Ethnology of The Plains Cultures
Grinnell’s books and publications reflect his lifelong study of the northern American plains and the Plains tribes. Along with J. A. Allen and William T. Hornaday, Grinnell was a historian of the buffalo and their relationship to Plains tribal culture. In When Buffalo Ran (1920), he describes hunting and working buffalo from a buffalo horse.
Grinnell’s best-known works are on the Cheyenne, including The Fighting Cheyennes (1915), and a two-volume work, The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Lifeways (1923). His principal informant for both books was George Bent. George E. Hyde who may have done much of the writing. In 1928, Grinnell portrayed the story of Frank North and Luther North in Two Great Scouts and Their Pawnee Battalion. In other works on the Plains culture area, he focused on the Pawnee and Blackfeet people: Pawnee Hero Stories (1889), Blackfoot Lodge Tales (1892), and The Story of the Indian (1895).
Of his work, President Theodore Roosevelt said:
| “ | “In his books… Mr. George Bird Grinnell has portrayed with a master hand; it is hard to see how his work can be bettered.” | ” |
Selected papers by Grinnell were edited by J. F. Reiger in 1972.
Read more about this topic: George Bird Grinnell
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