Frank Albert Rinehart (February 12, 1861 – December 17, 1928) was an American photographer who captured Native American personalities and scenes, especially portrait settings of leaders and members of the delegations who attended the 1898 Indian Congress in Omaha.

Biography

German American Rinehart was born in Lodi (now Maple Park), Illinois. He and his brother, Alfred, moved to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in the 1870s and found employment at the Charles Bohm photography studio, in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In 1881 the Rinehart brothers formed a partnership with Western photographer William Henry Jackson, who had achieved widespread fame for his images of the West. Under Jackson's teachings, Rinehart's perfected his professional skills, and developed a keen interest in Native American culture. Frank Rinehart and Anna, the receptionist of Jackson's studio, married and in 1885 moved to

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. In downtown Omaha, Rinehart opened a studio in the Brandeis Building, where he worked until his death. Rinehart married Anna Ransom Johnson (daughter of Willard Bemis Johnson and Phebe Jane Carpenter) on 5 September 1885 in Denver County, Colorado. They had two daughters, Ruth and Helen, both born in Nebraska. In 1898, and in occasion of the Indian Congress held in conjunction with the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, Rinehart was commissioned to photograph the event and the Native American personalities who attended it. Together with his assistant Adolph Muhr (who would later be employed by the photographer Edward S. Curtis), they produced what is now considered ''"one of the best photographic documentations of Indian leaders at the turn of the century"''.excerpted from th
Kansas City Area Archivists
Tom Southall, former photograph curator at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

' Spencer Art Museum, said of the Rinehart collection: Rinehart and Muhr photographed American Indians at the Indian Congress in a studio on the Exposition grounds with an 8 x 10 glass-negative camera with a German lens. Platinum prints were produced to achieve the broad range of tonal values that medium afforded.From th
U.S. department of Interior Museum
online gallery of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition After the Indian Congress, Rinehart and Muhr travelled the Indian reservations for two years, portraying Native American leaders who had not attended the event, as well as depicting general aspects of the indigenous everyday life and culture. The collection of Rinehart Indian Photographs is currently preserved at

Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Indian Nations University is a public tribal land-grant university in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1884 as a residential boarding school for American Indian children, the school has developed into a university operated by t ...

. Since 1994, the collection has been organized, preserved, copied, and cataloged in a computer database, funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Hallmark Foundation. It includes images from the 1898 Exposition, the 1899 Greater America Exposition, studio portraits from 1900, and photographs by Rinehart taken at the

Crow Agency Crow Agency ( cro, awaasúuchia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment produced by the Real Bird family known as Ba ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

also in 1900.

References

*''Beyond the Reach of Time and Change: Native American Reflections on the Frank A. Rinehart Photograph Collection'', by Simon J. Ortiz. University of Arizona Press (April 28, 2005)

Gallery

File:SarahWhislter.jpg, Sarah Whislter, Sauk and Fox woman. File:YellowShirt.jpg, Yellow Shirt, Hunkpapa Sioux chief. File:WhiteBuffalo.jpg, White Buffalo,

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

chief. File:Wah-Ta-Waso.jpg, Wah-Ta-Waso,

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

woman. File:KickingHorse.jpg, Kicking Horse, Flathead Salish chief. File:GeronimoRinehart.jpg, Geronimo, Chiricahua Apache leader. File:FreckleFace.jpg, Freckle Face,

Arapahoe The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

woman. File:BonieHattie.jpg, Bonie Tela,

San Carlos Apache The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation ( Western Apache: Tsékʼáádn), in southeastern Arizona, United States, was established in 1872 as a reservation for the Chiricahua Apache tribe as well as surrounding Yavapai and Apache bands removed fr ...

; and Hattie Tom, Chiricahua Apache. File:Nasuteas (Kichai Woman), Wichita.jpg, Nasuteas ( Kichai Woman), Wichita File:Lone Elk by Frank Rinehart, 1899.jpg, Lone Elk by Frank Rinehart, 1899

External links

LJWorld Photogalleries: Frank Rinehart
(online gallery of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition)
Boston Public Library
Photos by Rinehart {{DEFAULTSORT:Rinehart, Frank American portrait photographers Artists of the American West American people of German descent Native Americans in art Artists from Omaha, Nebraska 1861 births 1928 deaths People from Maple Park, Illinois Photographers from Nebraska Photographers from Illinois 19th-century American photographers 20th-century American photographers