Field Museum

Winter Count on cloth, by Long Soldier (Hunkpapa Lakota), ca. 1902. Fort Yates, ND. Muslin cloth. (11/6720).  Courtesy of: Smithsonian Institution. https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/photos/winter-count-cloth (accessed Aug 2021)

More Than Words: Pictoral Images 

Ledger Art uses drawings as a way to document important events and allows Native American artists to represent themselves.  

1.) Why do you think it's important for individuals to be able to speak for, or represent themselves?   2.) What can happen when others tell and retell the personal stories of others? 

Changes in Storytelling: Ledger Art

We found some ledger paper from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in the Field Museum's archives.  1.) Think of a recent important event in your life that you want to remember and share with others. 2.) In your own style, draw and document this event on the ledger provided. 3.) Who will you be drawing this document for? Would you draw it differently for your teacher than you would your family? (Image:  © The Field Museum, GN90799d_WCEledger_158. Typewriter Repairs and Supplies, page 158 of the World's Columbian Exposition Financial Ledger.) 

Draw Your Own History...

Winter counts are just one way that some Native American communities document and pass on knowledge of important events.  Historically, scenes from good hunting seasons, social gatherings, and battles to protect their homelands were represented in these counts.  Today, Native American artists from a variety of communities continue to use drawings, paintings, and pictures to document and pass on knowledge.  1.) Observe the entire 1900's animal skin tipi liner. 2.) Use GREEN to circle the first observation that caught your eye. 3.) Use YELLOW to circle anything that surprised you. 4.) Use BLUE to circle your favorite section.  Also create a list of everything you observe  (colors, actors, actions, items, etc).  5.) Create a text box for any questions you have after observing the tipi liner. What can you do next to find the answers to these questions? 6.) Lastly, based on the image and "object info" provided, is this a primary source? 

Reading: Winter Counts

Storytelling is often associated with fairytales and imaginary characters.  In this kit, observe and evaluate storytelling techniques that continue to be used by Native American artists and communities and serve as first-hand primary sources to life before and after the arrival of colonial settlers in 1492. (Cover image: Courtesy of the Field Museum of Natural History.)

More Than Words: Storytelling as a Primary Source

U.S. History

Social Studies

Reading: History/Social Studies

English Language Arts

, the US Army punished Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, Caddo, and warriors from other Plains communities for defending their homelands by sending them to Florida's Fort Marion prison in 1875.

These war prisoners wanted to continue the tradition of winter counts by documenting important events through drawing. Guards gave the prisoners used leftover ledger paper from books used to record all financial transactions, known as ledger books.

 - a picture or graphic representation that replaces written words- that tells the story of Howling Wolf’s journey from Fort Marion prison to Savannah and beyond. 

1.) Howling Wolf drew this for this father, how do you think this influenced the drawing?
2.) Would you consider this a primary source?  3.) What questions does this pictogram leave you with?  What is the next step in answering questions that arise?

Image Credit: Graphite and ink on paper by Howling Wolf (Cheyenne), 1877, insert found in the book, Book of sketches made at Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida, 1877. Massachusetts Historical Society.”


US Army officials started to encourage the war prisoners to produce more drawings on ledger paper to sell as Ledger Art to locals that were interested in paying for the drawings. This allowed the captives more opportunity to show what was important to them. Today, Native American artists continue to use Ledger Art as a way to survive economically, document important events and represent themselves. 

1.) What is important to you that you would want to share with others that might not know you?  2.)  Why is it important for you to be able to tell your own story and represent yourself?

, ca. 1877-1879
Pages 180-181
Newberry Library, Edward E. Ayer Collection, MS 3227

Men were mostly responsible for documenting important events through drawings, while women were responsible for creating and maintaining ceremonial designs that often reflected nature and the natural world.To this day, women continue this traditional responsibility and also represent themselves through Ledger Art and other nontraditional forms.

Linda Haukaas is one of very few women ledger artists. She hews to the “traditional” style of ledger art, but her themes reflect on the contemporary condition of Native women. Ms. Haukaas created a piece for the Museum, of her own design and choosing.

Ms. Haukaas’ work is in collections through the United States, including the Smithsonian Institution, as well as in international collections like the British Museum. There is a chapter about her work in the record from a book by Richard Pearce on women ledger artists, “Women in Ledger Art.”

FM_LA_return_from_war_FM.jpg

"Return from War Dance"

Traditional topics continue to be represented in contemporary ways.  In 2016, Kanza/Osage/Cheyenne River Lakota artist Chris Pappan featured his contemporary ledger art in the Field Museum's Native American Hall.

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

More Than Words: Storytelling as a Primary Source

Changes in Storytelling: Ledger Art

Background Knowledge

"Howling Wolf's pictogram to his father Minimic."