George Catlin and his Indian Gallery
“The philosophy of Indian character is revealed with curious distinctness by one portion of the paintings, while another class presents the picturesque of that existence with singular spirit. Many striking suggestions for the history of civility, and many valuable metaphysical considerations, are prompted by a survey of these illustrations of the intelligence and the instincts of this people; to satisfy him in the animated exhibitions of the hunt, the macob, and the fight, which are here brought before his eyes. In Mr. Irving’s very graphic descriptions of the amusements of the prairie, there is nothing half so bold and stirring as the noble pictures which here bring the adventures of the buffalo hunt before us, or the terrors of the fight with the grizzly bear.” Philadelphia Evening Star |
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George Catlin: Indian Paintings for Sale, the Story of Native American Art, Antiquities and Politics
Essay by
R. A. Schultz
R. A. Schultz
George Catlin, of the first artists to paint Native Americans, traveled to remote and hazardous areas. During the 1830s he visited forty-eight different tribes within the United States, Canada and Mexico.[1] Catlin originally practiced law until he found “another and stronger passion was getting the advantage of me, that for painting, to which all of my love of pleading soon gave way . . . I was very deliberately resolved to convert my law library into paint pots and brushes, and to pursue painting as my future, and apparently more agreeable profession.”[2]
By 1823 Catlin became a successful portrait painter. Growing restless, he decided to pursue the more prestigious subject of historical painting. Catlin chose Native Americans as his source for this genre of art. In 1826 he painted his first Native American portrait, fallen Seneca Chief, Red Jacket. Catlin became concerned over of the rapid decline of Native Americans’ culture. In 1828, he met and married his wife Clara. Despite being newly married, Catlin decided to travel out West to paint Native Americans in what he envisioned as the “certain extinction of the numerous tribes of North American Indian.”[3]
During the 1820s and 1830s the United States economic growth reinforced the institution of slavery and westward expansion.[4] On May 28, 1830 Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 passed Congress. The Act provided “for exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi.”[5] By December 30, 1830 President Jackson wrote in a message to Congress: “It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation.”[6]
In the same year, George Catlin arrived in St. Louis. Shortly after his arrival, he met General William Clark, now commissioner of Indian Affairs. General Clark invited Catlin to join his party to Wisconsin where Clark planned to negotiate treaties with the Sauk, Winnebago, and other tribes.[7] Catlin agreed and painted many members of the tribes he met along the way. In 1831, Catlin traveled to Jefferson Barracks to paint the portraits of Black Hawk and his five warriors.[8] Between 1832 and 1833, Catlin continued exploring various regions of the West while painting Native American tribes including the Mandan, Crows, Blackfeet, Sioux, and the Omaha.
In between his travels out West, Catlin opened his first exhibition of 150 paintings and Native American artifacts on April 4, 1833 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Catlin opened his exhibition to educate skeptics in the East about Native Americans.[9] His successful exhibition moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where his collection became known as “Mr. Catlin’s Indian Gallery.”[10] Through 1835 to 1837 he continued to tour his gallery in between traveling out West to paint. In 1837, Catlin took his exhibition to New York City. In January of 1838, Catlin left his exhibition to travel to Charleston, South Carolina. Chief Osceola led a group of warriors in a resistance against the United States Government for taking their tribal land in Florida. Under a false truce, he surrendered in 1837 and was arrested and imprisoned at Fort Moultrie. Catlin, upset over the injustice in the treatment of Chief Osceola, successfully painted his portrait shortly before he died. His portrait of Chief Osceola caused controversy and Catlin created important political enemies within the United States government.[11]
