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Oklahoma Homesteader's photograph album, [ca. 1889]

1 volume

The Oklahoma Homesteader's photograph album contains pictures of ranch or homestead buildings, cowboys, and Native Americans in an unidentified prairie region in the late 19th century. Some of the Native Americans posed with guns and white soldiers, and one group wore military uniforms. Two items are photographs of watercolor paintings.

The Oklahoma Homesteader's photograph album (36cm x 29cm) contains 49 prints showing pictures of buildings, scenery, cowboys, women, Native Americans, and watercolor paintings. Sixteen images are exterior views of a ranch home and outbuildings in a flat, grassy area with few trees. Two men in wide-brimmed hats are sometimes visible, including one driving a two-wheel horse-drawn carriage. Nine photographs are interior views of the residence showing a wallpapered living room or office, a paneled bedroom, dining area, and kitchen.

Of particular note are the interior views that show hats, bridles, lassos, and rifles mounted on the walls in combination with full bookshelves, framed art and photographs, and decoratively arranged wheat stalks. A large framed print or painting of a cow is featured over the mantelpiece along with small cabinet photographs, feathers, and artifacts; the beds are covered with Native American blankets and carefully arranged newspapers; books, papers, and a book-press are visible. Also of note are views of the rustic kitchen with coffee advertising signs and genre prints displayed. One view shows a dinner table set for seven, while another shows a bearded man cooking over an iron woodstove. Two pictures show a pair of women posed outside of the house with a dog. Two images are exterior views of a property with a larger wood frame house that appears to have been recently constructed.

A group of 14 pictures depicts cowboys roping cattle, performing farm work, pitching horseshoes, and relaxing alone or in groups. One photograph shows a group seated on a blanket, playing cards with guns drawn.

The album has six photographs featuring groups of Native Americans; a band of Native American men brandishing rifles appear posed with a white soldier in a uniform jacket; a mixed-gender group of Native Americans includes several men in military uniforms, women and children; a group of women and children in front of a tipi; a group of women and children with a child's wagon; three Native American men in military uniforms; and a large group with uniformed men on horseback, women, and children, taken at distance with tipis in the background. The final two pages have photographs of watercolor paintings of prairie scenes featuring small buildings. The album has a brown leather binding with a moire-patterned blue cloth cover, and a spine label "0013" from a previous unknown owner.

A wall calendar appearing in an interior view indicates June 2 falling on a Sunday, which occurred in 1889 and 1895.