Jessica Crabtree

February 2, 1830: Seth Eastman is stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota

Seth Eastman (born 1808) was a West Point graduate who worked as an illustrator and mapmaker in the army. His first assignment to Fort Snelling – one of the army’s most important posts on what was then the edge of the frontier – marked the start of a life-long journey that resulted in an outstanding pictorial record of the Dakota people.

Eastman’s tours at Fort Snelling gave him a special advantage as an artist. Working as an embedded journalist with the army, he served as a military liaison with the Dakota (or Santee), learning their language and customs, and staying with them for extended periods, giving him valuable experience that he channeled into hundreds of sketches and small paintings.

During his first stay, he married Wakanin ajin win (“Stands Sacred”) the daughter of a Santee chief, and had a daughter named Winona. According to the custom of the day, however, such a marriage was not legally binding for an American male – and when he was reassigned nearly two years later, this “unofficial union” was dissolved. From then on he had no further association with his Indian family.

(His daughter Winona later took the name Mary Nancy Eastman and was the mother of another famous Eastman, Ohiyesa – also known as Charles Eastman. A writer, teacher, and advocate, he became the first Native American medical doctor.)

When Eastman later married into a prominent Virginia family, his wife Mary accompanied him to various military posts – including a second tour at Fort Snelling that lasted seven years – and wrote stories about Dakota life for which Eastman provided illustrations.

In 1847, Congress commissioned Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s series Indian Tribes of the United States, a large-scale illustrated series similar to the landmark
McKenney-Hall & King work of a generation earlier. Eastman immediately petitioned for the job of illustrating the work, but was at first denied. Eventually, through the influence of his wife and friends, he won a furlough to concentrate on the artwork. The project was five years in the making and ultimately consisted of 6 volumes and nearly 300 detailed illustrations.

The success of the work led to other government commissions, many of which now hang in the nation’s capitol. While his paintings have long been recognized for their historic value, they were not always accepted without controversy, because they were so objective in portraying Dakota people and their customs at a time dominated by a strong negative bias, even open hostility against them. For the most part he portrayed the traditional village life of Minnesota’s farming communities, and not the more familiar – and more romanticized – nomadic horse culture of the Plains. Eastman’s documentary accuracy, and his thorough and detailed precision, make his portfolio such a monumental achievement.

Before his death in 1875, Eastman would have been witness to the wars and forced removals that opened Minnesota to American expansion and systematically dismantled the Dakota lifestyle he had spent so many years documenting. Ironically, his own grandson Charles was among the community of relocated Dakota who fled first to Canada, then to North Dakota; there he attended mission schools, later to graduate from the best colleges in the East. Like his grandfather, Charles also married an accomplished woman with a deep interest in making a written record of Native American cultures. As a certified medical doctor, he was assigned to the Pine Ridge reservation where he was a first responder following Wounded Knee.

It is a paradox that these two men, despite their close relation and their individual influence in giving the world a glimpse of Dakota culture, were alienated by convention on two opposing sides.

More on the Eastman family:

Seth Eastman: Painting the Dakota – companion website for the PBS docudrama (excellent resource!)

Wikipedia: Seth and Mary Eastman

PBS “History Detectives” Episode: Investigating Eastman’s pieces A researcher determines an uncovered Eastman painting to be a forgery – but in the process explores some of the ironies about Eastman’s career and relationship to the Dakota. He also meets with a descendent of Eastman’s Dakota marriage.

Historic Fort Snelling – Seth Eastman

Minnesota Historical Society: Seth Eastman Exhibit

See also:

“Ohiyesa” – Charles Eastman

This Day in History: Charles Bird King

January 6, 1832: Birth of French illustrator & engraver Gustave Dore

Dore was a French illustrator whose engravings of famous literature have become so pervasive, they are almost inseparable from the works they depict. For generations they were the benchmark in capturing the grandeur and mystery of epics, religious writings, poetry and even fairy tales. The dark, expansive, highly detailed look of his engravings is instantly recognizable.

He was extremely prolific, producing sometimes hundreds of illustrations per work – but his skill and imaginative style was remarkably consistent. His most famous works include the complete illustrated edition of the 1866 English Bible; Don Quixote, The Idylls of the King, and the epics of Milton and Dante; and an anthology of fairy tales.

He also published a famous collection of caricatures.

Wikipedia: Gustave Dore

WikiPaintings: Gustave Dore

December 4, 1619: The “Berkeley Thanksgiving”

Yet another contender for the title of the original Thanksgiving. English settlers from Berkeley, England arriving in Virginia in 1619 (yes, that’s the year before the Pilgrim’s Plymouth landing) made this date a commemoration of gratitude for their safe arrival in the New World.

