Here we have a wonderful image of a tearful-looking Sioux toddler, with a man crouched down beside him, as two women stand by, next to a child in a wicker baby-carriage who is peaking out at the toddler. The photographer has identified this as a Sioux village near Rushville Nebraska. If the women’s clothes weren’t enough to convince us this is a post-1900 photo, then the fact the Sioux are living in canvas tents, rather than teepees, should give us a clue.

This image, which is in the public domain because the copyright has expired, was copyrighted in May 1908, and probably taken shortly before that. The women’s heavy coats and the lack of vegetation, but no snow, suggests early Spring, probably March of that year. The photograph was printed as a real-photo postcard. The photographer is identified as S D Butcher & Son. That is Solomon Devore Butcher, whom we profiled under his image of Broken Bow Hardware. But that image credit didn’t mention the son. Solomon and his wife Lillie had two children, one son and one daughter. The son was Lynn J, born March 1883 in Nebraska. Lynn is listed in the 1900 census with his parents, in 1910 as a photographer with a wife and seven-month old son, and in 1920 as a salesman.