BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: From Token to Ornament: Indian Peace Medals and the McKenney-Hall Portraits

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: From Token to Ornament: Indian Peace Medals and the McKenney-Hall Portraits:

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Description of Pictures: From Token to Ornament: Indian Peace Medals and the McKenney-Hall Portraits
June 19, 2015 – June 5, 2016
Beginning with George Washington’s administration, presidential portrait medals were created to promote peace and friendship between Euro-Americans and Native Americans. Made in multiple sizes at the U.S. Mint from the Jefferson administration until long after the Civil War, peace medals were given to Indian representatives during treaty negotiations or political visits to Washington, D.C. Thomas L. McKenney, superintendent of Indian trade (1816–22) and later superintendent of Indian affairs (1824–30), noted their diplomatic value: “without medals, any plan of operations among the Indians . . . is essentially enfeebled. This comes of the high value which the Indians set upon these tokens of Friendship.” McKenney also commissioned artist Charles Bird King to make paintings of Native leaders when they visited the capital; King frequently depicted his subjects proudly wearing their peace medals as adornments to their formal Native clothing as well as tokens of distinction. His paintings—and copies of them by Henry Inman—were the source for lithographs created for the ambitious three-volume History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836–44), a publication McKenney launched with James Hall as author. The medals and lithographs shown at the National Portrait Gallery are only one aspect of the complex stories of diplomatic exchange between Euro-Americans and Native Americans.
This exhibition features 21 objects, including photographs, prints, peace medals, and it is curated by Brandon Brame Fortune, the Portrait Gallery’s chief curator and senior curator of painting and sculpture, and Wendy Wick Reaves, senior curator emerita of prints and drawings.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPGTO_150621_010.JPG: Beginning with George Washington's administration, presidential portrait medals were created to promote peace and friendship between Euro-Americans and Native Americans. Made in multiple sizes at the U.S. Mint from the Jefferson administration until long after the Civil War, peace medals were given to Indian representatives during treaty negotiations or political visits to Washington, D.C. Thomas L. McKenney, superintendent of Indian trade (1816–22) and later superintendent of Indian affairs (1824–30), noted their diplomatic value: "without medals, any plan of operations among the Indians . . . is essentially enfeebled. This comes of the high value which the Indians set upon these tokens of Friendship." McKenney also commissioned artist Charles Bird King to make paintings of Native leaders when they visited the capital; King frequently depicted his subjects proudly wearing their peace medals as adornments to their formal Native clothing as well as tokens of distinction. His paintings -- and copies of them by Henry Inman -- were the source for lithographs created for the ambitious three-volume History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836–44), a publication McKenney launched with James Hall as author. The medals and lithographs shown at the National Portrait Gallery are only one aspect of the complex stories of diplomatic exchange between Euro-Americans and Native Americans. The current exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, "Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations," explains more of these issues.
2. SIPGTO_150621_017.JPG: Tshusick, lifedates unknown Tshusick, a Chippewa woman from Michigan, was painted by Charles Bird King when she visited Washington, DC, in the winter of 1826-27. According to the text, Thomas McKenney himself welcomes her to the capital. Entertained at the White House and widely praised for her intelligence and refinement, Tshusick was showered with gifts from various supporters. Reportedly, however, according to the authors, much of her story of walking to Washington as a recent widow in search of Christian education and baptism was fictitious. Alfred M. Hoffy, after Henry Inman, after Charles Bird King, 1838
3. SIPGTO_150621_029.JPG: Nawkaw, lifedates unknown The much-respected Ho-Chung (Winnebago) chief Nawkaw led a delegation to Washington in the fall of 1828 to plea for a presidiential pardon on behalf of three imprisoned tribesmen. Nawkaw was described as a tall man of impressive appearance and commanding presence. Smoking a ceremonial pipe was a time-honored ritual of tribal diplomacy, and Charles Bird King depicted Nawkaw as if addressing the president and extending his calumet at the conclusion of his speech. Nawkaw wore his three peace medals with great pride, according to the text, which noted that the medals, "presented to him at different times, as the head of his tribe and as tokens of respect for himself, are indicative of his rank." J.T. Bowen Lithography Co., after Henry Inman, after Charles Bird King, 1838
