BREAKING THE FRAME: HOW PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAKOTA-U.S. WAR OF 1862 INFLUENCE HISTORICAL MEMORY By JENNIFER ELAINE MCKINNEY Bachelor of Arts in History Baylor University Waco, Texas 2007 Master of Arts in American Studies Baylor University Waco, Texas 2009 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May, 2019 BREAKING THE FRAME: HOW PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAKOTA-U.S. WAR OF 1862 INFLUENCE HISTORICAL MEMORY Dissertation Approved: Dr. Douglas Miller, Dissertation Adviser Dr. Michael M. Smith Dr. Williams S. Bryans Dr. Lindsey Claire Smith ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to acknowledge the love and support of my friends and family, specifically my brother Kris and his wife Shawnta’l. I will be forever grateful for their unwavering love and their kindness. I am proud to show my nephew, Izayah, and my niece, Scarlett, that you can accomplish your goals and be proud of your achievements. My friends in Texas, Oklahoma, and all around the world have waited patiently for me to finish my degree, and I am thankful for the fortitude of their friendships. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful and beautiful friends and family who provided me with constant encouragement and enthusiasm towards my academic efforts. I am grateful to Oklahoma State University in the support I have received throughout my time as a graduate student. The administrative staff, professors, and, faculty are some of the finest individuals I have ever worked with. Thank you to the OSU Library and the interlibrary loan department for making my research feasible and efficient. I want to also acknowledge the Gilcrease Museum and my co-workers who shared in my passion for history. Specifically, I want to thank the Minnesota Historical City and the staff for their assistance as I conducted research in St. Paul, Minnesota. Finally, I want to recognize and thank Douglas Miller for taking on a graduate student who had never taken your class. I believe your guidance and mentorship is the reason I was able to complete this work. I am forever grateful. iii Acknowledgements reflect the views of the author and are not endorsed by committee members or Oklahoma State University. Name: JENNIFER ELAINE MCKINNEY Date of Degree: MAY, 2019 Title of Study: BREAKING THE FRAME: HOW PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAKOTA U.S. WAR OF 1862 INFLUENCE HISTORICAL MEMORY Major Field: HISTORY Abstract: This dissertation examines photographs of the Dakota-U.S. War of 1862, and seeks to highlight how photographs have shaped contemporary and persistent ideas about the War and the Dakota people. This work utilizes photographs of Dakota Indians as a primary tool to reconstruct and refract the historical narrative of the Dakota-U.S. War. The convergence of photography and mass consumerism resulted in a plethora of Dakota photographs beginning in 1858. This work looks at three specific groups of photographs between 1858 and 1865. The first photographs of Dakota Indians documented groups of Dakota delegates after negotiating treaties to sell their land in exchange for money and annuity payments. The next group of photographs were taken by photographers in St. Paul, Minnesota, and resulted in an explosion of mass production spurred on by high consumer demand. Photographers, like Adrian Ebell, traveled great distances in hopes of documenting life on the Dakota reservations in order to capitalize on the financial success of other indigenous photography. Focusing on the motivations and manipulative aspects of the subjects, the photographers, and the viewers of these photographs, this dissertation examines how images of the Dakota directly contributed to the persistent ideologies of settler innocence, which justified retaliatory violence and Dakota removal from Minnesota. The pervasive ideologies rooted in settler-colonial contexts have shaped historical memory, excluding Dakota peoples from engaging in public memory, and perpetuating the tension between Dakota and non-native in the re-telling of the past. Primary source material analyzed for this dissertation include photographs, Dakota prisoner of war letters, Dakota oral histories, published and unpublished Dakota narratives of the war and their life in Minnesota, Minnesota Historical Society Manuscripts Collections, the Gilcrease Museum’s panorama of the war, Newspapers, and captivity narratives. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 Theme ................................................................................................................. 4 Methodology ....................................................................................................... 8 Purpose ............................................................................................................. 18 Brief History of Dakota-U.S. War of 1862 ......................................................... 20 Review of Literature Pertaining to the Dakota-U.S. War of 1862 ....................... 24 Preview of Chapters ........................................................................................... 27 Conclusion......................................................................................................... 34 II. THE SUBJECTS................................................................................................. 36 The Subjects: The Dakota ................................................................................. 38 Delegation Photographs ..................................................................................... 40 Brief History of the 1837, 1851, and 1858 Dakota Treaty Delegations ............... 43 Deconstructing the Delegation Photographs ....................................................... 50 Deconstructing the Absent ................................................................................. 72 Four Years Later ................................................................................................ 77 Summer 1862 .................................................................................................... 81 Pre-War Photographs ......................................................................................... 84 Acton Murders ................................................................................................... 94 The War ............................................................................................................ 98 Post-War Photographs ..................................................................................... 113 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 125 III. THE PHOTOGRAPHERS ............................................................................... 128 Brief History of Photography ........................................................................... 129 Review of Literature Pertaining to Photography ............................................... 131 Deconstructing the Photographer ..................................................................... 136 Charles Deforest Fredericks ............................................................................. 137 Joel E. Whitney ............................................................................................... 140 v Chapter Page Benjamin F. Upton .......................................................................................... 142 Adrian Ebell .................................................................................................... 143 Breakfast on the Prairie .................................................................................... 150 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 153 IV. THE VIEWER ................................................................................................ 155 Luring the Viewers through Advertisements .................................................... 157 The Role of Newspapers .................................................................................. 162 Captivity Narratives ........................................................................................ 165 Celebrating Victory ........................................................................................ 168 The Panorama .................................................................................................. 170 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 181 V. MEMORY: “IT’S LIKE A FIGHT OVER WHO OWNS HISTORY” .............. 184 Scaffold Highlights Existing Problems ............................................................. 191 Shared Memory ............................................................................................... 199 Retaliatory Violence and Memory .................................................................. 202 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 209 VI. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 211 Remembering the Past ..................................................................................... 213 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 216 REFERENCES