The National Museum of the American Indian in New York is hosting an exhibit -- "Unbound: Narrative Art of the Plains" -- that explores the narrative art tradition of tribes in the Great Plains. Photo by Joshua Stevens / NMAI

Collectors, academics and museums are trying to ensure Indian ledger art from the 1800s can be appreciated in its original format.

The works were created using pages in accounting ledger books. But since the sheets were often torn out in order to sell each one individually, the stories as well as the identities of the artists from the Lakota, Kiowa, Cheyenne and other tribes are often missing key information.

Professor Ross H. Frank told The New York Times that "market forces will break it up unless there’s active intervention" to keep the book in its original format.

The ledger pieces evolved from tribal histories that were painted on hides and contemporary Indian artists have continued the tradition. The National Museum of the American Indian in New York is featuring an exhibit, Unbound: Narrative Art of the Plains, that traces the development of the art form.

Get the Story:
American Indian Narratives in Picture Form (The New York Times 4/22)