Running his gallery exhibition was expensive and wearing on Catlin’s health. After two successful runs in New York, in April of 1838, Catlin moved his gallery to Washington D. C. in hopes of arranging the sale of his collection to the United States government.[12] Unfortunately, Catlin chose the worst time to pursue selling his gallery. The economy in the late 1830s was in bad shape. The Distribution Act and the Specie Circular put several state banks at risk, causing soaring inflation and fears of bankruptcy that started runs on banks around the country.[13] Despite the poor economy, Daniel Webster, William H. Steward and Henry Clay all lobbied in support of the purchase of Catlin’s gallery, but it failed.[14] By the summer of 1839, Catlin announced he was taking his gallery to England in hopes of selling his collection in Europe. Congress was flooded with messages from upset citizens and the press stating how it “would be a disgrace to the country if a foreign government purchased what belonged in America.”[15] With no offers from Congress, Catlin packed up his eight ton gallery, including live grizzly bears, boarded a ship, and set sail for England.[16]
During the 1840s to the early 1850s, Catlin’s gallery successfully exhibited in England and France. Catlin continued to struggle financially and failed to sell his gallery. In 1841, Catlin published Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North American Indians, a two volume set about the plight of Native Americans. He wrote about the poverty, disease, and alcohol abuse within the Native American people introduced by fur traders. Catlin wrote: “endeavoring to render them that justice, it belongs to me yet to say that the introduction of the fatal causes of their destruction above-named, has been a subject of close investigation with me during my travels; and I have watched on every part of the Frontier their destructive influences, which result in the overthrow of the savage tribes, which, one succeeding another, are continually becoming extinct under their baneful influences.[17]
In 1846, the House of Representatives passed a bill establishing the Smithsonian Institute. Catlin’s wife Clara and their only son died in Paris the previous year, leaving him to raise their three daughters alone. With the ongoing expense of running his exhibition and the loss of his wife and son, Catlin renewed his effort to sell his gallery to Congress. His proposed sale price of $65,000 went before Congress as part of a funding bill for the Smithsonian Institute. The purchase sparked a heated debate within Congress. An extract from The Report of the Joint Committee on the Library, in relation to the purchase of Catlin’s Indian Gallery, July 24, 1846 supported the purchase stating: “Your committee believes the price of his collection (65,000 dols.), as named by Mr. Catlin, is moderate, and that a failure to obtain it would occasion deep regret . . . to all Americans who reasonably and justly desire to preserve the memorials of the Indian race.”[18]
Southern states viewed things differently. Florida Senator James D. Westcott, Jr of Florida stated: “he would not vote to pay for portraits of savages like Osceola.”[19] The measure was defeated. In February of 1849, another proposal put before Congress offered Catlin $5000 up front and to be paid over ten years for a total sale price of $50,000. Deepening pre-Civil War divisions between the North and the South over slavery and racism contributed to the defeat of the purchase. Jefferson Davis, a supporter of Catlin’s work, sided with the South’s expansion for more slave states and voted against the proposal.
Due to poor business decisions and relationships, by 1851 Catlin faced bankruptcy. In January of 1852, he made desperate pleas to his close friend, Secretary of State Daniel Webster and other Congressmen again regarding the purchase of his gallery. Catlin ended up being arrested in England and landed in debtor’s prison with his gallery seized for auction. He wrote a letter to William H. Seward who spoke before the Senate on July 20, 1852. Seward read part of Catlin’s letter which stated: “I now take the liberty of addressing you again, and of inclosing to you the auctioneers advertisement, which will show you the reason I have for alarm for the safety of my collection, and the cause of this, my second prayer, that some step may be taken, if it has not yet been done, by your honorable body for the rescue of the works of my life.”[20] Once again, Congress rejected the purchase of the gallery.
At the same time, Joseph Harrison, an industrialist and patron of the arts from Philadelphia, was traveling through London after completing a major railway from Moscow to St. Petersburg for Czar Nicholas.[21] Harrison attended the creditor’s meeting in London and purchased all of the key liens just before the gallery went to auction.[22] He had the entire gallery packed and shipped to his warehouse in Philadelphia. After settling Catlin’s debts, Harrison wrote to him and explained his terms. Catlin would later explain: “if I should not be able to redeem it he would sell it for the best price he could get for it, and after repaying himself for his outlays, he would pay the remainder of the purchase money to my children.”[23] Catlin’s gallery would remain in storage over the next twenty years.
