Sketch made on Indian Reservation c. 1890

Walter Shirlaw made this pencil sketch on paper sometime in the late 19th century. The inscription identifies the sitter as an interpreter at the Crow Agency, a reservation in Montana. Given the history of the American West at this time, the image represents the fraught space between the US government and the Native American tribes they sought to control. Federal agents and interpreters were crucial to this project. We might ask, how does Shirlaw portray this individual? Is he depicted as powerful or sympathetic? To understand this image fully, further research into the history of the Crow Agency, as well as the biographies of Shirlaw and the interpreter, would be invaluable. We might examine archives, newspapers and other visual materials from this period. Such research would help us better understand the complex social dynamics represented in this seemingly simple sketch.