HODGE— INDIAN PORTRAIT GALLERY 



Gallery received additions also as a result of the work of A. Ford, 

 above mentioned, S. M. Charles, G. Cooke, Shaw, and an artist who 

 signed the initials R. T. But it was between 1825 and 1827 that the 

 collection received its principal growth, fifty-seven portraits having 

 been added in those years so far as the record shows, but it may be 

 said that only ninety of the entire collection of one hundred and 

 forty-seven paintings were dated. In 1828 only two portraits were 

 added; in 1829, one, and in 1830, the year of McKenney 's dismissal 

 owing to the machinations of strong political enemies, one other. 1 

 The Gallery received no further accessions until 1835, neither Mc- 

 Kenney's successor nor the other officials of Jackson's administration 

 evidently caring to stoop to such trifles as Indian portraits; but in 

 1835 three new pictures were placed in the collection, and in 1837 

 it received its final accession of twenty-four portraits by King and 

 Cooke. In this year Joel R. Poinsett was Secretary of War and C. A. 

 Harris in charge of the Office of Indian Affairs. 



Before his dismissal from office in 1830, McKenney had already 

 anticipated the publication of an elaborate work on the Indian tribes, 

 illustrated with the portraits in the National collection, for we find 

 him in Philadelphia in that year, negotiating with Samuel F. Bradford 

 for its publication; but these negotiations were not consummated. 



1 A "Letter from Thomas L. McKenney, Esq., Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to his friend 

 in Baltimore, dated Georgetown, May 15, 1828," sheds some interesting information respecting the 

 origin and cost of the portraits in the Indian Gallery. The letter, published in the National In- 

 telligencer of Washington city, reads in part as follows: 



"The price paid to Messrs King and Ford for taking Indian likenesses, with the view of preserv- 

 ing the exterior and appearance of these hapless People, and their costume, etc., is, for each head 

 and about half the body, $20. In full lengths, more, of course, has been given. The average cost 

 of this collection, since 1821, is perhaps $3,000 for one hundred and sixteen heads, and the cost for 

 each head, including the full length likenesses, of which latter there are five, is about §33. 



"Apart from the great object of preserving in some form, the resemblances of an interesting 

 People, whose original aspect is fast fading away, and will soon be gone; and to whose country we 

 have succeeded, and who are perishing before our presence, and because of it; there is another, if of 

 less interest, yet, perhaps of more active influence, and can be seen to be proper by more people, 

 it is presumed, than can comprehend the value to posterity, of being ready with the answer to the 

 question, which it is fair to presume will be asked: 'What sort of a being was the red man of America?' 

 It is the policy of the thing. Indians are like other people in many respects — and are not less sensi- 

 ble than we are, to marks of respect and attention. It is known to you, I presume, that deputa- 

 tions come on to Washington frequently, on business of deep interest to their tribes and to the 

 United States. They see this mark of respect to their people, and respect it. Its effects, as is known 

 to me, are, in this view of the subject, highly valuable. But it may not be for me to justify this 

 branch of national policy. I am quite content, anyway. If the Congress, who represent the People, 

 whose servants we are, think it right to do so, this collection can be sold, at any moment, for double 

 its original cost. And with it may go, without any regret of mine, of a personal kind, all the little 

 relics which, in my travels, I have picked up, and at great trouble brought home with me. It is no 

 fancy scheme of mine. It was begun by one [evidently John C. Calhoun] who is more enlightened 

 than I profess to be, and continued by another [James Barbour] who is also highly qualified to judge 

 of the fitness of the thing, and of whom no man, who knows him, can feel else than respect and 

 friendship. I will just add, that our own citizens who visit Washington, and those who visit it 

 from other countries, unite in commending this grouping of our Indians from the four corners of 

 our land, as an affair of great interest, and which posterity will be thankful for." 



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