A ceremony was reported from Standing Rock reservation on this day in 1913 that was hailed as “The Most Magnificent History Pageant in the History of the Sioux”. Although the acclamation remains an unofficial observation, the pageant was undoubtedly spectacular, involving several thousand participants and spectators. The Standing Rock Band was enlisted to perform, as well as many of the tribe’s warriors and dancers. This pageant was no regular ceremony, though. It was one of many stopping points made by an ambassador of millionaire Rodman Wanamaker of New York.

The son of the extremely successful merchant John Wanamaker, Rodman dreamed of creating a national memorial to the American Indian in New York City. Wanamaker pictured the memorial as a great museum on the banks of Staten Island near the entrance to New York harbor. In 1911, President Taft approved the bill submitted by Wanamaker to erect such a monument. Wanamaker created plans for the structure, which included a 65-foot statue of an American Indian on its top.

In anticipation of the future museum, the multi-millionaire sent a total of three expeditions into the American west between 1908 and 1913 to photograph and visit Native tribes. The largest of these expeditions was the last, conducted in 1913, and included the participation of 75 different tribes. Wanamaker enlisted the aid of Dr. Joseph Dixon to represent him and his endeavor to the Native Americans. Dr. Dixon traveled the country in a specially made railcar named the ‘Signet’. The goal of the exposition was to visit every tribe in the country, tell them of Mr. Wanamaker’s ambitions, send a message of peace, and to leave with each tribe an American flag. After several months of traveling among the Southwestern tribes, Dr. Dixon finally arrived at the Standing Rock Reservation south of Bismarck. There he was greeted and made welcome by the great crowd previously described.

Although the memorial proposed by Wanamaker was never completed, the photographs and objects collected during the three expeditions that he launched remain priceless records of Native American history. The complete collection of photographs taken by the expedition can be found in the Indiana University’s Mather Museum in Bloomington. In 1991, author Charles Fergus wrote a fictionalized account of the expedition in his novel “Shadow Catcher.”

Sources:
http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/rodman
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/guide
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos
Fargo Forum and Daily Republican (Evening ed.). October 4, 1913: p. 10, 13.

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