Unlike its famous counterpart, this Thanksgiving was clearly intended to be carried on in the future, as evidenced by the original proclamation in the Berkeley colony’s charter:

“Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

This celebration is still honored today at the prestigious Berkeley Plantation.

Of course, this occasion is already predated by the little-known “St. Augustine Thanksgiving” shared in Florida by the Spanish and Native Americans – aptly enough, in the first permanent European settlement in the New World. (That one took place a whopping 56 years before its traditional 1621 counterpart.) But it is probably the earliest such celebration by English colonists in America.

See more: Countdown: 10 Things About Thanksgiving

Berkeley Plantation – Official Website

Berkeley House was built on the plantation later, in 1726. Photo from the National Park Service website, courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

November 10, 1697: Birth of preeminent English painter, printmaker, and political cartoonist William Hogarth

Hogarth was born to a lower-class London family. At the beginning of his art career, he started out as an engraver’s apprentice, but became more independent as the demand for his prints rose. This enabled him to marry his art teacher’s daughter and live comfortably, honing his skills as a painter and satirist and becoming well-established as a portrait painter by the 1730′s. His portrait of the actor David Garrick in his role as Richard III sold for the highest price of any English portrait up to that time.

Below: My favorite Hogarth pieces are the serious, sensitive portraits such as the “Servants” above and the tantalizing, enigmatic Shrimp Girl.

Most of Hogarth’s work reveals his voice as a social commentator. He is best known for his “morality serials” depicting the vices and social ills plaguing populous urban England, and the sham of upper-class manners. Series such as “The Rake’s Progress,” “The Harlot’s Progress,” and “Marriage a la Mode” were published in installments and quickly became wildly popular. The rampant pirating of his pieces, and similar experiences of his colleagues, prompted him to lobby Parliament for the creation of the Engraver’s Copyright Act, which was passed in 1735.

Left: Another portrait of Garrick, this time in a more informal setting with his wife.

Hogarth’s drastic rise in social status never seemed to hamper the strong sense of ethics and civic responsibility reflected in his art. He used his means to found an art school, which was a precursor to famous Royal Academy. And he and his wife, unable to have a family of their own, fostered foundling children. His popularity, and the respect he enjoyed from his peers and his public, is portrayed in the epitaph Garrick wrote upon Hogarth’s death in 1764:

“Farewell great Painter of Mankind
Who reach’d the noblest point of Art
Whose pictur’d Morals charm the Mind
And through the Eye correct the Heart.

If Genius fire thee, Reader, stay,
If Nature touch thee, drop a Tear:
If neither move thee, turn away,
For Hogarth’s honour’d dust lies here.”

Wikipedia: William Hogarth

WikiGallery: Online Collection of Hogarth’s Prints and Paintings

November 5, 1927: Birth of painter Howard Terpning

Above: “Father Prays”

Terpning is one of the outstanding and preeminent artists of Western and Native American culture. His style is recognizably masterful and effortless – a true gift to art, accounting for the almost endless list of awards and recognitions he has received over the years.

Terpning was born and raised in the Midwest. He pursued art early on but did not study professionally until returning from military service. He worked as an apprentice illustrator and eventually became a freelance artist, illustrating for major publications like Time Magazine & Reader’s Digest, and producing iconic movie posters.

Left: One of my favorites – “Three Generations”

In the 70′s he decided to pursue a passion for Western history & culture that was sparked during his early travels in the West. The depiction of Plains Indian life, and the culture of the West, has become the real signature of his work, making him one of today’s most collected Western artists. It is remarkable to have such a legend still among us. Happy birthday Howard!

Wikipedia: Howard Terpning

Howard Terpning Western Art at the Greenwich Workshop

Portfolio Slideshow – Nearly a hundred of Terpning’s best-known pieces

October 14, 1964: Oglala Lakota Billy Mills (Makata Taka Hela) becomes the second American Indian in history to win an Olympic gold medal

Mills (born 1938) was raised on the Pine Ridge reservation. He trained as an athlete from an early age, later garnering many awards and earning sports scholarships that put him through college. He became a cross-country track star before graduating and joining the US Marines.

His record and training qualified him to compete for both the 10,000 meter and marathon events in the ’64 Tokyo Olympics, where his 24:4:4 win in the 10k was one of the great upsets in the history of the games. He was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984.

Today, Mills is the spokesperson for Running Strong, an outreach organization for Native youth.