After he lost the gallery, Catlin traveled to South and Central America and up the Pacific Coast of North America to Oregon, Queen Charlotte’s, Alaska, and Kamskatka.”[24] In 1860, weary from travels, he returned to Brussels with a large collection of minerals and semi-precious stones with plans to sell them.[25] Catlin also continued to write about Native Americans and began work on recreating drawings of his gallery paintings known as his Cartoon Collection.[26] In 1870, Catlin successfully exhibited his Cartoon Collection in Belgium. He was equally confident it would be successful in the United States. While his brother, Francis Catlin, visited him in Belgium, Catlin enlisted his help and laid out plans for his big comeback in Washington D. C.
After over a thirty year absence, Catlin returned to the United States in 1871. He opened his Cartoon Collection exhibition in New York’s Somerville Gallery in October, however due to a poor showing the exhibition closed by December. Dr. Joseph Henry, the Smithsonian’s first secretary, was one of the few who attended the exhibition. He offered to exhibit his Cartoon Collection in the Smithsonian, but Catlin refused at first. He could only sell the catalog, generating much less revenue versus selling his art. Financially destitute, on February 13, 1872 Catlin agreed to accept Dr. Henry’s offer. After the opening, Dr. Henry helped Catlin write his last petition to Congress regarding the purchase of his gallery located in Harrison’s warehouse.[27]
With his health quickly fading, Catlin wrote in his last petition: “I am suffering intensely in feelings from the fear that the six hundred Indian portraits and other paintings . . . may be cast upon the world without the finish and final arrangement which they require.”[28] On December 23, 1872, George Catlin died. “What will become of my gallery?” remained unanswered for two more years.[29] His daughters and other academics continued to petition Congress and failed. After Harrison’s death in 1874, his widow donated the entire gallery to the Smithsonian Institute. Catlin’s gallery, stored at Harrison’s warehouse for over twenty years, contained 310 portraits of men and women from various tribes, 200 other landscape and genre paintings, and additional Native American artifacts for a total of 3000 items.[30] In 1912, Elizabeth Catlin, George Catlin’s daughter, sold his Cartoon Collection to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.[31]
Bibliography Catlin, George. "Petition of George Catlin to Congress, Ca. 1872." George Catlin's papers, 1821-1904, 1946. Archives of American Art. n.d. Accessed February 19, 2017. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/petition-george-catlin-to-congress-1357.
—. A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin's Indian Gallery: Containing Portraits, Landscapes, Costumes, Etc., and Representations of the Manners and Customs of North American Indians. George Catlin's papers, 1821-1904, 1946: Catalogs 1837-1871. Archives of American Art. n.d. Accessed February 17, 2017. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5825/Frames_0300_0319+-ref82-ref86.
—. Synopsis of the Travels of George Catlin: In Gathering His Sketches for His Indian Collection. George Catlin's papers, 1821-1904, 1946: Writings 1825-circa 1872. Archives of American Art. n.d. Accessed February 18, 2017. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5824/Frames_0409_0417+ref28-ref40.
—. Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North American Indians, Vol. II. London: Tosswill and Myers, 1841.
Eisler, Bonita. The Red Man's Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Library of Congress. "Indian Removal Act of 1830." A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U. S. Congressional Documents and Debates from 1774-1875. n.d. Accessed February 18, 2017. https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=004/llsl004.db&recNum=458
National Archives and Records Administration. "President Jackson's Message to Congress "On Indian Removal, December 6, 1830." National Park Service.n. d. Accessed February 17, 2017. https://www.nps.gov/museum/tmc/MANZ/handouts/Andrew_Jackson_Annual_Message.pdf.
Roehm, Marjorie Catlin. The Letters of George Catlin and his Family: A Chronicle of the American West. Berkley: University of California Press, 1966.
Tindall, George Brown and David Emory Shi. America A Narrative History, Ninth Edition, Volume 1. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
U. S. Congress. "Petitions to U. S. Congress to Authorize the Purchase of Catlin's Indian Collection, 1840s-1875." George Catlin's papers, 1821-1904, 1946: Ephemera and Miscellaneous Printed Material 1832-1904, 1946. Archives of American Art. n.d. Accessed February 18, 2017. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5825/Frames_0639_0660+ref100-ref109.
