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Primary sourcePhotographc. 1888

Sitting Bull Tobacco Card

c. 1888

A tobacco advertising card from around 1888 featuring a photographic portrait of Sitting Bull in a feathered headdress.

Sitting Bull's image was used commercially on this tobacco trading card, showing how his fame was exploited after his lifetime of resistance and performance.

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Sepia-toned tobacco card showing a bust portrait of a man in a feathered headdress and fringed, beaded clothing, with the caption SITTING BULL printed below the image and the brand name Old Fashion Fine Cut in script at the bottom.
Sitting Bull, Indian Chiefs series (N681), Old Fashion Fine Cut Tobacco, c. 1888. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This is a sepia-toned albumen photograph card from about 1888, part of the Indian Chiefs series (N681) issued to promote Old Fashion Fine Cut Tobacco. It shows a bust portrait of a man in a feathered headdress and fringed, beaded clothing, with his name printed below the image and the tobacco brand in script at the bottom. It is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection.

Why it matters

The card shows Sitting Bull during his lifetime, but repurposed as a commercial image to sell tobacco, part of a series of trading cards depicting Native American leaders. It reveals how his fame, built on real events including his resistance to the U.S. military and his time with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, was later used for advertising rather than to tell his own story.

Look closer

  • Why might a tobacco company have chosen Sitting Bull's image to sell its product?
  • What is missing from this card about who Sitting Bull actually was?
  • How does turning a person's photograph into an advertisement change its meaning?

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

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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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