno Scout ledger, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
