Mandan, Sioux, Apache, Cheyenne, among countless other Native American tribes visited by Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, artist George Catlin, were studied over a period of thirty-four years in his life’s effort to preserve the “noble races of red men” who he recognized were fading from this earth.  His paintings, based on field studies gathered from his travels, witness the appearance, activities, and tribal customs of families of peoples who granted him privilege to record them in their most private moments, occasionally even in their secret ceremonies. Catlin defined his project as that of a preservationist, publishing his notes in 1841.  Through both his verbal and visual voices, his legacy continues the lives of these aboriginal people into the present day.  At the outset of his project, he wrote: I have, for many past, contemplated the noble races of red men who are now spread over these trackless forests and boundless parries, melting away at the approach of civilization.  Their rights invaded, their morals corrupted, their lands wrested from them, their customs changed, and therefore lost to the world,..I have flown to their rescue-not of their lives or of their race (for they are “doomed” and must perish), but to the rescue of their looks and their modes…; yet, phoenix-like, they may rise from the “stain on a painter’s palette,” and live once again upon canvass, and stand forth for centuries yet to come, the living monuments of a noble race.  For this purpose, I have designed to visit every tribe of Indians on the Continent…. If I should live to accomplish my design, the result of my labors will doubtless be interesting to future ages; who will have little else left from which to judge of the original inhabitants of this simple race of beings, who require but a few years more of the march of civilization and death, to deprive them all of their native customs and character. George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, 1841 The Lore Degenstein Gallery is privileged to share with its Susquehanna community fifty Catlin paintings selected from the Paul Mellon Collection of over 350 works given to the National Gallery of Art in 1965.  The assembled exhibition has toured college and university galleries around the U.S. for the last few years.  A National Gallery catalogue, authored by Donna Mann describing the life and experiences of the artist, accompanies the exhibition.   Valerie Livingston Catlin Painting the Portrait of Man-to-toh-pa-Mandan. George Catlin. Oil on paperboard mounted on heavier paperboard. 1861/1869. 18.5 x 24" Paul Mellon Collection 1965.16.184.