Charles S. Stobie in his studio, between 1865 and 1875. Denver Public Library Special Collections

Charles S. Stobie

1845-1931

Painter, portrait artist & Western frontier scout

About the creator

Raised in Baltimore and Chicago, and educated in Scotland, C.S. Stobie moved west to Colorado in 1865. He lived with the Ute Indians during 1866 and served as a scout for Major Jacob Downing in 1868 actions against the Arapahoes and Cheyennes. Stobie also worked as a scout at the White River Ute Agency in 1869 and hunted buffalo on the plains in the early 1970s. He later settled in Chicago and concentrated on his art, painting Indian and frontier scenes from his sketches and memory. During 1900-1902, Stobie apparently kept a store at the Ignacio Ute Agency in Colorado.

About the collection

Artist's journal, sketches and notes, essay, photograph, and letter of Charles S. Stobie, 1866?-1902. Journal kept at the Ignacio Ute Agency during October 1900 and May-August 1902, contains sketches of Ute and Navajo Indians and their dwellings, weapons, saddles, pottery, and clothes; sketches of scenery with notes on color and lighting; glossaries of Ute and Spanish words; a list of agency employees; and store accounts. There are also several single drawings (1899), a manuscript essay regarding the Ute scalp parade witnessed in the summer of 1866, a photographic portrait of Stobie with biographical notes on the verso, and an 1890 letter from Captain Philip Reade of the 3rd Infantry regarding Stobie's descriptions of his Ute Indian paintings.

Related resources
a page of handwritten text

Charles S. Stobie artist's journal and notes, 1866-1902