Wikipedia: Billy Mills

Running Strong for American Indian Youth – Official Website

Image: “Catching up with Billy Mills,” Sports Illustrated

September 19, 1737: The Lenape (Delaware) “Walking Purchase” sets the boundaries of a colonial land swindle

The Walking Purchase Treaty – part of what may well be the most bizarre land-grab scheme in history – was based on a deed dating to the 1680′s. Supposedly signed by the Lenape Indians and Pennsylvania’s Quaker founders, it granted the colonists a parcel of land ambiguously measured from the Delaware-Lehigh river junction as far west as a man could travel on foot in a day and a half.

It is not clear whether this deed even existed, and Pennsylvania’s colonial government suddenly decided to collect – or whether it was just another fraudulent pretext for a land grab. Anyway it is a twisted irony of history that the very sons of William Penn, who was such a conscientious ally of the Lenape, should use their standing to such rapacious advantage.

Fully intending to honor their ancestors’ agreement, several Lenape chiefs met in Philadelphia in September to sign a treaty confirming the cession, including Lapowinsa (also Lappawinsoe) and Tishcohan. But the true face of the deal became apparent when the governor of Pennsylvania authorized settlers to clear a road for three hired runners to perform the role of the proverbial “man on foot” for the official survey.

The 36-hour dash undertaken by the runners was so intense that only one finished the course; but the 70 miles he covered created boundaries that amassed over a million acres for the colony.

For the next two decades, Lenape representatives appealed the so-called “Walking Purchase Treaty,” but eventually were forced westward alongside an influx of other displaced peoples. In the 1830s, most Lenape were relocated to Oklahoma as part of the mass removals collectively known as the “Trail of Tears.”

Both Lapowinsa and Tishcohan were depicted by the Swedish painter Gustavus Hesselius around the time of the Walking Purchase Treaty. These early portraits are distinctive for their attentive detail, and almost personal manner. They are rare glimpses of the Native people of this period. (Click for larger view)

Image: ExplorePAHistory.com (Credit: Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia)

Read more:

The Walking Purchase – A really good blog post on the background of the Walking Treaty, the Lenape nation, and several significant figures of the period

The Delaware Walking Treaty – Philadelphia History

Wikipedia: Walking Purchase

Lenape archives at ExplorePAHistory.com

Delaware Nation Website

September 4, 1893: Birth of fictional character “Peter Rabbit”

Since his conception in a letter to a little boy in Victorian England, Peter Rabbit has become the signature creation of English artist and naturalist Beatrix Potter. He became the first patented character after Potter licensed the production of a trademarked plush toy in 1903.

When Peter Rabbit was first published in 1902 by Frederick Warne & Co., Potter designed every aspect of the book, from the illustrations to the covers and bindings. In the 1930′s her stories were re-issued using this first publication as a template. The Warne centenary edition in 2002 took this effort up a notch by completely restoring and remastering the copy film to reflect the original format, resulting in the most authentic rendition to date.

Right: The original “Peter Rabbit” letter written to Noel Moore dated September 3, 1893 (Image: The World of Beatrix Potter)

About Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 to a well-off English family. From a young age she had an exceptionally agile mind which the conventions of Victorian culture were slow to accommodate. Though shy and reserved, her girlhood journals show her to have been an imaginative and talented budding artist and a shrewd social critic.

Photo: Children’s Classics.com.au – Biography of Beatrix Potter

Her passion for wildlife was evident early in life, from the small animals she and her brother kept (later to become models for some of her characters) to her growing interest in the natural sciences and conservation.

Her Tale of Peter Rabbit – written, like Lewis Carroll’sAlice in Wonderland, for the entertainment of a small child – spawned a series of watercolor-illustrated animal tales that quickly became established children’s classics. By the end of the first year’s publication alone, 28,000 copies were in circulation.

The stellar success of her illustrated books offered Potter some independence in the face of social restriction and family expectations. It enabled her to buy property in England’s beautiful Lake District, where her ‘Hill Top Farm’ became a thriving operation and is today a national historic site. She became one of the country’s most respected figures in sheep-raising and land management and conservation.

Her life was recently the subject of the 2006 film Miss Potter, earning actress Renee Zellweger a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of the artist.

Links

The World of Beatrix Potter – The ‘official’ website of Peter Rabbit & friends; plus detailed material on Potter’s work and legacy

The Beatrix Potter Society of the UK

More than just Bunnies: The Legacy of Beatrix Potter

Wikipedia: Peter Rabbit

Wikipedia: Beatrix Potter