SHIELDS AND LODGES, WARRIORS AND CHIEFS - KIOWA DRAWINGS AS HISTORICAL RECORDS

Nineteenth-century Plains drawings and paintings on paper are potentia lly rich ethnohistoric sources. This paper explores the kinds of infor mation which can be gathered from ledger art, discussing the images bo th as vital documents of their creators and users and as records of sp ecific events and portraits of known protagonists. Varying subjects ex plored in drawings dating from the reservation era raise questions con cerning potential influences on the development of the art form.