Ledger shows intimate history of Sioux warrior Red Hawk
GERING, Neb. — Ledger books were most commonly used to keep track of accounting, but they also had another purpose. Many American Indians drew pictures and scenes from life inside their pages, creating a unique account of history. Some of that work can be seen in a temporary exhibit at the Legacy of the Plains Museum.
One such ledger drawn by Lakota Sioux Red Hawk contains colorful drawings of life as a Sioux. Many of the drawings are of himself.
“I think it’s great he drew himself and not just once. He did it several times,” Amanda Gibbs, director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum, told the Star-Herald reported. “It’s nice that it’s not just drawings of his buddies.”
On loan from the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne, “The Miller Collection of Sioux Indian Ledger Art,” the drawings on display are actual-sized replica copies from a leather bound ledger book purchased by the Milwaukee Public Museum. The leather-bound ledger was purchased in 1900 by the Milwaukee museum.