462 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
inence in American literature. Three of Cooper’s “Leatherstocking 
Tales” had met with acclaim by this date, and at least 39 novels pub- 
lished between 1824 and 1834 included Indian episodes. 
There was a parallel development in the drama. Barker’s “Indian 
Princess” (Pocahontas), staged in 1808, had a long line of successors. 
There were at least 30 so-called Indian plays staged between 1820 
and 1840 and 20 or more between the latter date and the Civil War. 
Some of these were dramatizations of the novels of Cooper, Bird, and 
Simms. The peak in the popularity of these Indian dramas also falls 
within the period (1830-70) that has been called “the golden days of 
the American actor.” Perhaps the most outstanding example is 
“Metamora, or The Last of the Wampanoags,” which was in the reper- 
toire of Edwin Forrest for almost 40 years. It was played in Phila- 
delphia every year—except two—for a quarter of a century. Forrest 
had specifically advertised in 1828 for a play in which “the hero, or 
principal character, shall be an aboriginal of this country.” William 
Cullen Bryant was the chairman of the committee which selected 
“Metamora” from the 14 plays submitted. It proved to be one of the 
most popular plays of the 19th-century American theater. ‘“Meta- 
mora” was played even after Forrest’s death, and a radio version was 
broadcast in 1939. During its theatrical lifetime, more Americans 
are said to have seen “Metamora” than “Abie’s Irish Rose” or “Tobacco 
Road” in the 20th century. 
In poetry, the Indian had appeared as a subject ever since the time 
of Freneau, but there was nothing that could compare with the initial 
impact and continuing popularity of “Hiawatha.” It became the 
poem of the American Indian. Before publication in 1855, there 
was an advance sale of 4,000 copies; in 5 months the sale had risen 
to 50,000 copies. It has been said that what was unique about Long- 
fellow’s poem was the fact that “ ‘Hiawatha’ was the first poem of its 
kind in America based on Indian legend rather than on Indian 
history.”?8 While true enough, it is clarifying to note that until 
1839, when Schoolcraft published his “Algic Researches,” there were 
no reliable collections of Indian myths or tales on which a poet could 
draw. It was, therefore, a historical accident that Longfellow came 
to exploit Ojibwa material; he had no other choice. Paradoxically, 
Schoolcraft himself published a poem dealing with the Creek Indian 
wars 12 years before “Hiawatha” appeared. He did not know the 
Creeks at first hand, while he knew the Ojibwas intimately, his wife 
being of that tribe. Evidently it never occurred to him to use his 
Ojibwa myths as the basis of a narrative poem. Thus Schoolcraft 
epitomizes the force of the traditional literary approach to the use 
of Indian themes. 
1 W. L. Schramm, Hiawatha and its predecessors, Philol. Quart., vol. 11, p. 341, 1932. 
