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Primary sourcePhotograph1885

Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody, photographed by D. F. Barry

David Francis Barry · 1885

A studio photograph of Sitting Bull standing with showman Buffalo Bill Cody during the Wild West show tour in Montreal in 1885.

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

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Black-and-white studio portrait of two men standing side by side against a painted forest backdrop. On the left, an older Native American man wears a large feathered war bonnet, fringed and beaded buckskin clothing, and holds his arms at his sides. On the right, a man with a wide-brimmed hat, mustache and goatee wears a embroidered jacket, light breeches, tall leather boots, and rests one hand on a rifle held upright.
David Francis Barry, Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody, Montreal, 1885.

About this source

What it is

This photograph was taken by David Francis Barry in 1885. It shows Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody together in Montreal, Quebec, during the tour of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

Why it matters

By 1885 Sitting Bull had joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show for a season, appearing before paying audiences years after the wars with the U.S. Army. The photograph captures this unusual partnership between a famous Lakota leader and a showman who built his career partly on dramatizing the American West.

Why it matters

This image raises questions about how Native leaders were presented to the public and how their images were used for entertainment and profit.

Look closer

  • What does each man's clothing and pose suggest about how he wanted to be seen?
  • Why might Sitting Bull have agreed to join a show like this?
  • What does this photograph not tell us about what Sitting Bull thought of this experience?

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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Handwritten manuscript page on lined paper, titled 'Articles of a Treaty' in ornate script, with an opening paragraph naming United States commissioners and Sioux Nation delegates, followed by 'Article I' below. The page is aged and yellowed with visible tears along the top and bottom edges.Document

Primary source

Fort Laramie Treaty

29 April 1868

Colored reproduction card labeled 'Chief Sitting Bull Sioux' showing a man in profile with long braids, two feathers in his hair, a red neckerchief, and a beaded vest with geometric and floral designs.Photograph

Primary source

Sitting Bull Portrait by William Notman

William Notman · 1885

Sepia-toned studio portrait of a man with a long braided hair, wearing a light patterned shirt and a feather headdress, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression against a plain backdrop.Photograph

Primary source

Chief Sitting Bull

David F. Barry · 1884

Black and white studio photograph of two men standing in front of a painted forest backdrop. On the left, a older man in a long feathered war bonnet and fringed, beaded buckskin clothing holds a rifle. On the right, a man in a wide-brimmed hat, embroidered jacket, and tall boots rests a hand on his chest.Photograph

Primary source

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

Primary source

Dawes Act

Henry Dawes · 8 February 1887

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