Original Circa 1890 Cabinet Card With Full Length Seated Portrait Photograph of a Beautiful Indian Maiden Titled "Cheyenne Girl in Full Dress"

(Native American Interest) Stevenson, Henry James (1864-1944) photographer. Original Circa 1890 Cabinet Card With Full Length Seated Portrait Photograph of a Beautiful Indian Maiden Titled "Cheyenne Girl in Full Dress." El Reno, Ok[lahoma]. Ter[ritory]: [H.J.] Stevenson, Art Studio, circa 1890. Full-length studio portrait measuring 3-7/8" x 5-7/8" on the original printed studio cardstock mount measuring 4-1/4" x 6-1/2". The mount verso bears a modern penciled identification: "Southern Cheyenne / (Later known as 'Lizzie Pendleton')." The condition of the photograph is (8/10) - VERY FINE; Mild or moderate condition issues visible under very close inspection or under raking light; mount with only trivial signs of handling or wear. Material Culture and Frontier Studio Portraiture of the Southern Plains This portrait represents a highly detailed documentation of Southern Plains indigenous material culture during the transition to the reservation era in Oklahoma Territory. The subject is captured in a formal studio setting, seated in a chair draped with a trade blanket, juxtaposed against Victorian studio props including a floral arrangement. She faces the camera directly, attired in a traditional Cheyenne hide dress extensively ornamented with rows of dentalium shells, bone breastplate elements, and intricate beadwork. Her adornment includes multiple metallic bracelets, drop earrings, rings, and hair wrapped in elongated, ribbon-bound braids. Photographed in El Reno—a pivotal frontier town adjacent to Fort Reno and the Darlington Agency—the image captures the complex intersection of traditional tribal wealth display and the standardized conventions of late nineteenth-century commercial frontier photography. Photographic Legacy of H. J. Stevenson and Institutional Census Henry James Stevenson operated a prominent commercial studio in El Reno, recording the land runs, military personnel, and indigenous populations of the region during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Stevenson's ethnographic portraits are noted for their technical clarity and focus on individual identity rather than generic caricature. In 1913, Stevenson sold a foundational corpus of 150 indigenous photographs to the Oklahoma Historical Society, establishing the definitive public archive of his work. The survival of individual commercial printings from his studio on original mounts is uncommonly scarce. A current global institutional inventory confirms that only a single copy of this specific photograph is held in public collections, preserved as part of the surviving 56-piece Stevenson sub-collection within the permanent archives of the Oklahoma Historical Society. A PRECISELY PRESERVED FRONTIER CABINET PORTRAIT FROM OKLAHOMA TERRITORY, OFFERING SIGNIFICANT PRESERVATION OF SOUTHERN CHEYENNE MATERIAL CULTURE AND MATERIAL DESIGN FOR SPECIALIZED ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND WESTERN AMERICANA COLLECTIONS. # 001284