THE RED INDIAN CURRIER & IVES PRINTS - No. 2 - Introduction by W.S. Hall

Oct 13, 2026

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Currier & Ives prints are presented as influential visual media during a critical period in American history, shaping how audiences imagined the past and the present. The text focuses on the figure of the American Indian as “news” and analyzes how “the Red man” was portrayed through images and literature. It contrasts inherited wartime reporting with romantic, poetic, and commercial depictions, citing Walt Whitman, Robert Montgomery Bird, and popular novels to explain the blend of admiration, fiction, and misinformation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages52

Reading Time1 h 20 min

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Introduction by W.S. Hall

Currier & Ives prints and public influence

The American Indian as “news” and distorted heritage

Whitman’s assimilation imagery and its implications

War reporting, cartoons, and the “enemy” frame

Fictional Indians in literature and bibliographic context

RE Fc THE RED INDIAN CURRIER &IVES PRINTS No.2 Introduction by W.S.Hall LONDON:THE STUDIO LIMITED,44 LEICESTER SQUARENEW YORK:WILLIAM EDWIN RUDGE,475 FIFTH AVENUEMCMXXXI A CKNOWLE D GMENT S The Editor desires to express his indebted-ness to Messrs.Kennedy &Co.of NewYork and to The Old Print Shop of NewYork(Plate II—The Trapper's Last Shot)for their courtesy in lending the Currier&Ives Prints and allowing them to bereproduced in this book and also to Mr.Otto M.Torrington and Mr.Harry ShawNewman for their valuable assistance. f7gC93九 339072 STUDENTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY AREbeginning to appreciate the important role played duringa critical period by Currier &Ives prints.No phase ofactivity was overlooked by the enterprising partners,and itis evident that the widespread lithographs,in vividly por-traying the past and present,strongly influenced the future.(A recent exhibition of C.&I.Temperance prints suggestedin a startling manner the answer to the question—"Whatstarted Prohibition?") The American Indian was"news"in those days,and hecame in for his share of notice.Inasmuch as our inheritedpicture of the Indian is a much distorted one,it is interestingto observe how Currier &Ives handled the subject,and itmay be timely to examine the then accepted picture of theRed man and see how truthfully he was painted. "Here is not merely a nation,but a teeming nation ofnations,"said Walt Whitman in his preface to the first editionof LEAVES OF GRASS.He was speaking of the America ofthe 18so's—the America of the early days of the Melting Pot.That he was not insensible to the process of assimilation maybe perceived in the first part of the poem: I saw the marriage of the trapper in the open air in the farwest...the bride was a red girl. Her father and his friends sat nearby crosslegged anddumbly smoking...they had mocassins to their feetand large thick blankets hanging from their shoulders. Probably the Good Gray Poet believed that to be a step inthe right direction for the red girl.Although his yawpwas barbaric,it was thoroughly patriotic,too,and whilefew items of fact or fancy are omitted from his great catalogue,no list of the wrongs of the Red Indian can be found.Heliked the Indian,but his admiration was physical ratherthan political. Perhaps this lapse of the otherwise incomparable humani-tarian can be explained by remembering that in I855 theIndian was still "the enemy."True,he was not stalkingtravellers on Long Island,but he was putting up a stifresistance west of the Mississippi.The reports of thebrisk and intimate meetings which reached the East madeno hero of him—if the troops won,the enemy was“annihilated”;if the reverse happened,the affair went intothe records as a"massacre."Those who recall the headlinesof the World War,the cartoons of Raemaekers,and theGoyaesque lithographic efforts of George Bellows to makea savage of the enemy will appreciate our inherited pictureof the Indian."War hath no fury like a non-combatant,"said C.E.Montague.It remains a tribute to the good tasteand common sense of the publishers and the artists of theCurrier &Ives prints that no Indian is shown fighting lessfairly than his opponent. Obviously,then,the Indian of the Currier&Ives periodwas a fictional one,though much nearer the truth in thepictures than in the written reports.There is another Indianto be considered—rather three others—two frankly of fictionand one of fact.Cooper in the LEATHER-STOCKINGTALES and Longfellow in HIAWATHA,and before themChateaubriand and Marmontel gave us a perhaps toosympathetic picture.They threw a poetic illusion over theIndian character and the Red man was presented as"theembodiment of grand and tender sentiment ...brave,gentle,loving,refined,honourable,romantic personages— nature's nobles,the chivalry of the forest...”The quotationis from the preface by Robert Montgomery Bird to hisNICK OF THE wooDs,in which he calls this view ofthe Indian absurd and gives his very different versi

FAQs

Why does the author emphasize the role of Currier & Ives prints in American history?

The author argues that the prints portrayed past and present vividly and strongly influenced future understanding during a critical period.

How does the text describe the inherited image of the American Indian?

It states that the inherited picture is highly distorted, and that the Indian’s representation in prints and reports differed from reality.

What kinds of sources does the author use to explain changing portrayals of the Indian?

The text draws on poets and prefaces such as Walt Whitman, critiques and alternative versions such as Robert Montgomery Bird, and popular dime novels that commercialized “Wild West” narratives.

Oct 13, 2026

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