HETTINGER, N.D. (KFYR) – Native American history is rich in North and South Dakota.

While you can see much of it in museums, there’s a home in Hettinger filled with artifacts and clues to the past.

Dr. Thomas Jacobsen’s home feels a lot like a museum. There are historical pieces scattered throughout. And then there’s this: an entire wall filled with ledger art passed down from his great aunt, Mary C. Collins. She was a missionary on Standing Rock in the late 1800s.

“She did baptisms. She did funerals. She did everything there. She taught school. And she collected these pictures and she asked some of the natives to do them for her,” said Dr. Jacobsen.

Known as ‘ledger art,’ these pieces offer a glimpse into life on the reservation more than 100 years ago.

“Some of them were very good artists,” remarked Dr. Jacobsen.

Their canvas: papers taken from a ledger like this.

Dr. Jacobsen’s collection includes 22 pieces.

“Most of the time it was things that they had experienced themselves,” he explained.

All of the pieces were collected by his great-aunt during her years as a missionary.

“I just wish I had known her,” he said.

But through her collection of ledger art, Dr. Jacobsen has learned a lot about his great aunt and her influence on the people she served.

“She became fluent in Lakota,” he said. “She fit right in, and she won the respect and trust of the natives. She would sometimes be in charge of handing out commodities and she would tear a page out of a ledger book and ask them to draw a picture.”

To Dr. Jacobsen, these pieces are a valuable part of his family history and the history of this country. He hopes all who see these drawings walk away with a greater understanding and respect for Native Americans.

“These people were under a lot of duress. They were not treated very nicely by the government, by the soldiers, by the Indian agents, things of that sort. And yet they were willing to trust my great aunt,” he explained.

A trust and a relationship Dr. Jacobsen hopes to honor by keeping these pieces of history on display.

Dr. Jacobsen has had offers from people who want to purchase his collection. He’s turned them all down, saying he’d like the collection to stay in his family.

He has worked with the South Dakota Historical Society to preserve some of Mary C. Collins’ papers and he has donated copies of a few pieces to the Hettinger museum.

Copyright 2024 KFYR. All rights reserved.