Wadena Addressing State Historical Society in Mille Lacs

Wadena Addressing State Historical Society in Mille Lacs by Sarah Thorp Heald in 1929. Crow Wing County Historical Society. Oil on Panel. 

Wadena was the leader of a village near Mille Lacs Lake. In the early 1900s, people from the Minnesota Government began to harass the Native Americans who lived around Mille Lacs, trying to get them to move. Chief Wadena and a small number of people refused to leave but were eventually removed forcefully when a local Sheriff and his crew burned down their village in 1911. 

We know that this painting was not done from life as it was painted after Chief Wadena was removed from Mille Lacs. Heald most likely studied photographs of Wadena and then painted his likeness in front of Mille Lacs which Heald would have had access to, it only being about 25 miles from her home. 

History of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. https://mlbo.dev/about/our-history/historical-timeline. Accessed 20 July 2024.