Featured in this lot are Photographs by Captain W. C. Badger from the Photo Collection of Col. A. B. Welch (1874-1945) of Arikara, Mandan and Gros Ventre warriors, their Dwellings and Medicine Lodges, developed in 1926, from ‘lost’ Stereopticon Views. These photographs are attributed to Colonel Alfred Burton Welch who was well known for his extensive artifact collection and lifelong association with the Sioux nations. The Welch Dakota Papers include thousands of pages of oral interviews, writings, newspaper articles and photographs of the Sioux, Arikara, Hidatsa and Mandan peoples. Welch is credited as the first white man adopted into the Yanktonai Sioux, a separate band from the Yankton Sioux; both are considered Western Dakota people, one of the three groupings belonging to the Sioux nation. Provenance: From the John Kleinschmidt collection which was on loan to the C.M. Russell Museum from 1987 to 1993 and included in the "The Cowboy West: 100 Years of Photography 1992-1993 exhibit. Descriptions of the five photographs include: #41, Sioux Dog and Cherry Mouth ("Red Bear called them Sioux Horse and Crow Wing, Foolish Woman identified them as Enemy Dog and Cherries in the Mouth", from Welch's original notes), 1872, Fort Berthold unnumbered #1, reproduction of "Issuing Annuities at Fort Berthold, 1872, View #28" as labeled by Badger unnumbered #2, reproduction of "Red River Cart, 1872, View #23" as labeled by Badger unnumbered #3, reproduction of "Bull Boat (Coracle), 1872, View #24" as labeled by Badger unnumbered #4, reproduction of "Dickinson, No. Dak. 1882". Of particular historical interest, "Issuing Annuities at Fort Berthold, 1872" shows a large group of Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa Indians at Fort Berthold Indian Reservation being issued annuities in the form of "rations". Annuities were a fixed sum of money or goods that the US government paid to Indigenous people on a regular basis for the sale of their lands. Treaties with Indigenous nations typically specified payments in dollar amounts over a period of years in return for land cessions. Indian agents, however, often diverted annuity payments for their own enrichment. For years, the term “Indian Agent” became synonymous with corruption. Some agents did their jobs honorably amid the terrible living conditions that prevailed on the reservations and reserves. Many others were corrupt, taking advantage of the remoteness of their situations by skimming their charges' annuities or by colluding with settlers to steal Indian lands. Such corruption contributed mightily to the uprisings of the 19th century. The five photographs are in very good preserved condition for being almost 100 years old, each measures 8"W x 10"L.