Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Conditions of the North American Indian

This masterpiece was written by George Catlin between the years 1832 and 1839 as a collection of notes, letters and paintings that illustrate his travels throughout North America. His paintings comprised the first record to illustrate the Plains Indians and their homelands to the West of the Mississippi River. It wasn't until Catlin's work that allowed the American colonists of the eastern states to visualize and truly understand the conditions of the Pawnees, the Blackfeet and Crows, the Sioux, and even the wild Comanches; learning the ways of a native life and their customs. It still holds to this day anthropological value and information that brings a modern reader to understand how foreign colonization affected their culture and livelihood.