Footnotes
[1] George Catlin, A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin’s Indian Gallery: Containing Portraits, Landscapes, Costumes, Etc., and Representations of the Manners and Customs of North American Indians, 1840, George Catlin’s papers, 1821-1904, 1946: Catalogs 1837-1871, Archives of American Art, accessed February 17, 2017, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5825/Frames_0300_0319+-ref82-ref86.
[2] Marjorie Catlin Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family: A Chronicle of the American West, (Berkley: University of California Pres, 1966), 23.
[3] Catlin, A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin’s Indian Gallery.
[4] George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, America A Narrative History, Ninth Edition, Volume 1, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013), 455.
[5] Library of Congress, “Indian Removal Act of 1830,” in A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U. S. Congressional Documents and Debates from 1774-1875, accessed February 18, 2017, https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=004/llsl004.db&recNum=458.
[6] National Archives and Records Administration, “President Jackson's Message to Congress ‘On Indian Removal,’ December 6, 1830,” National Park Service, n. d., accessed February 17, 2017, https://www.nps.gov/museum/tmc/MANZ/handouts/Andrew_Jackson_Annual_Message.pdf.
[7] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 89.
[8] George Catlin, Synopsis of the Travels of George Catlin: In Gathering His Sketches for His Indian Collection, Archives of American Art, George Catlin’s papers, 1821-1904, 1946, Writings 1825-circa 1872, accessed February 18, 2017, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5824/Frames_0409_0417+ref28-ref40.
[9] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 119.
[10] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 169.
[11] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 125.
[12] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 230.
[13] George Brown Tindall and Shi, 466-67.
[14] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 230.
[15] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 147-48.
[16] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 245.
[17] George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North American Indians, Vol II, (London: Tosswill and Myers, 1841) Google e book, 440 (255).
[18] U.S. Congress, “Petitions to U. S. Congress to Authorize the Purchase of Catlin’s Indian Collection, 1840s-1875,” Archives of American Art, George Catlin’s papers, 1821-1904, 1946, Ephemera and Miscellaneous Printed Material, 1832-1904, 1946, accessed February 18, 2017, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5825/Frames_0639_0660+ref100-ref109.
[19] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 345-47.
[20] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 314-316.
[21] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 368.
[22] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 319.
[23] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 406.
[24] U.S. Congress, “Petition of George Catlin to Congress, Ca. 1872.”
[25] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 388.
[26] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 343.
[27] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 402.
[28] U.S. Congress, “Petition of George Catlin to Congress, Ca. 1872.”
[29] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family,411.
[30] Catlin, A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin’s Indian Gallery, 3.
[31] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family,412.
By 1823 Catlin became a successful portrait painter. Growing restless, he decided to pursue the more prestigious subject of historical painting. Catlin chose Native Americans as his source for this genre of art. In 1826 he painted his first Native American portrait, fallen Seneca Chief, Red Jacket. Catlin became concerned over of the rapid decline of Native Americans’ culture. In 1828, he met and married his wife Clara. Despite being newly married, Catlin decided to travel out West to paint Native Americans in what he envisioned as the “certain extinction of the numerous tribes of North American Indian.”[3]
During the 1820s and 1830s the United States economic growth reinforced the institution of slavery and westward expansion.[4] On May 28, 1830 Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 passed Congress. The Act provided “for exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi.”[5] By December 30, 1830 President Jackson wrote in a message to Congress: “It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation.”[6]
In the same year, George Catlin arrived in St. Louis. Shortly after his arrival, he met General William Clark, now commissioner of Indian Affairs. General Clark invited Catlin to join his party to Wisconsin where Clark planned to negotiate treaties with the Sauk, Winnebago, and other tribes.[7] Catlin agreed and painted many members of the tribes he met along the way. In 1831, Catlin traveled to Jefferson Barracks to paint the portraits of Black Hawk and his five warriors.[8] Between 1832 and 1833, Catlin continued exploring various regions of the West while painting Native American tribes including the Mandan, Crows, Blackfeet, Sioux, and the Omaha.
