North American Auction Company
Timed Auction

Last Chance January Passed Lots Offering - Ends February 3rd

Mon, Jan 30, 2023 02:00AM EST - Fri, Feb 3, 2023 03:00PM EST
Lot 157

1911 Indian Boarding School Ledger Art White Bird

Estimate: $2,000 - $4,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$50 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,500 $250
Featured in this lot is this Indian Boarding School Ledger Art, by F. White Bird, 1911, Burl Frame. Depicting a Native American village scene strewn with Native American Indians, atop a reddish-hue background, while two mounted men, one a US Army soldier and the other presumably a white scout on horseback while the American flag is spreadout on the ground. Provenance: From The Webbster House Collection. From the title plaque, "Kenneth Webbster was a doctor who collected Native American memorabilia from about 1930 until his death in 1967. After his death, his kids turned his home / office into a mini gallery to display his collection. It was called the Webbster House Collection. The ledgers he collected are mostly all from either the Carlisle Indian Industrial School that was in Pennsylvania or a placed called St. Mary's Indian Board School in Wisconsin. Students were not just children and the schools served as what was referred to as re-education schools for adults well. Drawings were sent to donor and supporters of the schools as gifts and were coveted by many of the recipients. This would account for why the students of these schools were encouraged to draw these pictures." Ledger art is traditionally drawings done with pen, pencil, crayon and sometimes watercolor that the Indians obtained through trade or by taking them from soldiers bodies on the battlefield. For nearly 70 years, ledger art was a transitional medium that mirrored the changes in Plains Indian life at the time. The ledger art is in amazingly fine condition, minor tears noted to edges, matted mounted shadowbox-style. Professionally mounted, no obvious marring noted. Visible art measures 7.25"W x 11.25"L, frame is 15.5"W x 18.5"L x 1"D.