4. SIPGTO_150621_041.JPG: John Adams, 1735-1826 No peace medals were created with John Adams's likeness during his administration. Later, a die made by Moritz Furst, who had created profile portraits for earlier silver peace medals, was struck in bronze. Based on pre-existing likenesses of Adams, medals in several sizes were created until the early twentieth century in an effort to complete a series of presidential portrait medals. Moritz Furst, after 1878
5. SIPGTO_150621_104.JPG: James Monroe
6. SIPGTO_150621_124.JPG: George Washington The first peace medals that the U.S. government gave Native Americans -- created in 1792, 1793, and 1795 -- were hand-engraved rather than struck at the U.S. Mint. The obverse depicts Washington standing with a Native American chief who is smoking a pipe, his tomahawk on the ground beside him. The reverse shows an American eagle with olive branches and arrows in its talons and a ribbon with the motto E Pluribus Unum in its beak. The silver loop at the top allowed the medal to be worn on a cord or ribbon. Red Jacket wears a similar medal in his portrait in this exhibition. Unidentified artist, 1793
7. SIPGTO_150621_135.JPG: Thomas Jefferson The silver medals created for Thomas Jefferson established the pattern for peace medals, with a portrait on one side and a message of friendship and peace on the other. Medals were created in several sizes, with the size designating the importance of the Native recipient. The medals expressed the power of the president and conferred great status on the owner. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took a large number of silver medals bearing Jefferson's image with them on their journey to the Pacific coast in order to help gain the respect and friendship of Native tribes. Medals created for James Monroe and James Madison were similar in format. Robert Scott, 1801
8. SIPGTO_150621_139.JPG: James Madison John Reich, 1814-15, struck after the 1809 date on the medal
9. SIPGTO_150621_145.JPG: Selocta, lifedates unknown The Muscogee (Creek) Indians were divided into opposing factions during the War of 1812. Selocta and his father, the Muscogee chief Chinnaby, sided with the American government, and Selocta became General Andrew Jackson's ally, guide, and adviser. Selocta sat for his portrait by Charles Bird King in the winter of 1825-26, when he was in Washington, DC, with a party of Muscogee to sign a treaty. Selocta's loyalty and faith in government promises was misplaced, however. Along with other Muscogee, he was forced to sign away his lands and move west. Alfred M. Hoffy, after Charles Bird King, 1838
10. SIPGTO_150621_152.JPG: Micanopy, lifedates unknown Micanopy, an important Seminole leader whose portrait Charles Bird King painted in Washington around 1826, was known to have large landholdings, with numerous servants, workers, and livestock. Micanopy refused to sign the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832, which ceded ancestral lands to the government and relocated his people in the West. He also participated in attacks on government troops. Ultimately, he was captured and imprisoned in Charleston, South Carolina, but was later sent west with his followed to Indian Territory. R.T., after Charles Bird King, 1838
11. SIPGTO_150621_162.JPG: Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha), c 1758-1830 Renowned Seneca chief Sagoyewatha, who fought along with other Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) for the British during the American Revolution, received the name "Red Jacket" from the scarlet coats he habitually wore. In his dealings with the new American republic, he excelled as an orator and negotiator, always resisting any encroachment upon ancestral lands or Native customs and beliefs. In March 1792, Sagoyewatha led a delegation of Haudenosaunee to meet with George Washington in Philadelphia. Sagoyewatha supported the Americans during the War of 1812, but after participating in several battles, he proposed that Native Americans fighting on both sides withdraw from the war. Especially proud of the large peace medal that President Washington presented to him, Sagoyewatha was rarely seen without it, and it appears in the image that Charles Bird King painted in Washington in 1828. Albert Newsam, after Henry Inman, after Charles Bird King, 1834
