HISTORY TOPICS

Seth Eastman

Painter Seth Eastman is known primarily for his depictions of daily life among the Dakota and Ojibwa tribes in Minnesota. He was born to Robert and Sarah Lee Eastman on January 24, 1808, in Brunswick, Maine. Eastman attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he received training in sketching and topography. While at West Point, he began to paint scenes featuring the daily life of local Native American tribes.

In 1830 Eastman was assigned to topography duty on the frontier and spent a short time at Fort Snelling before returning to West Point to teach. While at Fort Snelling, Eastman married Wakaninajinwin (Stands Sacred), the fifteen-year-old daughter of Cloud Man, a Dakota chief. Eastman left in 1832 for another military assignment soon after the birth of their baby girl, Winona, and declared his marriage ended when he left. Winona was also known as Mary Nancy Eastman and was the mother of Charles Alexander Eastman, author of Indian Boyhood.

From 1833 to 1840, Eastman taught drawing at West Point. In 1835 he married his second wife, Mary Henderson, the daughter of a West Point surgeon. In 1841 he returned to Fort Snelling as a military commander and remained there with Mary and their five children for the next seven years. It was during this time that Eastman began visually recording the everyday way of life of the Dakota and Ojibwa people. His wife Mary also became involved in preserving Indian culture by writing books on local tales and legends, which he would illustrate for her. The most important of these books was entitled Dacotah, or Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling.

In 1847 Henry R. Schoolcraft, a former Indian agent, was chosen to conduct a study of the American Indian people. Eastman illustrated the six-volume set, published between 1851 and 1857 as Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Military Affairs also commissioned Eastman to paint images of seventeen important military forts, which he completed between 1870 and 1875. These paintings are now housed in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

Eastman died of a stroke while painting at his home in Washington, D.C., on August 31, 1875. Eastman's works are significant for Minnesota history because art historians believe that Eastman based many of his paintings and sketches on his observations in the Sioux villages of Kaposia and Little Crow, as well as in Scott, Wabasha, and Winona counties.

GET STARTED WITH SECONDARY SOURCES:

• The Art of Seth Eastman: A Traveling Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings Circulated by the Smithsonian Institution, 1959-1960, by John F. McDermott.
  Washington, D.C.: 1960?
  MHS call number: ND 237.E35 M3.
• "The Artist's Life, The Indian's World," by Patricia C. Johnston.
  In American History Illustrated, vol. 13, no. 9 (Jan. 1979): pp. 39-46.
  MHS call number: E 171 .A58 v.13:9.
• The Collection of Watercolor Drawings of the North American Indian by Seth Eastman in the James Jerome Hill Reference Library, St. Paul, by Frances Densmore.
  Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1961.
  MHS call number: ND 237 .E35 J3.
• Eastman, Cloud Man, Many Lightnings: An Anglo-Dakota Family, compiled by William L. Bean for the Eastman family reunion, 1989.
  Lincoln, Neb.: W.L. Bean, 1989.
  MHS call number: CS 71 .E137 1989.
• "Found (and Purchased): Seth Eastman Water Colors," by Lila M. Johnson.
  In Minnesota History, v. 42, no. 7 (Fall 1971): pp. 258-267.
  MHS call number: F 601.5 .M66 v.19, or view an electronic version of the article (PDF).
• "Historic Minnesota In Centennial Exhibition."
  Includes reproductions of paintings by Eastman and others.
  In Bulletin of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, v. 38, no. 10 (Mar. 5, 1949): pp. 46-52.
  MHS call number: N 582.6 .A15 v.38:10.
• Painting the Dakota: Seth Eastman at Fort Snelling, by Marybeth Lorbiecki; paintings and drawings by Seth Eastman.
  Illustrated with Eastman's work, this account gives in-depth biographical information as well as the history of the Dakota tribes in the Midwest.
  Afton, Minn: Afton Historical Society Press, 2000.
  MHS call number: E 99.D1 E23 2000.
• "Seth Eastman: Artist-Historian of Indian Life."
  In Gopher Historian, v. 19, no. 1 (Fall 1964): pp. 17-21.
  MHS call number: Reference Desk F 601 .G6 v.17-20.
• "Seth Eastman: Painting the Dakota," Kristian Berg, writer/producer.
  This video showcases Seth Eastman's work in history of the Dakota tribe.
  Afton, Minn.: Afton Historical Society Press; St. Paul, Minn.: Twin Cities Public Television, 2001.
  MHS call number: Videotape no. 946 (in the A-V Collection; 60-minute videocassette).
• Seth Eastman: Pictoral Historian of the Indian, by John Francis McDermott.
  Includes a checklist of Eastman's works, pp. 228-255.
  Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.
  MHS call number: ND 237 .E35 M33.
• Seth Eastman: A Portfolio of North American Indians, by Sarah E. Hoehme, Christian F. Feest, and Patricia Condon Jonston.
  Afton, Minn.: Afton Historical Society Press, 1995.
  MHS call number: Reading Room FOLIO ND 237 .E35 S47 1995.
• A Seth Eastman Sketchbook, 1848-1849, introduction by Lois Burkhalter.
  Includes a reproduction of Eastman's Texas journal for August of 1849.
  Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1961.
  MHS call number: NC 1075 .E16.
• "Seth Eastman's Water Colors" by Bertha L. Heilbron.
  In section titled "Sources for Northwest History."
  In Minnesota History, v. 19, no. 4 (Dec. 1938): pp. 419-423.
  MHS call number: Reading Room F 601.5 .M66 v.19, or view an electronic version of the article (PDF).
• Minnesota History index terms:
  • Eastman, Seth

