The Song of Hiawatha, first published in 1855 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is an epic poem that blends Native American legends—primarily drawn from Ojibwe (Chippewa) and other Algonquian traditions—with European poetic forms and Romantic sensibilities. Though not an authentic retelling of Indigenous oral history, the poem became a cultural phenomenon in 19th- and early 20th-century America, celebrated for its lyrical cadence, moral themes, and mythic scope.
The book was lavishly illustrated by Harrison Fisher (1877–1934), one of America’s most celebrated commercial artists of the era.
Harrison Fisher was one of the “Big Four” American illustrators of the early 20th century, along with Charles Dana Gibson, Howard Chandler Christy, and James Montgomery Flagg. He was famously known for defining the “American Girl”—a wholesome, vibrant, and independent ideal of beauty, often featured on the covers of magazines like The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, and Ladies’ Home Journal.
