Gustav Sohon drawings of the Pacific Northwest
name: label: Creator
content: Sohon, Gustav, 1825-1903
label: Names
content: Stevens Pacific Railroad Expedition, 1853-1854
place: label: Place
content: North America
label: Place
content: Washington Territory
creator: label: Creator
content: Sohon, Gustav, 1825-1903
culture: label: Culture
content: Coeur d'Alene
label: Culture
content: Kalispel (Pend d'Oreilles)
label: Culture
content: Niimíipuu (Nez Perce)
label: Culture
content: Salish (Flathead)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Gustav Sohon drawings of the Pacific Northwest
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Gustav Sohon, also known as Gustavus Sohon and Gustave Sohon, (1825–1903) was an artist, photographer, interpreter, and topographical assistant best known for his pencil sketches and watercolors of the native people and landscapes of the American Northwest.

Sohon was born in 1825 in Tilsit, East Prussia, and immigrated to the United States in 1842.  In the early 1850s, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.  Over the following decade, he accompanied four historic expeditions across Eastern Washington -- the 1853-1854 Pacific railroad survey, the 1855 treaty tour of Governor Isaac Stevens, the 1858 military campaign of Colonel George Wright  against the Plateau tribes, and the construction of a wagon road across the Bitterroot and Rocky Mountains by John Mullan from 1859 to 1862. During this period, Sohon served as an artist, guide, interpreter, and cartographer.  

After the completion of Mullan's Road, Sohon accompanied Mullan to Washington, D.C., to assist in the preparation of topographical data, maps, and illustrations for a report on the road's construction.  He later operated a photogaphy studio in San Francisco and a shoe business in Washington, D.C.  Sohon died in Washington, D.C. in 1903.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 25 Drawings (visual works) (pencil, ink, and watercolor, laminated)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1853-1860
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: The collection was donated to the United States National Museum by Dr. Elizabeth Sohon, daughter of Gustav Sohon, on 10 June 1947 (USNM accession number 176371).  It was transferred from the object collections of the Department of Anthropology to the National Anthropological Archives in August 1969.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS385668
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Drawings (visual works)
label: Type
content: Works of art
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Watercolors
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The items in this collection were originally cataloged individually by the NAA under their USNM catalog numbers. In 2023, the collection was reprocessed and all items were incorporated into a single collection under MS 385668.  The archivist replaced the titles previously assigned to the drawings with the titles and/or captions as they appear on the drawings or on the original mounts.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Watercolors
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of twenty-five (25) drawings in pencil, ink and watercolor by Gustav Sohon.  The drawings depict landscapes, missions, forts, council meeting scenes, and native life in the Northwest Plateau.  There is also one sketch map.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The National Anthropological Archives holds additional drawings by Gustav Sohon in Northern Pacific Railroad Survey drawings (MS 130305) and vocabularies collected by Sohon in MS 4306-a, MS 4306-b, and MS 4306-c.