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32-526: Frank A. Rinehart 's photographs of the Indian Congress participants are regarded as one of the best photographic documentations of American Indian leaders around the start of the 20th century. In a report on the Indian Congress published in the American Anthropologist in 1899, its chief ethnological consultant, James Mooney credited the realization of the project to "the grit and determination of

64-641: A Ghost Dance , particularly after the U.S. Army attacked dancers during the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. However, the Ghost Dance was encouraged by the managers of the Exposition. A local newspaper reported the Ghost Dance became a popular attraction. The Ghost Dance shirt of Big Foot was displayed in another part of the Expo. Mooney contracted with Frank A. Rinehart and Adolph Muhr to take photographs of

96-530: A part of the Smithsonian Institution . In 1898 W. A. Jones , the Commissioner of Indian Affairs , sent a letter to each Indian Agency to appeal for attendees. The purpose of the Indian Congress, as he stated, was: It is the purpose of the promoters of the proposed encampment or congress to make an extensive exhibit illustrative of the mode of life, native industries, and ethnic traits of as many of

128-655: A principal feature at future expositions so long as our aboriginal material holds out." After steady lobbying by Rosewater, an extremely influential Republican and a friend of President William McKinley , and other members of the organizing committee of the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition , in December 1897 a bill was introduced in the United States Congress that provided an appropriation of $ 100,000 to carry out an Indian Congress at

160-645: A studio in the Brandeis Building, where he worked until his death. Rinehart married Anna Ransom Johnson (daughter of Willard Bemis Johnson and Phebe Jane Carpenter) on September 5, 1885, in Denver County, Colorado. They had two daughters, Ruth and Helen, both born in Nebraska. In 1898, and in occasion of the Indian Congress held in conjunction with the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition , Rinehart

192-574: The 8th U. S. Infantry , under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs acting on behalf of Cornelius Newton Bliss , the United States Secretary of the Interior . The original intention of the organizing committee was to illustrate the daily life, industry and traits of as many tribes as possible. However, once the congress was open authorities realized that the average person attending

224-659: The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Hallmark Foundation . It includes images from the 1898 Exposition, the 1899 Greater America Exposition , studio portraits from 1900, and photographs by Rinehart taken at the Crow Agency in Montana also in 1900. Spotted Elk Spotted Elk ( Lakota : Uŋpȟáŋ Glešká , sometimes spelled OH-PONG-GE-LE-SKAH or Hupah Glešká : c. 1826  – ( 1890-12-29 ) December 29, 1890),

256-716: The Great Sioux War of 1876-77 . However, his tribe – the Miniconjou, Lakota Sioux  – suffered during the war, after which they surrendered. Following the Sioux Wars , the government placed the Miniconjou on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, South Dakota . Spotted Elk encouraged adaptation to reservation life, by way of developing sustainable agriculture and building schools for Lakota children. He

288-462: The Indian reservations for two years, portraying Native American leaders who had not attended the event, as well as depicting general aspects of the indigenous everyday life and culture. The collection of Rinehart Indian Photographs is currently preserved at Haskell Indian Nations University . Since 1994, the collection has been organized, preserved, copied, and cataloged in a computer database, funded by

320-780: The Winnebago , as well as the Santa Clara Pueblo . Mooney's above-quoted observation that ethnology would be "a principal feature at future expositions" proved prophetic, for Indian Congresses were also convened at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901 and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. Photos taken by Frank Rinehart and Adolph Muhr at the Indian Congress in Omaha. Frank A. Rinehart Frank Albert Rinehart (February 12, 1861 – December 17, 1928)

352-564: The Exposition wanted to see dances, games, races, ceremonials and sham battles. Soon the main activities of the Indian Congress were re-enactments and the Ghost Dance . According to Captain Mercer's report, the weather "has been trying in the extreme ... Most of the time we have had extreme heat accompanied by dry, hot winds, which rendered camp life anything but pleasant, the conditions being rendered somewhat worse by our location. Following close upon

