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Primary sourcePhotograph1885

Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill

William Notman and Son · 1885

A studio photograph of Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill taken in Montreal in 1885 during the Wild West show tour.

Shows Sitting Bull during his time touring with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in 1885.

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Black-and-white studio photograph of two standing men against a painted forest backdrop. On the left, an older man wears a large feathered war bonnet and fringed, beaded clothing and holds nothing. On the right, a man in a wide-brimmed hat, embroidered dark jacket, light trousers and tall leather boots rests his hand on a rifle held upright. Handwritten signature appears at the bottom.
William Notman and Son, Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill, 1885.

About this source

What it is

This studio photograph was taken in 1885 by William Notman and Son in Montreal. It shows Sitting Bull, wearing a feathered war bonnet and beaded clothing, standing beside Buffalo Bill, dressed in Western attire and resting his hand on a rifle, against a painted forest backdrop.

Why it matters

The photograph documents Sitting Bull's time touring with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, a period when he became a public figure in American entertainment after years of resistance to U.S. government policy. It shows the complicated relationship between Native leaders and the entertainment industry of the era.

Look closer

  • What does each man's clothing and pose tell you about how he wanted to be seen?
  • Why might Sitting Bull have agreed to join a Wild West show after years of conflict with the U.S. government?
  • What does the painted backdrop suggest about how the photograph was staged?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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William Notman · 1885

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David F. Barry · 1884

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Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill

Wm. Notman & Son · 1885

Scanned page of the 1887 Act titled 'An Act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations', headed 'Forty-Ninth Congress of the United States of America; At the Second Session', with handwritten marks and a 'Public No. 105' stamp.Document

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