In between his travels out West, Catlin opened his first exhibition of 150 paintings and Native American artifacts on April 4, 1833 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Catlin opened his exhibition to educate skeptics in the East about Native Americans.[9] His successful exhibition moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where his collection became known as “Mr. Catlin’s Indian Gallery.”[10] Through 1835 to 1837 he continued to tour his gallery in between traveling out West to paint. In 1837, Catlin took his exhibition to New York City. In January of 1838, Catlin left his exhibition to travel to Charleston, South Carolina. Chief Osceola led a group of warriors in a resistance against the United States Government for taking their tribal land in Florida. Under a false truce, he surrendered in 1837 and was arrested and imprisoned at Fort Moultrie. Catlin, upset over the injustice in the treatment of Chief Osceola, successfully painted his portrait shortly before he died. His portrait of Chief Osceola caused controversy and Catlin created important political enemies within the United States government.[11]
Running his gallery exhibition was expensive and wearing on Catlin’s health. After two successful runs in New York, in April of 1838, Catlin moved his gallery to Washington D. C. in hopes of arranging the sale of his collection to the United States government.[12] Unfortunately, Catlin chose the worst time to pursue selling his gallery. The economy in the late 1830s was in bad shape. The Distribution Act and the Specie Circular put several state banks at risk, causing soaring inflation and fears of bankruptcy that started runs on banks around the country.[13] Despite the poor economy, Daniel Webster, William H. Steward and Henry Clay all lobbied in support of the purchase of Catlin’s gallery, but it failed.[14] By the summer of 1839, Catlin announced he was taking his gallery to England in hopes of selling his collection in Europe. Congress was flooded with messages from upset citizens and the press stating how it “would be a disgrace to the country if a foreign government purchased what belonged in America.”[15] With no offers from Congress, Catlin packed up his eight ton gallery, including live grizzly bears, boarded a ship, and set sail for England.[16]
During the 1840s to the early 1850s, Catlin’s gallery successfully exhibited in England and France. Catlin continued to struggle financially and failed to sell his gallery. In 1841, Catlin published Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North American Indians, a two volume set about the plight of Native Americans. He wrote about the poverty, disease, and alcohol abuse within the Native American people introduced by fur traders. Catlin wrote: “endeavoring to render them that justice, it belongs to me yet to say that the introduction of the fatal causes of their destruction above-named, has been a subject of close investigation with me during my travels; and I have watched on every part of the Frontier their destructive influences, which result in the overthrow of the savage tribes, which, one succeeding another, are continually becoming extinct under their baneful influences.[17]
In 1846, the House of Representatives passed a bill establishing the Smithsonian Institute. Catlin’s wife Clara and their only son died in Paris the previous year, leaving him to raise their three daughters alone. With the ongoing expense of running his exhibition and the loss of his wife and son, Catlin renewed his effort to sell his gallery to Congress. His proposed sale price of $65,000 went before Congress as part of a funding bill for the Smithsonian Institute. The purchase sparked a heated debate within Congress. An extract from The Report of the Joint Committee on the Library, in relation to the purchase of Catlin’s Indian Gallery, July 24, 1846 supported the purchase stating: “Your committee believes the price of his collection (65,000 dols.), as named by Mr. Catlin, is moderate, and that a failure to obtain it would occasion deep regret . . . to all Americans who reasonably and justly desire to preserve the memorials of the Indian race.”[18]
Southern states viewed things differently. Florida Senator James D. Westcott, Jr of Florida stated: “he would not vote to pay for portraits of savages like Osceola.”[19] The measure was defeated. In February of 1849, another proposal put before Congress offered Catlin $5000 up front and to be paid over ten years for a total sale price of $50,000. Deepening pre-Civil War divisions between the North and the South over slavery and racism contributed to the defeat of the purchase. Jefferson Davis, a supporter of Catlin’s work, sided with the South’s expansion for more slave states and voted against the proposal.