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384-580: The Rinehart brothers formed a partnership with Western photographer William Henry Jackson , who had achieved widespread fame for his images of the West. Under Jackson's teachings, Rinehart's perfected his professional skills, and developed a keen interest in Native American culture. Frank Rinehart and Anna, the receptionist of Jackson's studio, married and in 1885 moved to Nebraska . In downtown Omaha, Rinehart opened

416-447: The Rinehart collection: The dramatic beauty of these portraits is especially impressive as a departure from earlier, less sensitive photographs of Native Americans. Instead of being detached, ethnographic records, the Rinehart photographs are portraits of individuals with an emphasis on strength of expression. While Rinehart and Muhr were not the first photographers to portray Indian subjects with such dignity, this large body of work which

448-505: The aboriginal American tribes as possible. To that end it is pro posed to bring together selected families or groups from all the principal tribes and camp them in tepees, wigwams, hogans etc., on the exposition grounds, and permit them to conduct their domestic affairs as they do at home, and make and sell their wares for their own profit. The entire Indian Congress was managed by ethnologist James Mooney and Army Captain William Mercer of

480-537: The attendees. Rinehart made several hundred pictures, regarded as one of the most complete, non- exotifying collections of Native American portraits in existence. Rinehart and Muhr took their photographs in a studio on Expo grounds. Speaking of his photos of the Indian Congress, Merry Foresta, director of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution said, "Rinehart's portraits are really quite extraordinary and put him above

512-587: The average workaday photographer who might have also made photographs for similar reasons. There were other people working, but he seems to have really, because of the quality of his work, stood apart." 35 individual tribes were represented by more than 500 Indians. The tribes in attendance included the Apache , Arapaho , Assiniboines , Blackfoot , Cheyenne , Chippewa , Crow , Flathead , Fox , Iowa , Kiowa , Omaha , Otoe , Ponca , Pottawatomie , Sauk and Fox , Lakota , Southern Arapaho , Tonkawa , Wichita , and

544-461: The cavalry took them into custody, escorting them to a campsite near Wounded Knee Creek, Pine Ridge , where they were to set camp. The site was already established with a store and several log houses. The night before the massacre, Col. James W. Forsyth arrived at Wounded Knee Creek and ordered his men to position four Hotchkiss cannons around the area in which the Lakota had been forced to camp. On

576-476: The dancers, while others called for federal troops to restore order. After ( 1890-12-15 ) 15 December 1890, when Sitting Bull was killed on Standing Rock Reservation , his followers fled for refuge at the camp of his former-ally and half-brother, Chief Spotted Elk. Fearing arrest and government reprisals against his band, Spotted Elk led his band south to the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota , at

608-458: The exposition managers, foremost among whom was Edward Rosewater , proprietor of the Omaha Bee . The successful outcome was due chiefly to his tireless activity and unfaltering courage. The ethnologic project was the child of his brain, and in spite of serious imperfections, the general result was such—particularly from the practical standpoint of the ticket seller—that we may expect to see ethnology

640-514: The form of the Ghost Dance movement, a new religion initiated by Paiute prophet Wovoka . Spotted Elk and the Lakota became among the most enthusiastic believers in the “Ghost Dance” ceremony when it arrived among them, in the spring of 1890. Although governmental reservation rules outlawed the practice of the religion, the movement swept like wildfire through the camps and local Indian agents reacted with alarm. Some agents successfully suppressed

672-461: The heated period we have just had a week of cold, heavy rains which made the camp and life in it more disagreeable even than it was during the hot spell." Ethnologist Mooney sought for the Congress to display customs of the various tribes. Instead, promoters erected a 5,000 seat grandstand, and arranged the tribes in re-enactments of battles. There were also concerns regarding the Indian Congress hosting

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704-490: The invitation of Chief Red Cloud ( Lakota : Maȟpíya Lúta ). Red Cloud hoped that his fellow chief could help make peace. Seeking safety, flying a white flag and with no intention of fighting, Spotted Elk contracted pneumonia on the journey to Pine Ridge. On December 28, 1890, Maj. Samuel M. Whitside 's battalion of the 7th Cavalry intercepted the Lakota . Ill with pneumonia, Spotted Elk surrendered peacefully, with his band;

