This handsome book presents the work of George Winter (1809–1876), an artist who spent most of his productive life on the Indiana frontier of the 1830s and 1840s. Winter is the state’s most famous early artist and is particularly noted for his illustrations of the local Indian population during the period when they were preparing for removal westward. The artist also painted portraits of such frontier personalities as John Tipton (1786–1839) and Frances Slocum (1773–1847), a variety of landscapes, and copies of classical art. Without doubt the most significant contributions from a historical perspective are his views of the Potawatomi and Miami people. Attracted to the Indians by their pending removal from Indiana, Winter began to sketch their daily activities and to document some of the more important councils held with government agents. While art historians do not generally regard Winter as a polished artist, the large number and general accuracy of his works provide a significant window to the past.

The book, published by the Indiana Historical Society and the Tippecanoe County Historical Association, is primarily a catalog of the 760 drawings and watercolors of George Winter held by the Tippecanoe association at Lafayette, Indiana. Entries list the title, date, size, and distinguishing features of each illustration. A significant proportion of his works are printed in the book, which also includes a color portfolio. Whenever possible, the catalogers have used Winter’s own journals to describe the entries.

Were the work to end here, it would not warrant review in a historical journal. The publishers, however, have wisely included two important essays placing Winter in the context of his times. Christian F. Feest discusses the art of Winter in terms of his personal life, training, and relationship to the art world. Of particular importance is Feest’s evaluation of Winter’s works as ethnographic documents. The historian R. David Edmunds, a scholar familiar with the Potawatomi and Miami Indians, provides a well-written essay analyzing the native culture that Winter observed. Edmunds also discusses what Winter’s illustrations can tell us about everyday native life and tribal politics and the degree to which they had been influenced by white society. Edmunds concludes that while Winter may not have been trained as an ethnologist, his “paintings, sketches, and journals provide a valuable chronicle of these Indian people and their activities.” In sum, this book gives life to the world of Indians and whites on the Indiana frontier. It will be useful both to local historians and to those interested in native life.

Robert A. Trennert, Arizona State University, Tempe, The Journal of American History, September 1994

Oklahomans often forget that much of the history of Oklahoma’s Native Americans occurred elsewhere. Indians and a Changing Frontier: The Art of George Winter by Sarah E. Cooke and Rachel B. Ramadhyani is a fascinating and highly visual study of two Oklahoma tribes, the Miamis and the Potawatomis. The publication resulted from a request from Francis Levier of the Citizen Band Potawatomi Indians of Oklahoma to the Indiana Historical Society to reprint their 1948 volume, The Journals and Indian Paintings of George Winter, 1837–1839.

George Winter arrived in Logansport, Indiana, in the spring of 1837 and by summer was sketching Potawatomis. As an artist, he is best known for his sketches of Potawatomis and Miamis.

Christian Feest’s essay entitled “G. Winter, Artist” reviews Winter’s work, noting that he painted into the 1870s and that his sketches are accurate and important ethnographic documents. Unlike many of the artists who recorded Native Americans in the western United States, Winter’s work documents two tribal groups rarely portrayed elsewhere.

R. David Edmunds’ essay entitled “George Winter: Mirror of Acculturation” focuses on culture change among the Potawatomis. Winter recorded much of that change including the detrimental effects of alcohol abuse. Edmunds notes that many Potawatomis who converted to the Catholic Church during that period retained much of their traditional values while practicing their new faith.

It also was during that period that the federal government began attempting to buy Potawatomi lands. Catholic priests opposed the land sale. While painting a removal encampment in 1838, Winter praised the priests’ stand in his journal.

Winter’s sketches are excellent documents recording the Potawatomi and Miami in the mid-nineteenth century. When combined with his journal they provide primary information on material culture, political processes, and other aspects of everyday life as well as insight into the personality of specific individuals. Many of those individuals participated in several special councils that Winter recorded.

The illustrative sections of this volume are divided by subject into works focusing on landscapes, animal and sporting studies, portraits, and Native Americans, the largest section. The volume combines the essays discussed above with George Winter’s art work with captions from his extensive notes. It is an important volume that provides the reader with a significant insight into the history and customs of two of Oklahoma’s Native American groups.

Marshall Gettys, State Historic Preservation Office, Oklahoma City, The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Winter 1994–95

This book is a valuable asset for students of American Indian history, because it provides information about the cultural changes of two American Indian nations that chose to compromise with the demands of the United States Indian policies of the 1880s and therefore survived as distinct groups of people. George Winter’s journal, sketches, and paintings about the Potawatomi and Miami nations of Indiana provide valuable insights about the acculturation of both of these Indian nations of the 1800s.

Survival, acculturation, conflicts between value systems, and the forced westward movement of the Potawatomi Indians of Indiana were major points of interest for this reader. George Winter’s writings and artwork about the Potawatomi and Miami Indians furnish documentation and examples of government policy toward American Indian people. In addition, the book provides a graphic picture of what happened to other American Indian peoples whose ancestral homes were east of the Mississippi in the 1800s. Many Indian nations lost their ancestral homes and traditional lifestyles because of the Removal Act of 1830 and were sent to live on reservations in other parts of the United States.

