G. P. Strum [Department of the Interior, General Land Office]. Indian Territory. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1887). Published in The George Catlin Indian Gallery in the U. S. National Museum (Smithsonian Institution) with Memoir and Statistics, edited by Thomas Donaldson. Lithograph printed in three colors. 24 x 32 in. at neat line with original margins. 25 x 34 in. full sheet. Issued folding. Trimmed close at left margin where bound into report. Some transference and age toning. Shrink-wrapped. Overall fine with bright color.
$1,200.00
Out of stock
A Bold Early Map Showing the Federal Allocation of Indian Lands in the 1880s
Published in The George Catlin Indian Gallery
A large and most interesting map reflecting the status of lands allocated to 32 Indian tribes in what is now Oklahoma. Tribal lands are named, colored-coded, and include legal references to the treaties that relocated the tribes. The map is among the first to designate the emerging territory of Oklahoma. It also represents a fascinating epilogue to the history of George Catlin’s Indian Gallery.
The map first appeared in 1885 in Part V of the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, written by the lawyer Thomas Donaldson. Donaldson was instrumental in bringing Catlin’s Indian Gallery to the Smithsonian after the artist’s death. In addition to 450 paintings, Catlin’s collection included costumes, war clubs, pipes, bone instruments, and other artifacts. Once processed, the collection was exhibited and then published, first in the Smithsonian Report of 1885 and then in a separate publication of 1886, which was reissued in 1887. Donaldson wrote the 900-page report with an eye on preserving the cultural information that Catlin considered essential. The report included two large folding maps—one on Indian reservations, and the other, the present map on Indian Territory illustrating the federal allocation of Indian lands.
The federal government’s policy of Indian relocation began as early as 1817, and in the years following, many principal Eastern Indian tribes were removed to the region where the Five Civilized Tribes formed the nucleus of organized government. By 1885, however, representatives of about fifty tribes had settled on lands once promised to the original five. The map offered here reflects these allocations. The Oklahoma panhandle—which at this time consisted of “Public Lands”—is not shown.
Excellent example of this striking early map of Indian Territory, with fine bright color.
Refs.: Howes, D416; George Gurney et al., George Catlin and His Indian Gallery, pp. 267–268.
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