736-460: The morning of December 29, 1890, Forsyth's soldiers entered the camp and demanded that the Lakota give up their weapons. In the ensuing confrontation, a firearm was discharged. It was later believed to have been by a deaf man, Black Coyote, who presumably did not hear the command to put down his rifle. The US forces started shooting indiscriminately at the Lakota. They killed more than 250 people, mostly non-combatants (women and children) and Spotted Elk

768-713: The same time as the Expo. After it passed in the Senate , preparations for the Spanish–American War monopolized the United States House of Representatives , preventing a vote on the bill. In July 1898, $ 40,000 was made available for the event in the Indian Appropriations Act by the President. That was a month after the rest of the Expo opened. Funding was also made available by the Bureau of American Ethnology ,

800-422: Was a chief of the Miniconjou, Lakota Sioux . He was a son of Miniconjou chief Lone Horn and became a chief upon his father's death. He was a highly renowned chief with skills in war and negotiations. A United States Army soldier, at Fort Bennett , coined the nickname Big Foot ( Si Tȟáŋka ) – not to be confused with Oglala Big Foot (also known as Ste Si Tȟáŋka and Chetan keah ). In 1890, he

832-450: Was amongst the first American Indians to raise corn in accordance with government standards. Spotted Elk also advocated a peaceful attitude toward white settlers. Due to poor living conditions on the reservations, the Lakota struggled greatly to survive. In some cases, Indian agents were corrupt, undertaking fraud and stealing Lakota supplies/annuities. By 1889 they were in despair, and looked for change. The radical solution came in

864-623: Was an American photographer who captured Native American personalities and scenes, especially portrait settings of leaders and members of the delegations who attended the 1898 Indian Congress in Omaha . German American Rinehart was born in Lodi (now Maple Park), Illinois . He and his brother, Alfred, moved to Colorado in the 1870s and found employment at the Charles Bohm photography studio, in Denver . In 1881

896-559: Was best known among his people for his political and diplomatic successes. He was skilled at settling mass quarrels and was often in great demand among other Teton bands. During the 1870s, Spotted Elk and his brother Touch the Clouds ( Lakota : Maȟpíya Ičáȟtagya ) allied their bands against the US Army, together with Sitting Bull ( Lakota : Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ) and Crazy Horse ( Lakota : Tȟašúŋke Witkó ). Spotted Elk saw no major action during

928-513: Was born about 1826, the son of Lakota Sioux chief Lone Horn ( Heh-won-ge-chat ) . His family belonged to the Miniconjou ("Planters by the River") subgroup of the Teton Lakota (Sioux). In 1877, Spotted Elk became the chief of his tribe upon his father's death at the age of 87. As chief, Spotted Elk (who later became known by the name of “Big Foot” or Sitȟáŋka ), was considered a great man of peace. He

960-489: Was commissioned to photograph the event and the Native American personalities who attended it. Together with his assistant Adolph Muhr (who would later be employed by the photographer Edward S. Curtis ), they produced what is now considered "one of the best photographic documentations of Indian leaders at the turn of the century" . Tom Southall, former photograph curator at the University of Kansas ' Spencer Art Museum, said of

992-742: Was killed by the U.S. Army at Wounded Knee Creek, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( Chankwe Opi Wakpala , Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke ), South Dakota, USA with at least 150 members of his tribe, in what became known as the Wounded Knee Massacre . The word elk in Spotted Elk' s name is uŋpȟáŋ in Lakota language and means elk-cow. There are 2 gendered terms for elk in Lakota language - heȟáka - male/buck, with antlers, and uŋpȟáŋ , female, referred to as 'cow' in english. Newborn elk, like deer are spotted as natural camouflage , but spotted ( glešká ) adult elk are not common, and are referred to in english as piebald . Spotted Elk ( Lakota : Uŋpȟáŋ Glešká )

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1024-443: Was widely seen and distributed may have had an important influence in changing subsequent portrayals of Native Americans. Rinehart and Muhr photographed American Indians at the Indian Congress in a studio on the Exposition grounds with an 8 x 10 glass-negative camera with a German lens. Platinum prints were produced to achieve the broad range of tonal values that medium afforded. After the Indian Congress, Rinehart and Muhr travelled

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