This collection consists of four cartes-de-visite portraits of Native American men involved in the Dakota War of 1862. Individuals were photographed by Joel Emmons Whitney between approximately 1864 and 1865. Reprints of these cartes-de-visite were later sold by Whitney and Charles Alfred Zimmerman in their St. Paul, Minnesota studio throughout the following decade. The individuals portrayed include: Hole in the Day (also known as Pogonaykeshick; Ojibwe), John Otherday (also known as Anpetutokeca; Dakota), Thomas Wakeman (also known as Wowinape; Dakota), and Shakopee (also known as Little Six; Dakota).
Arrangement:
The materials in this collection were organized into 1 folder.
Biographical / Historical:
Joel Emmons Whitney (1822-1886) is considered the most influential pioneer photographer in Minnesota spanning the years 1851 to 1871. Whitney was born in Phillips, Maine in 1822, later moving to the St. Paul, Minnesota area in 1850, and establishing several successful photography studios there. His most common photographic works were cartes-de-visite depicting local landscapes, as well as portraits of Civil War soldiers and Native Americans in the Minnesota area. Whitney later partnered with Charles Alfred Zimmerman (1844-1909) and the two opened the Whitney and Zimmerman Studio shortly before Whitney ended his photography career in the early 1870s. He died in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1886, at age 63.
Related Materials:
The Minnesota Historical Society holds a large collection of Joel E. Whitney cartes-de-visite, including the four included here. Further, the Minnesota Historical Photo Collectors Group published a 2001 catalog of Whitney's cartes-de-visite, titled Joel E. Whitney: Minnesota's Leading Pioneer Photographer.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Bridget Bly in 2015.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not changed, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Dakota War cartes-de-visite, Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
