George Winter (artist) - Significance of Winter's Career

Significance of Winter's Career

Winter's artistic work on the Indiana frontier was predated by Charles Alexandre Lesueur and Karl Bodmer. In a private letter Winter speaks of six paintings of the Tippecanoe battleground, noting that two of them had dimensions of 152 square feet (14.1 m2) each. He described the collection as being taken from different points of view and altogether conveying the idea of the battleground and of the “surrounding romantic country.” The most noteworthy and valuable work left by Winter was a collection of paintings that he had not sold. All came into the possession of Mrs. Cable Ball of Lafayette, who donated them to the Tippecanoe County Historical Association in 1986.

In addition to Winter’s paintings there is a large manuscript collection of Winter’s papers that has important historic value due to its intimate description of the Wabash Indians. Winter’s first-hand writings about the relocation of the Potawatomi and Miami tribes is of significant value. Winter is best known for his documentation of the life of Frances Slocum, a Quaker child who was abducted by Indians and who grew up to become the wife of an Indian chief.

Segments of the George Winter collection are now available online through a cooperative project of the Tippecanoe County Historical Association and Purdue University Libraries Archives and Special Collections.