George Catlin was the first artist of stature to travel our Western Plains for the purpose of making a documentary record of the Indian tribes. Between 1830 and 1836 the visited and became well acquainted with almost all the important tribes, scattered over the vast and still little-known area from the Upper Missouri and the headwaters of the Mississippi to the Mexican Territory in the far Southwest. He made the most comprehensive pictorial record we have of these people in their natural state? portraits of the most notable of their chieftains, warriors, medicine-men and women, as well as pictures of their religious and other tribal ceremonies and dances, pursuits of warfare and hunting, games, amusement, and various other activities.