"The Great National Work": James Otto Lewis, Thomas McKenney, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Visual Politics of American Empire, 1789-1871

This dissertation examines connections between U.S. “Indian” Policy and visual culture in the early nineteenth century. Focusing on a period that extends roughly from the nation’s founding to the passage of the “Indian” Appropriations Act that ended treaty-making in 1871, the project considers how t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Grummitt, Julia Anne
Other Authors: Sandweiss, Martha A., History Department
Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
Language:English
Published: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01t435gh15h
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spelling ftprincetonuniv:oai:dataspace.princeton.edu:88435/dsp01t435gh15h 2024-05-19T07:28:36+00:00 "The Great National Work": James Otto Lewis, Thomas McKenney, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Visual Politics of American Empire, 1789-1871 Grummitt, Julia Anne Sandweiss, Martha A. History Department 2022-01-01 application/pdf http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01t435gh15h en eng Princeton, NJ : Princeton University The Mudd Manuscript Library retains one bound copy of each dissertation. Search for these copies in the library's main catalog: catalog.princeton.edu http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01t435gh15h Book History Illustration Native American Treaties U.S. West Visual Culture American history Art history History Academic dissertations (Ph.D.) 2022 ftprincetonuniv 2024-04-24T23:44:05Z This dissertation examines connections between U.S. “Indian” Policy and visual culture in the early nineteenth century. Focusing on a period that extends roughly from the nation’s founding to the passage of the “Indian” Appropriations Act that ended treaty-making in 1871, the project considers how the federal government relied on what I call “visual statecraft” to reshape the legal, moral, and bodily status of Native Americans during a transformative period in U.S./Indigenous relations. Following a series of treaty portraits from negotiations held in Anishinaabe- and Dakota-controlled lands in Michigan Territory through government offices, lithography workshops, and into the pages of Congressionally funded publications, the dissertation tracks images through the diplomatic, political, and industrial networks of nineteenth-century North America. As federal officials increasingly relied on artists and printmakers to mediate diplomatic relations and create classificatory tools that enabled territorial governance, visual culture played a vital and strategic role in transforming ideas about U.S. and Indigenous nationhood. Drawing on methodologies from art history, book history, and critical Indigenous studies, the dissertation contributes much-needed historical frameworks for visual sources that receive scant analytical attention in histories of nineteenth-century America. It highlights three well- known color-plate publications: treaty artist James Otto Lewis’s Aboriginal Port Folio (1835- 183[6]), U.S. Superintendent of “Indian” Affairs Thomas McKenney and James Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836-1844), and U.S. “Indian” agent Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Conditions, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (1851-1857). Emphasizing print’s material contingencies and the way nineteenth-century books were financed, circulated, and sold, the dissertation variously explores how specific mediums visualized ideas about race, ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis anishina* DataSpace at Princeton University
institution Open Polar
collection DataSpace at Princeton University
op_collection_id ftprincetonuniv
language English
topic Book History
Illustration
Native American
Treaties
U.S. West
Visual Culture
American history
Art history
History
spellingShingle Book History
Illustration
Native American
Treaties
U.S. West
Visual Culture
American history
Art history
History
Grummitt, Julia Anne
"The Great National Work": James Otto Lewis, Thomas McKenney, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Visual Politics of American Empire, 1789-1871
topic_facet Book History
Illustration
Native American
Treaties
U.S. West
Visual Culture
American history
Art history
History
description This dissertation examines connections between U.S. “Indian” Policy and visual culture in the early nineteenth century. Focusing on a period that extends roughly from the nation’s founding to the passage of the “Indian” Appropriations Act that ended treaty-making in 1871, the project considers how the federal government relied on what I call “visual statecraft” to reshape the legal, moral, and bodily status of Native Americans during a transformative period in U.S./Indigenous relations. Following a series of treaty portraits from negotiations held in Anishinaabe- and Dakota-controlled lands in Michigan Territory through government offices, lithography workshops, and into the pages of Congressionally funded publications, the dissertation tracks images through the diplomatic, political, and industrial networks of nineteenth-century North America. As federal officials increasingly relied on artists and printmakers to mediate diplomatic relations and create classificatory tools that enabled territorial governance, visual culture played a vital and strategic role in transforming ideas about U.S. and Indigenous nationhood. Drawing on methodologies from art history, book history, and critical Indigenous studies, the dissertation contributes much-needed historical frameworks for visual sources that receive scant analytical attention in histories of nineteenth-century America. It highlights three well- known color-plate publications: treaty artist James Otto Lewis’s Aboriginal Port Folio (1835- 183[6]), U.S. Superintendent of “Indian” Affairs Thomas McKenney and James Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836-1844), and U.S. “Indian” agent Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Conditions, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (1851-1857). Emphasizing print’s material contingencies and the way nineteenth-century books were financed, circulated, and sold, the dissertation variously explores how specific mediums visualized ideas about race, ...
author2 Sandweiss, Martha A.
History Department
format Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
author Grummitt, Julia Anne
author_facet Grummitt, Julia Anne
author_sort Grummitt, Julia Anne
title "The Great National Work": James Otto Lewis, Thomas McKenney, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Visual Politics of American Empire, 1789-1871
title_short "The Great National Work": James Otto Lewis, Thomas McKenney, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Visual Politics of American Empire, 1789-1871
title_full "The Great National Work": James Otto Lewis, Thomas McKenney, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Visual Politics of American Empire, 1789-1871
title_fullStr "The Great National Work": James Otto Lewis, Thomas McKenney, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Visual Politics of American Empire, 1789-1871
title_full_unstemmed "The Great National Work": James Otto Lewis, Thomas McKenney, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Visual Politics of American Empire, 1789-1871
title_sort "the great national work": james otto lewis, thomas mckenney, henry rowe schoolcraft and the visual politics of american empire, 1789-1871
publisher Princeton, NJ : Princeton University
publishDate 2022
url http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01t435gh15h
genre anishina*
genre_facet anishina*
op_relation The Mudd Manuscript Library retains one bound copy of each dissertation. Search for these copies in the library's main catalog: catalog.princeton.edu
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01t435gh15h
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