Browse Items (32 total)

The cowboy came to be the icon of the American West in the mid-1880s, precisely when his traditional way of life began to disappear. By then Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska had closed their borders to cattle being herded from the south, and the open…

The Mormons began their westward migration in 1846 to escape religious persecution. They were largely responsible for settling the Utah Territory and had remarkable success as farmers there, despite the arid climate. In this photograph, likely of a…

Arguably, no one did more to perpetuate the romantic ideal of the West in the American consciousness than William "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917). Cody was a true Westerner, having worked as a messenger for the Pony Express, as a scout for the U.S.…

O'Sullivan took the photograph displayed here during Lt. George M. Wheeler's (1842-1905) 1873 survey of eastern Nevada and Arizona. Wheeler twice described O'Sullivan's domestic image, once in 1874 and again in 1889, and his remarks reflect the…

Many U.S. treaties with American Indians included promises of food and clothing because the tribes were often prohibited from entering their traditional hunting grounds. This photograph shows members of the Sioux Nation collecting beef rations at an…

O'Sullivan was also hired by military engineer Lt. George M. Wheeler's (1842-1905) as a survey photographer for the Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian in 1871, 1873, and 1874. He took the photograph…

Tuell was a self-taught photographer who lived with her schoolteacher husband on Cheyenne and Sioux reservations in Montana and South Dakota. She taught home economics at reservation schools and in her spare time documented the social customs and…

The Ghost Dance movement began in Nevada in 1889, promising American Indians the coming of a messiah who would vanquish the whites and aid in restoring the natives' way of life. The Ghost Dance quickly spread east to the Sioux reservations in North…

The U.S. government settled the West in part by promoting agricultural development, even in areas, such as the Pacific Northwest, that were not ideal for farming. Many settlers in the richly-timbered region often worked as loggers or in sawmills to…

The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad described itself as "The Scenic Line of America," and hired Jackson in 1881 to illustrate the assertion for its advertisements. On commissions through the 1890s, Jackson traveled along the line on the railroad…