PRIMARY RESOURCES:

• Artworks by Seth Eastman
  
• Books illustrated by Seth Eastman:
  • The American Aboriginal Portfolio, by Mary H. Eastman.
    Philadelphia: Lippencott, Grambo, 1853.
    MHS call number: FOLIO E 77 .E125 1853.
  • The American Annual: Illustrative of the Early history of North America, by Mrs. Mary H. Eastman.
    Originally published in 1854 under the title: Chicóra and Other Regions of the Conquerors and the Conquered.
    Philadelphia: Lippencott, 1855.
    MHS call number: Reserve E 77 .E15a.
  • Chicóra and Other Regions of the Conquerors and the Conquered, by Mary H. Eastman.
    A collection of engravings from drawings by Captain Seth Eastman, accompanied by descriptive text, illustrative of the history and customs of various tribes of North American Indians.
    Philadelphia: Lippencott, Grambo & Co., 1854.
    MHS call number: Reserve E 77 .E15.
  • Dahcotah, or, Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling, by Mrs. Mary Eastman; illustrated from drawings by Captain Eastman.
    • New York: J. Wiley, 1849.
        MHS call number: E 99 .D1 E15.
    • Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, 1962.
        MHS call number: E 99 .D1 E15 1962.
    • Afton, Minn.: Afton Historical Society Press, 1995.
        MHS call number: E 99 .D1 E15 1995.
    • The full text has been digitally imaged and is available through an         electronic link in the library catalog record.
  • Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, by Henry R. Schoolcraft; illustrated by Seth Eastman.
    The information for this work collected and prepared under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs per act of Congress of March 3, 1847. Eastman worked for five years on his military salary producing 275 pages of illustrations for this text. While Schoolcraft was a "sloppy researcher" and hard to work with, Eastman completed the illustrations in a careful and concise manner, with a strong personal interest in the subject matter.
    Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, 1851-57.
    MHS call number: Reserve FOLIO E 77 .S381.
  • The Iris: An Illuminated Souvenir for 1852 edited by . John S. Hart.
    Most of the material is about the American Indian, and Mrs. Mary Eastman wrote much of it. Re-published in 1853 with the title "Romance of Indian Life."
    Philadelphia: Lippencott, Grambo & Co., 1852.
    MHS call number: Reserve E 98 .F6 I6.
  • Romance of Indian Life: With Other Tales, Selections from the Iris, An Illuminated Souvenir, by Mrs. Mary H. Eastman.
    Philadelphia: Lippencott, Grambo & Co., 1853.
    MHS call number: E 98 .F6 R75.
• Books written by Seth Eastman:
  • Memoir of General Seth Eastman, U.S. Army.
    This account of Eastman's life was published after his death in 1875. It focuses on his life in the military, his art, and his relationship with his second wife, Mary. No mention is made of his first wife, Wakaninajinwin or his daughter, Winona.
    Washington, D.C.: [s.n.], 1875.
    MHS call number: ND 237 .E35 M5.
  • Treatise on Topographical Drawing, by Seth Eastman
    Eastman created this textbook to make the technique of map-making and map-reading more understandable. He created symbols that could be used on all maps and explains how to draw height, width, and depth on a two-dimensional sheet of paper. This textbook was made mandatory for all topography classes at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
    New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1837.
    MHS call number: Reserve TA 616 .E2.
• Letter, 1847 November 1.
  Photocopy of a letter from Seth Eastman at Fort Snelling to fellow artist Charles Lanman in New York City describing the possible sale of Eastman's Mississippi River sketches, completion of his painting "Indian Burial," and an invitation for Lanman to join Eastman in painting a Mississippi River panorama. The letter is part of the MHS "Manuscript Biographies Collections." The original letter is in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
  MHS call number: P939; see the green Manuscripts Notebooks for more details.
  
• Map of the Military Reservation of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 1857.
  In "Fort Snelling (Minn.) Maps, 1815-1965" collection. This particular maps is a copy from Record Group 77 (Office of the Chief of Engineers) in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
  MHS call number: C22 (there are 121 items in 13 folders, but only one is a Seth Eastman drawing); see the green Manuscripts Notebooks for more details.
  
• Newspapers that may be useful for this topic:
  • Minneapolis Tribune, especially April 13, 1958, and Nov. 12, 1961, p. 17 of the picture section.
  • St. Paul Pioneer Press, especially June 5, 1949.
• Photo and Art Database subjects that may be useful for this topic:
  • Seth Eastman
  • Artwork by Seth Eastman
• Check the library catalog for other materials.