A stereograph depicting a manikin in Plains Indian clothing initiated this project. The manikin was made in the likeness of an Oglala Teton Sioux Chief, Red Cloud, whose 1872 visit to Washington was the impetus for making the figure. The same manikin was used again in the 1876 Centennial Exposition with a change of clothing to suggest a more warlike image. This essay explores why Red Cloud was selected as the subject for the manikin and shows how the study of the photograph led to identifying objects in the Smithsonian collections that had lost their provenance.