Winter’s journal indicates the choices given to the Potawatomi Nation by the United States after the War of 1812: Move westward to Kansas or lose everything; trade your woodland way of life for reservation living in Kansas. Many of his observations about the Potawatomi peoples were made before and during the Keewaunay Council of 1837.

Winter sketched many of the famous Potawatomi leaders such as Pel-waw-me, No-wash-moan, Noah-quet, and I-owah, and his sketches provide evidence of the acculturation process of the Potawatomi and Miami people. In these portraits, both Indian women and men wear European types of clothing; long cloth dresses, frock dress coats, long-legged cloth pants, and ruffled shirts. Very little evidence appears of the traditional dress and culture of either group. Buckskin, beads, and feather headgear are not evident in the majority of his sketches. In his writing, Winter indicates that he sometimes requested his Indian subjects to add or change clothing to indicate “Indianness” in the romantic sense, as expected by the non-Indian audience.

Winter’s journal provides insights into the values and lifestyles of the Potawatomi and the Miami, including the ceremonial use of tobacco, the roles and responsibilities of women and men, the spiritual beliefs, and the communal nature of possessions. Sometimes Winter’s lack of understanding of these people is evident, especially when he calls women squaws and refers to tribal members as primitive or aboriginal peoples. He admired their culture but did not understand the rationale behind many of their customs.

As a researcher and teacher, I liked the organization of this book. It is divided into three parts: The first, an essay by Christian F. Feest, prepares the reader to understand the artist, George Winter. The discussion of his life in England and America serves as a foundation for understanding his writing and artwork.

The second part of the book is an essay by R. David Edmunds, who provides background for understanding the Potawatomi and Miami people. He describes their origins and the history of their emigration, their lifestyle and values, their language, dress, and occupation as fur traders. He describes how both tribes adjusted to the culture of French settlers nearby. Many lived peacefully with their French neighbors, intermarried with them, learned their language, and adopted some of their clothing styles.

The third part of the book contains the actual writings and artwork of George Winter. His verbal portraits of people and scenes are colorful and clear. In describing the Indians who agreed to sit for paintings, he often included explanations of local Native American traditions, such as the giving of tobacco.

Winter sketched Indian leaders, women, log homes and trading posts, horses, and the peaceful scenery of lakes and woods. Included in this book are forty-eight pages of color reproductions of many of his American Indian paintings.

Several years ago, I reviewed a book about George Catlin by Brian W. Dippie. In reading this book about George Winter, who was Catlin’s contemporary, I noticed several similarities between the two men: Both were poor, struggling artists who had trouble supporting their families. Both portrayed American Indians during the 1800s, and both wanted to sell their collections to the United States government. It appears that neither was successful in the attempt.

The major difference between these artists was the way they portrayed their Indian subjects. Winter’s view of American Indian peoples was much more realistic. He painted Indians as he saw them and did not romanticize them as much as Catlin did.

Throughout my perusal of this book, I kept asking myself, “How did the Potawatomi Nation end up in Indiana?” During my childhood in Wisconsin, I spent many enjoyable days in Potawatomi State Park near my home, and I knew that the Potawatomi were a Wisconsin Indian nation. When did the Potawatomi move to Indiana? My answer was found in Keepers of the Fire: The History of the Potawatomi Indians of Wisconsin, published by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The Potawatomi Nation migrated down the St. Lawrence River and settled along the shores of Lake Michigan. Years later, as the population of the nation grew, some members moved south to Indiana. Thus Winter found the Potawatomi Nation in Indiana and recorded part of their history in both writings and pictures.

I recommend Indians and a Changing Frontier for both high school and college students. Serious study of this book will help students learn about the causes and effects of the Removal Act of 1830 and will provide them with some important understandings of acculturation and survival. In addition, it will help American Indian youth develop some insights into how their people have changed.

Leona M. Zastrow, St. Catherine Indian School, Santa Fe, New Mexico, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 1994 (Vol. 17, No. 4)

“Apart from a 1948 monograph, George Winter has gone largely unnoticed. This handsome, scholarly catalog, featuring sixty-one color plates among its many illustrations, redresses that wrong and makes a reasoned case for Winter’s historical importance. It may not succeed in elevating him above his regional reputation, but it pays fair tribute to a painter who witnessed a crucial moment in Potawatomi and Miami affairs and created an “unsurpassed” visual record (37) of a people in the throes of violent change.”

Brian W. Dippie, University of Victoria, B.C., Journal of the Early Republic, Winter 1994

“This elegantly published volume includes a catalog that is as complete as possible of Winter’s ethnographic drawings as well as other items of interest to Hoosiers including sketches of the Tippecanoe battlefield and individuals of importance in Indiana history. Of particular interest are the drawings of Frances Slocum, a Pennsylvanian captured as a child by Delaware Indians. Then living with the Miamis, she allowed Winter to paint her portrait, which had been commissioned by her brother when she refused togive up her Indian way of life and return to her family.

This volume is a must for libraries and anyone interested in the history of America’s native peoples.”

Herman J. Viola, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Indiana Magazine of History, September 1994