Due to poor business decisions and relationships, by 1851 Catlin faced bankruptcy. In January of 1852, he made desperate pleas to his close friend, Secretary of State Daniel Webster and other Congressmen again regarding the purchase of his gallery. Catlin ended up being arrested in England and landed in debtor’s prison with his gallery seized for auction. He wrote a letter to William H. Seward who spoke before the Senate on July 20, 1852. Seward read part of Catlin’s letter which stated: “I now take the liberty of addressing you again, and of inclosing to you the auctioneers advertisement, which will show you the reason I have for alarm for the safety of my collection, and the cause of this, my second prayer, that some step may be taken, if it has not yet been done, by your honorable body for the rescue of the works of my life.”[20] Once again, Congress rejected the purchase of the gallery.
At the same time, Joseph Harrison, an industrialist and patron of the arts from Philadelphia, was traveling through London after completing a major railway from Moscow to St. Petersburg for Czar Nicholas.[21] Harrison attended the creditor’s meeting in London and purchased all of the key liens just before the gallery went to auction.[22] He had the entire gallery packed and shipped to his warehouse in Philadelphia. After settling Catlin’s debts, Harrison wrote to him and explained his terms. Catlin would later explain: “if I should not be able to redeem it he would sell it for the best price he could get for it, and after repaying himself for his outlays, he would pay the remainder of the purchase money to my children.”[23] Catlin’s gallery would remain in storage over the next twenty years.
After he lost the gallery, Catlin traveled to South and Central America and up the Pacific Coast of North America to Oregon, Queen Charlotte’s, Alaska, and Kamskatka.”[24] In 1860, weary from travels, he returned to Brussels with a large collection of minerals and semi-precious stones with plans to sell them.[25] Catlin also continued to write about Native Americans and began work on recreating drawings of his gallery paintings known as his Cartoon Collection.[26] In 1870, Catlin successfully exhibited his Cartoon Collection in Belgium. He was equally confident it would be successful in the United States. While his brother, Francis Catlin, visited him in Belgium, Catlin enlisted his help and laid out plans for his big comeback in Washington D. C.
After over a thirty year absence, Catlin returned to the United States in 1871. He opened his Cartoon Collection exhibition in New York’s Somerville Gallery in October, however due to a poor showing the exhibition closed by December. Dr. Joseph Henry, the Smithsonian’s first secretary, was one of the few who attended the exhibition. He offered to exhibit his Cartoon Collection in the Smithsonian, but Catlin refused at first. He could only sell the catalog, generating much less revenue versus selling his art. Financially destitute, on February 13, 1872 Catlin agreed to accept Dr. Henry’s offer. After the opening, Dr. Henry helped Catlin write his last petition to Congress regarding the purchase of his gallery located in Harrison’s warehouse.[27]
With his health quickly fading, Catlin wrote in his last petition: “I am suffering intensely in feelings from the fear that the six hundred Indian portraits and other paintings . . . may be cast upon the world without the finish and final arrangement which they require.”[28] On December 23, 1872, George Catlin died. “What will become of my gallery?” remained unanswered for two more years.[29] His daughters and other academics continued to petition Congress and failed. After Harrison’s death in 1874, his widow donated the entire gallery to the Smithsonian Institute. Catlin’s gallery, stored at Harrison’s warehouse for over twenty years, contained 310 portraits of men and women from various tribes, 200 other landscape and genre paintings, and additional Native American artifacts for a total of 3000 items.[30] In 1912, Elizabeth Catlin, George Catlin’s daughter, sold his Cartoon Collection to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.[31]
Bibliography Catlin, George. "Petition of George Catlin to Congress, Ca. 1872." George Catlin's papers, 1821-1904, 1946. Archives of American Art. n.d. Accessed February 19, 2017. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/petition-george-catlin-to-congress-1357.
—. A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin's Indian Gallery: Containing Portraits, Landscapes, Costumes, Etc., and Representations of the Manners and Customs of North American Indians. George Catlin's papers, 1821-1904, 1946: Catalogs 1837-1871. Archives of American Art. n.d. Accessed February 17, 2017. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5825/Frames_0300_0319+-ref82-ref86.
—. Synopsis of the Travels of George Catlin: In Gathering His Sketches for His Indian Collection. George Catlin's papers, 1821-1904, 1946: Writings 1825-circa 1872. Archives of American Art. n.d. Accessed February 18, 2017. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5824/Frames_0409_0417+ref28-ref40.
—. Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North American Indians, Vol. II. London: Tosswill and Myers, 1841.
Eisler, Bonita. The Red Man's Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Library of Congress. "Indian Removal Act of 1830." A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U. S. Congressional Documents and Debates from 1774-1875. n.d. Accessed February 18, 2017. https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=004/llsl004.db&recNum=458
National Archives and Records Administration. "President Jackson's Message to Congress "On Indian Removal, December 6, 1830." National Park Service.n. d. Accessed February 17, 2017. https://www.nps.gov/museum/tmc/MANZ/handouts/Andrew_Jackson_Annual_Message.pdf.
Roehm, Marjorie Catlin. The Letters of George Catlin and his Family: A Chronicle of the American West. Berkley: University of California Press, 1966.
Tindall, George Brown and David Emory Shi. America A Narrative History, Ninth Edition, Volume 1. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
U. S. Congress. "Petitions to U. S. Congress to Authorize the Purchase of Catlin's Indian Collection, 1840s-1875." George Catlin's papers, 1821-1904, 1946: Ephemera and Miscellaneous Printed Material 1832-1904, 1946. Archives of American Art. n.d. Accessed February 18, 2017. https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5825/Frames_0639_0660+ref100-ref109.
Footnotes
[1] George Catlin, A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin’s Indian Gallery: Containing Portraits, Landscapes, Costumes, Etc., and Representations of the Manners and Customs of North American Indians, 1840, George Catlin’s papers, 1821-1904, 1946: Catalogs 1837-1871, Archives of American Art, accessed February 17, 2017, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5825/Frames_0300_0319+-ref82-ref86.
[2] Marjorie Catlin Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family: A Chronicle of the American West, (Berkley: University of California Pres, 1966), 23.
[3] Catlin, A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin’s Indian Gallery.
[4] George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, America A Narrative History, Ninth Edition, Volume 1, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013), 455.
[5] Library of Congress, “Indian Removal Act of 1830,” in A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U. S. Congressional Documents and Debates from 1774-1875, accessed February 18, 2017, https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=004/llsl004.db&recNum=458.
[6] National Archives and Records Administration, “President Jackson's Message to Congress ‘On Indian Removal,’ December 6, 1830,” National Park Service, n. d., accessed February 17, 2017, https://www.nps.gov/museum/tmc/MANZ/handouts/Andrew_Jackson_Annual_Message.pdf.
[7] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 89.
[8] George Catlin, Synopsis of the Travels of George Catlin: In Gathering His Sketches for His Indian Collection, Archives of American Art, George Catlin’s papers, 1821-1904, 1946, Writings 1825-circa 1872, accessed February 18, 2017, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5824/Frames_0409_0417+ref28-ref40.
[9] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 119.
[10] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 169.
[11] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 125.
[12] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 230.
[13] George Brown Tindall and Shi, 466-67.
[14] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 230.
[15] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 147-48.
[16] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 245.
[17] George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North American Indians, Vol II, (London: Tosswill and Myers, 1841) Google e book, 440 (255).
[18] U.S. Congress, “Petitions to U. S. Congress to Authorize the Purchase of Catlin’s Indian Collection, 1840s-1875,” Archives of American Art, George Catlin’s papers, 1821-1904, 1946, Ephemera and Miscellaneous Printed Material, 1832-1904, 1946, accessed February 18, 2017, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/george-catlin-papers-5435#/CollectionsOnline/catlgeor/Reel_5825/Frames_0639_0660+ref100-ref109.
[19] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 345-47.
[20] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 314-316.
[21] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 368.
[22] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 319.
[23] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 406.
[24] U.S. Congress, “Petition of George Catlin to Congress, Ca. 1872.”
[25] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 388.
[26] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family, 343.
[27] Eisner, The Red Man’s Bones, 402.
[28] U.S. Congress, “Petition of George Catlin to Congress, Ca. 1872.”
[29] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family,411.
[30] Catlin, A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin’s Indian Gallery, 3.
[31] Roehm, The Letters of George Catlin and his Family,412.