The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

Commentary on "Paul"

The drawings that accompany the Gertrude Käsebier photography collection for the Sioux Indians, are not all fully identified for artistry. Who made these sketches? We don't know in every case. But there's one sketch that is identified with the name Paul. There's a tipi, there's a dancing figure, and then there are three figures apparently, from how many feet are showing below the blanket, but potentially three individuals wrapped in the blanket. What is the significance? Is this a family? Is this again part of something like what Sammy Lone Bear interpreted as "Catch Girls," courtship? Very interesting to think about how the Indians were reflecting their lives and what was important to them. We don't know who Paul is, it could be that he's one of the Indians we see in the photographs, but we don't yet know, and if we do locate him we will know a little bit more about the individual and this drawing.