Historic Native American Portraits by Frank A. Rinehart

In 1898, Omaha, Nebraska, hosted the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition — a large fair designed to showcase the cultures and developments of the American West. One of its most remarkable features was the Indian Congress, a gathering that brought together hundreds of Native Americans from dozens of tribes across the United States. It was an extraordinarily rare assembly of people from so many different nations in a single location.

Frank A. Rinehart, a photographer based in Omaha, was appointed the official photographer for the entire Exposition. That role gave him direct access to the delegates of the Indian Congress. He set up a dedicated portrait studio on the Exposition grounds and, with his assistant Adolph Muhr — who later became a noted photographer in his own right — began systematically documenting the attendees.

Inside the studio, Rinehart and Muhr carefully posed each subject for their portrait. Most images focused on the head and shoulders. Subjects wore traditional clothing — feather headdresses, beaded garments, and jewelry that reflected their tribal identity and personal status. The photographs were made using large glass plate negatives, a technique that produced exceptionally detailed, high-quality images whose clarity remains striking today.

Rinehart photographed members from around 35 different Native American nations, including the Sioux, Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Flathead, Iowa, Kiowa, Omaha, Ponca, Pawnee, Sac and Fox, Wichita, and Zuni. The collection spans chiefs, warriors, women, and children — a wide cross-section of individuals who would rarely have been documented in such a formal, detailed way.

Each portrait is a direct record of a specific person at a specific moment in time. The images show precise details of attire, adornment, and personal appearance that written records alone could never fully capture. Below is the full collection of Rinehart’s portraits from the 1898 Indian Congress and the subsequent reservation visits that followed the close of the Exposition.