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The ''History of the Indian Tribes of North America'' is a three-volume collection of Native American biographies and accompanying lithograph portraits originally published in the United States from 1836 to 1844 by Thomas McKenney and James Hall. The majority of the portraits were first painted in oil by artist Charles Bird King. McKenney was working as the US Superintendent of Indian Trade and would head the Office of Indian Affairs, both then within the War Department. He planned publication of the biographical project to be supported by private subscription, as was typical for publishing of the time. Believing that Native Americans were threatened as a race, McKenney wanted to preserve a record of their leaders for government archives, as well as to share it with the American people. He commissioned Charles Bird King to paint portraits of leaders who came to Washington to negotiate treaties, and James Hall to write biographies of them. The publication project incorporated lithographs made from the paintings. ==Background== From about 1821,〔(Dates according to the list of paintings ) given by the Library of Congress〕 Thomas McKenney, the U.S. Superintendent of Indian Trade within the War Department, started to commission portraits from Charles Bird King of American Indians who had traveled to Washington, D.C. as delegates to negotiate treaties with the federal government. McKenney continued this project as head of the Office of Indian Affairs. King painted portraits of American Indians up to 1837.〔 Additional painters who were commissioned to paint portraits included James Otto Lewis, Peter Rindisbacher, and Henry Inman. McKenney said he wanted to preserve "in the archives of the Government whatever of the aboriginal man can be rescued from the destruction which awaits his race." He believed that American Indians were threatened as a people by the expansion of European-American society. Aware that there was ill feeling against them by those who wanted their land, he said they should be "looked upon as human beings, having bodies and souls like ours". The growing collection of portraits was first housed in the United States Department of War, which then had responsibility for Indian Affairs. In 1858, the original oil paintings were moved to ''The Castle'', the Smithsonian Institution's first building. It was also used as a repository and gallery for artworks. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Indian Tribes of North America」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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