In 1826 George Catlin committed himself to recording the fast-disappearing customs and appearance of Native American communities. From 1830 to 1836 he made numerous journeys through the North American woodlands, Great Plains, and Great Lakes regions amassing a collection of notes, artifacts, sketches, and paintings that documented the landscape as well as the people and their traditions.

Returning to New York in 1837, the artist opened a traveling “Indian Gallery,” hoping to educate the public about “Nature's proudest, noblest men.” Catlin later took his exhibition to Europe. After a series of setbacks and financial reversals, in 1852 the artist sold the gallery. He then recreated his original Indian Gallery by painting from sketches and memory. "Fire in a Missouri Meadow," a reworking of an earlier painting, dates from this final stage of the artist's career.