Running Antelope, a prominent Hunkpapa Lakota leader, is portrayed here in a cabinet card produced by Alexander Gardner at his studio at 921 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., almost certainly during one of the diplomatic delegations Gardner photographed for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the late 1860s or early 1870s. Gardner, already celebrated for his Civil War documentation under Mathew Brady, became one of the foremost photographers of Native American delegation portraits during this period, and this image ranks among his most compelling.

Running Antelope faces the camera with a composed, direct expression, wearing a fringed hide shirt with multiple strand hair-pipe and bead adornments at the chest. A large circular peace medal hangs from his neck on a cord, and several upright eagle feathers are arranged in his long dark hair. He holds a substantial fan of large feathers across his body, and a fur-covered object is visible at his right shoulder.

Running Antelope (Tatankainyanke, c. 1821 to 1896) was a leading Hunkpapa Lakota warrior and orator who later became a prominent voice for his people during negotiations with the U.S. government and is known to have visited Washington on multiple delegation trips. The reverse bears the printed imprint "Alex. Gardner, 921 Penna. Ave., Washington, D.C.," with the handwritten inscriptions "Running Antelo[pe]" on the front lower mount and "Onglopa" on the reverse.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer