Autograph Letter, signed, with several original sketches of Native Americans. 4 pages.
To Rev. Charles Alphonso Curtis, Augusta, Maine. “…This agency is situated on a kind of Plateau…in front of us – and at our back – a mile – the Dakota Hills…no trees, excepting in the ravines which surround us on three sides – about 8 buildings – most of them log houses, the warehouse being of yellow brick. The only wooden frame house being the agent’s. There are about 18 ‘whites’ here – employees – and 2000 Indians on the reservation… touching Lake Traverse (between Minn. & D.T.) We are 50 miles from Railroad – 62 from the mail point. Twice a week – in good weather, a mule train brings the mail…when we get no mail, we are subjects for imprisonment - we are not safe to run loose (speaking of laziness, the Indian – the noble redmen – exceed any other animals.) I’m making ‘lots’ of sketches – though now its rather cool for outside work – have filled 4 books besides lots of old bits. Was fortunate enough to see a regular Indian Dance when I came here. The Dresses were not very heavy – but gaudy,,,calico shirt with tin bracelet, ornament of feathers and pounds of paint. They are not modest... the women are equal to the men as regards their elegant costume…the squaws carry all the loads and do all the work, the men hunt occasionally but don’t injure themselves with exertion…Of course, there are lots of half-breeds here, but they seem to be no worse than the full bloods – but they are all the meanest, most [?] lot that ever lived. You do a favor to an Indian and he’ll ask for more. If you humor him again, he’ll next demand more. When he can get nothing more, he’ll turn on you. They are ‘full of cussedness’…” Will Phillip Hooper (1855-1938) was only 23 when, after art study in New York, he joined his father, an Indian agent, on a Reservation on the Minnesota-Dakota border and wrote this cynical description of his first experience among Native Americans to a friendly Maine clergyman. Hooper’s prejudices would fade with time as he developed an artistic passion, already evident in these early drawings, for western themes; his later illustrations of western frontier life would appear in newspapers and magazines, including his autobiographic “Indian Agency Sketches”, now reprinted on the Fine Art Registry website. While working in an advertising agency, he was also a prolific book illustrator of Victorian novels - but, curiously, none being stories of Western Americana.