[Unidentified Man Posing with Five Men in Native American Dress]

Your Mirror: Portraits from the ICP Collection
Section: Self presentation
In the nineteenth century, Native Americans were often presented as curiosities to Anglo-American colonists at expositions and fairs. Itinerant tintypists also frequented these kinds of events, and the man in Western dress may have wanted a souvenir of his visit. Although other groups wore similar headdresses with upright feathers, only Penobscot Nation members in Maine and Canada used turkey feathers with a forward curve and decorated forehead bands.