147 that were taken in the encampment (fi g. 16), which show the same modes of dress. Rinehart and Muhr continued their project after the Trans-Mississippi Exposition concluded. Another smaller fair, the First Greater America Colonial Exposition, was held on the same grounds from July 1 to November 1, 1899, and further studio portraits resulted. In 1899 and 1900 they also traveled to certain Indian reservations, most notably to the Crow Agency in Montana, where they also took portraits and in situ images. More than 1,200 portraits resulted from this two-year project, and they were widely distributed. Rinehart found early on that his images sold well, so he broke his contract with the Smithsonian and copyrighted the images himself to maintain control of the images—a situation that eventually led to irresolvable confl ict with Muhr. Most are meticulously documented with the name and tribe of the subject, though the names are not always accurate and tribal affi liations are rendered with a variety of spellings and with no consistency in terms of singular or plural. The Rinehart images have been criticized over the years for capitalizing on the subjugation of Native Americans. Though they were very much a commercial enterprise, in fact it was the expositions that were exploitive. The deeply personal nature of Rinehart and Muhr’s images coupled with their wide distribution promoted what at the time was considered to be a positive image of Native Americans not as enemies but as individuals. conduct their domestic affairs as they do at home, and make and sell their wares for their own profi t.3 Though just what compelled them to do so is not entirely clear, approximately 500 individuals representing some thirty-fi ve tribes attended, many of them notable veterans of the Indian Wars. Due to funding delays, the “Indian Congress” did not commence until August 4, 1898, and it continued through the end of the exposition three months later. Indians conducting “their domestic affairs” did not prove especially interesting to exposition visitors, but parades, mock battles, and Ghost Dance reenactments did, and these became a major focus of activity. Local commercial photographer Frank A. Rinehart (fi g. 2), who had studied under noted Western photographer William Henry Jackson, was hired as the offi cial photographer for the exposition. Part of this involved documenting the Indian Congress delegates for the Smithsonian Institution, a task that he left at least in part in the hands of his assistant, Adolph Muhr. Their portraits were taken in a studio with an adjoining gallery on the exposition grounds on 8 x 10 inch glass negative plates, with the positives produced as platinum prints. The full-length standing fi gures reveal an incongruous Victorian painted backdrop. However, this in no way detracts from the subjects, whose portraits are executed with extraordinary sensitivity. While apparently there was some initial reticence, Rinehart and/or Muhr somehow managed to make their sitters comfortable, and the resulting highly personalized images emphasize the humanity of the individuals portrayed, not unlike Gertrude Käsebier’s portraits of Sioux participants in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a series that coincidentally was also begun in 1898 (see Tribal Art, autumn 2011). Rinehart and Muhr’s subjects sometimes appear in full traditional outfi ts, but they are just as often dressed in a composite of Western trousers, shirt, and/or waistcoat with an overlay of traditional regalia. Several fi gures appear with U.S. governmental gifts such as peace medals or presidential canes. With minor exceptions, the native regalia is unique to each individual, indicating that most of the various elements belonged to that person rather than to the studio. This is further evidenced by the outdoor photos FIG. 16 (left): Frank A. Rinehart and/or Adolph F. Muhr, Omaha Dance Bonnet & Scalp Lock, 1899. Platinum print. Approximately 7 x 9 inches. Greater America Exposition, Omaha, Nebraska, 1899. Rinehart neg. 1391. Courtesy of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library, Print Department. This is one of a series of three images of this sitter, who is identifi ed in others as a Kiowa man named Capitan. FIG. 17 (above): Frank A. Rinehart and/or Adolph F. Muhr, Standing Bear, Big Eagle, an unidentifi ed Blackfoot man, and an unidentifi ed Euro-American couple, 1898. Platinum print. Approximately 9 x 7 inches. Indian Congress, Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, Omaha, Nebraska, 1898. Courtesy of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library, Print Department. NOTES 1. James B. Hayes, 1910, History of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition of 1898, St. Louis: Woodward & Tiernam Prtg. Co., p. 51. 2. Ibid., p. 220. 3. “Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,” 1898, in Annual Report of the Department of the Interior, part 1, Washington, DC: Government Printing Offi ce, p. 27.
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