Striving for Recognition: Ledger Drawings and the Construction and Maintenance of Social Status during the Reservation Period

Plains pictographic drawings have been widely recognized as valuable historical documents capable of providing insights into nineteenth-century Plains Indian life. Yet, ledger drawings did not merely reflect the societies in which they were produced; they also played an active role in constituting these societies by shaping the social relations between individuals. This essay addresses the ways in which men’s social status was both constructed and expressed through the production of ledger drawings during the late nineteenth century. The present study confines itself to an analysis of drawings from the Southern Plains, focusing on the work of Southern Arapaho, Southern Cheyenne, and Kiowa artists in the Mark Lansburgh Collection.