An Arapaho Agency Police officer stands at full length before a painted studio backdrop, captured in a cabinet card by C.C. Stotz at Fort Reno, Indian Territory. The imprint on the mount's lower border reads "Fort Reno, C.C. Stotz, Indian Territory," placing the sitting firmly within the reservation period, most likely the 1880s or early 1890s when Stotz operated at that location.
The subject wears a dark buttoned vest over a white long-sleeved shirt, a beaded or bone choker necklace, and a wide decorated belt with a white apron panel at the front. Long fur-wrapped braids hang down his chest, and his leggings carry geometric beadwork along the lower borders ending in fringe. He holds a cane or riding crop in his right hand and rests his left on a draped pedestal table beside a wide-brimmed light-colored hat.
The Darlington Agency at Fort Reno served the Southern Arapaho and Cheyenne, and agency police units were formally established there by the early 1880s to maintain order on the reservation under Bureau of Indian Affairs authority.
The reverse bears a pencil inscription reading "An Arapahoe Agency Police" and a later notation "LS++ / 1/21/96" in the lower right corner.
From the collection of James Lee Soffer
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