Drawing on History

Kiowa sketchbook provides rare glimpse into Indian experience

September 11, 2007

Guests attend the opening reception for the exhibit at The Trout Gallery.

Ever wonder what life would be like for a proud 19th-century Indian warrior who was captured after battle with Southern Plains settlers, taken a thousand miles away and incarcerated for three years, and forced to assimilate into Western culture?

A Kiowa's Odyssey: A Sketchbook from Fort Marion, edited by Phillip Earenfight, associate professor of art and art history and director of The Trout Gallery, provides an intimate look into such an experience.

The sketchbook, on display at The Trout Gallery this fall before being widely exhibited across the United States, contains illustrations made in 1877 by Etahdleuh Doanmoe, a Kiowa who was among 72 Indians captured by the U.S. Army during the Plains Wars and incarcerated for three years at Fort Marion, Fla.

While in Florida, the Indian captives were made to adopt Western appearance, language, behavior and beliefs under the direction of Lt. Richard Henry Pratt, who made this pilot program the basis of his later work at the Carlisle Indian School, which he founded in 1879.

Despite their historical importance, however, the drawings have not garnered significant attention until recently due to the fact that the sketchbook's contents had been divided between Dickinson College and Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Now, with the reuniting and public display of the sketchbook, warrior artist Etahdleuh's traumatic odyssey can be better appreciated.

The exhibition will be on display until Jan. 12.