McKENNEY, Thomas Loraine, & James Hall.

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History of the Indian Tribes of North America, First edition of "the grandest colour plate book issued in the United States up to the time of its publication" (Reese). This magnificent record of Native American dignitaries "overtly proclaimed that [Native Americans] were historically, culturally, and socially significant at a time when their society was disappearing at an alarming rate" (Stack, p. 5). The inclusion of a series of portraits of women in the work speaks to their role within political negotiations. Thomas Lorraine McKenney (1785-1859) was Superintendent of Indian Trade from 1816 to 1822 and headed the US Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1824 to 1830. In the early decades of the 19th century, disease, displacement, and assimilation were disrupting many Native American societies. As a government official, McKenney saw this decimation firsthand, and was "genuinely concerned with the well-being of Indians. He was an astute observer of their culture... collecting books, maps, and written material about the leaders, and the various tribes" (Bowers, pp. 339-40). He soon realised that their way of life was changing, and he wanted to preserve a pictorial record. McKenney enlisted the Washington-based artist Charles Bird King (1785-1862) to paint portraits of the tribal leaders who came to Washington to voice grievances or negotiate treaties. His first portraits were of members of the Omaha, Kansa, Oto, Pawnee, and Missouri delegations, which arrived in Washington in 1821. Ki

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