Ambrotype of Mea-to-sa-bi-tchi-a, or Smutty Bear
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1858
name: label: depicted
content: Mea-to-sa-bi-tchi-a
notes: label: Description
content: This ambrotype portrait of Mea-to-sa-bi-tchi-a, or Smutty Bear, a Yankton Dakota, is among the first photographic images of Native Americans. Smutty Bear was part of a large Native American delegation that came to Washington, D.C., during the winter of 1857–;58. Under duress, members of the delegation signed a treaty that greatly reduced their lands in return for promises of money and provisions that were never fulfilled. This prompted the Sioux Revolt of 1862, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of settlers and the mass hangings of 38 Native Americans. This photograph is one of a series a of portrait daguerreotypes made of Native American chiefs while they crossed the country to meet with US Government officials in Washington, D.C. When passing through St. Louis, Missouri, these chiefs were photographed by Thomas Easterly and John Fitzgibbons.
label: Description
content: The ambrotype process, most popular in the mid-1850s, is a wet-plate collodion emulsion on glass. These images were then placed in cases with a dark lining for best viewing.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
label: Associated Place
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
topic: label: Subject
content: Men
label: Subject
content: Portraits
label: Subject
content: Native Americans
label: related event
content: Sioux Revolt of 1862
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Photographic History
label: See more items in
content: Photography
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PG.003974.07
label: accession number
content: 121824
label: catalog number
content: 3974.07
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ambrotype
label: Object Name
content: photograph
label: Object Type
content: ambrotypes
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 cm x 8.5 cm x .8 cm; 4 5/16 in x 3 3/8 in x 5/16 in