Large-format gelatin silver print of a Lakota (likely Brulé) boy photographed during the 1898 Indian Congress at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha. Made in the studio of Frank A. Rinehart and subsequently issued by the Heyn Photo Company, this portrait belongs to the pivotal body of work documenting more than five hundred Native delegates who traveled to Omaha for the federally sponsored exhibition.

The young sitter stands on a fur-draped studio platform and wears a full bone hairpipe breastplate, beaded leggings, moccasins, and feathered hair ornaments. He holds a wool blanket and cradles a small club or dance stick, posed before the painted backdrop used throughout the Rinehart sessions. The solemnity of the child’s expression and the care given to recording the details of his clothing place this among the most affecting juvenile portraits from the Indian Congress series.

Prints from these negatives were produced only in limited numbers, typically as presentation enlargements marketed to educators, museums, and Exposition visitors in the years immediately following 1898. Surviving examples of this size are far less common than the smaller platinum prints more frequently encountered.

Light toning and minor edge wear consistent with age, but strong clarity across the beadwork and hairpipe breastplate. A scarce, early enlargement from one of the defining photographic projects documenting Lakota cultural leadership at the close of the 19th century.