George Catlin in the Lodge of Mah-To-Toh-Pa (The Four Bears), Mandan Village, Upper Missouri. George Catlin's record of his travels can be found in "North American Indians: being letters and notes on their manners, customs, and conditions, written during eight years' travel amongst the wildest tribes of Indians in North America, 1832-1839". This illustration was published in 1929. George Catlin (July 26, 1796 - December 23, 1872) was an American painter, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West. By travelling to the American West five times during the 1830s, Catlin was the first person to visually record Plains Indians in their native territory. The Mandan historically lived along the banks of the Missouri River and two of its tributaries in present-day North and South Dakota.