Native American Ledger Art
Courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives
Native American Ledger Art
Pictographic art
 Prehistoric
art style first used on rocks and
animal skins.
 Later drawn in journals procured from the
white traders and trappers.
 In 1920’s, drawn by children in boarding
schools
Children drew pictures in the ledger books their
teachers gave them for assignments
 That is how the art style came to be called
ledger art.
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Native American Ledger Art
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To view ledger art by Walter Bone Shirt kept
in the University of Montana library, click on
the link below.
 Once at the web site:
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Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on
“more images.”
Click on the first image (front cover).
To see more images, go up to the green strip and
click on “next”.
When finished viewing examples, press close box
(X) to return to the slide show.
Ledger Art
Native American Ledger Art
 We
will share two stories
 The
first story is a fiction book that shows
illustrations of traditional ledger art.
 The
second story is a fiction book with
illustrations that have been influenced by
ledger art.
Two Stories of Ledger Art

We will first read The Ledgerbook of Thomas
Blue Eagle
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Written and illustrated by Gay Matthaei and others
Notice how similar the illustrations are to the ledger art
by Walter Bone Shirt that we saw online.
STOP here and read the story.
We will now read Crazy Horse’s Vision
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Written by Joseph Bruchac
Illustrated by S.D. Nelson
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S.D. Nelson’s art style has been heavily influenced by ledger
art.
Please look at the story’s art work as we share the book
together.
STOP here and read the story.
Ledger Art Questions
 What
is ledger art?
 Pictographic
art adapted from rocks and
animal skins to paper
 Where
was it first used?
 On
journals and ledger sheets from the
trappers and traders.
 When
 In
did children start to use it?
the 1920’s at Indian Boarding Schools
Ledger Art Activity

Choose one of the two stories we have just
read for your drawing.
 Fold one white 12” x 18” piece of construction
paper into fourths.
 In each panel of your construction paper,
write a sentence that describes one of the
events from the story you have chosen.
 Using ledger book style, sketch a
representation of each sentence.
 Color in each sketch carefully and completely.
 Put your name on your four-panel art work.