12. SIPGTO_150621_173.JPG: Sequoyah, c 1770-1843 Sequoyah, allegedly the son of a chief's daughter and a fur trader from Virginia, devised a method of writing the Cherokee language. His syllabary of eighty-six symbols representing vowel and consonant sounds was approved in 1821 by the Cherokee nation, which later presented him with a specially inscribed peace medal. His simple utilitarian system made possible a rapid spread of literacy throughout the Cherokee nation. Tribal healers set down ceremonies for medicine, divination, war, and traditional ball games; missionaries translated hymns and the New Testament into the Native language; and publishers launched the Cherokee Phoenix, a weekly bilingual newspaper. Sequoyah was painted in Washington, D.C., in 1828 wearing his peace medal. J.T. Bowen Lithography Company, after Henry Inman, after Charles Bird King, 1837
13. SIPGTO_150621_178.JPG: Tshizunhaukau, lifedates unknown A warrior, traditional healer, and noted sage, Tshizunhaukau was one of a delegation of Ho-Chunk (WInnebago) who accompanied Nawkaw to Washington, DC, in 1828. James Otto Lewis first painted Tshizunhaukau's portrait in 1827. Lewis published his own Aboriginal Portfolio of Indian portraits before McKenney and Hall completed their own project. Tshizunhaukau, according to McKenney and Hall, carried in this portrait an ingenious almanac-like device of his own invention, a rod covered with marks and figures representing the divisions of time, changes of the seasons, and weather calculations. H.D., after Charles Bird King, after James Otto Lewis, 1842
14. SIPGTO_150621_189.JPG: Mohongo (Myhangah), lifedates unknown Mohongo was one of six Osage Indians taken to Europe by an unscrupulous promoted who planned to exhibit them for profit. Leaving from New Orleans, the group arrived in Le Havre, France, in July 1827. Feted and admired in Paris, taken to the opera, and presented at court, they were a sensational success until their promoter abandoned them. Some of them died of smallpox, including Mohongo's husband. Reportedly, the Marquis de Lafayette helped to pay for the rest of the group to return to the United States. Thomas McKenney brought them to Washington upon their return, where Charles Bird King painted Mohongo and her infant in 183. John William Gear, after Charles Bird King, 1838
15. SIPGTO_150621_199.JPG: John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams sat for Moritz F�rst on May 30 and June 6, 1824; the medalist made a profile drawing on paper. Criticism of the likeness, however, delayed the creation of the medal until the following year.
16. SIPGTO_150621_206.JPG: John Quincy Adams The reverse of this medal is similar to those created for the presidents from Thomas Jefferson through Zachary Taylor: two clasped hands -- Euro-American (with a uniform sleeve) and Indian (with a crossed pipe and tomahawk) -- and the words "PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP."
17. SIPGTO_150621_231.JPG: Appanoose [Opponoos] or the Children's Chief The daguerreotype -- the first practical form of photography -- sparked a revolution in picture-making when it was introduced to the public in 1839. The first daguerreian portrait studio in the United States opened in 1840, and within a few years daguerreotypists were plying their trade throughout the nation. This portrait was made in St. Louis, Missouri, by Thomas Easterly, who photographed Chief Appanoose and other members of the Sac and Maequakie (Fox) tribes when they visited the city in 1847. In addition to his bear-claw necklace, the chief wears the Martin Van Buren peace medal that he received during his 1837 visit to Washington DC. Thomas Easterly, 1847
18. SIPGTO_150621_247.JPG: Andrew Jackson
19. SIPGTO_150621_265.JPG: Nesouaquoit Nesouaquoit was the son of a Mesquakie (Fox) chief who sided with the Americans in the War of 1812. The treaty concluded at the end of the war promised an annuity to the tribe. The payments were never received, and many years later, Nesouaquoit, who succeeded his father as chief, determined to plead the cause of his people. In 1837 he borrowed money for the journey and traveled to Washington, where authorities recognized the legitimacy of his claim (although he had to return in 1858 to further press his case). While he was there, Charles Bird King painted his portrait, including the peace medal featuring President Andrew Jackson. J.T. Bowen Lithography Company, after Charles Bird King, 1838
20. SIPGTO_150621_272.JPG: Keokuk, c 1790-1848 Musewont, lifedates unknown Keokuk, shown here with his son Musewont, was a tribal leader of the Sac. Renowned as a warrior, skilled orator, and savvy politician, he was a frequent representative in both intertribal and government negotiations. James Hall related seeing Keokuk when he came to Washington in 1837 and was painted by Charles Bird King. Hall admired his imposing stature and the richness of his Native regalia, as well as his dignified oratorical flair. The signer of numerous treaties, Keokuk undoubtedly received multiple peace medals and has used one to ornament his son's formal attire. Alfred M. Hoffy, after Henry Inman, after Charles Bird King, 1838
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