Welcome
This website is an annotation of Ernest Thompson Seton's children's book Two Little Savages: A Book of American Woodcraft for Boys, or, Being the Adventures of Two Boys who lived as Indians and what they Learned. The book was first published in 1903 and has been in print throughout the twentieth century, most recently by Dover in 2011. Woodcut illustrations exist throughout the margins of the text. Documenting these illustrations and the text allows insight into the context and circumstances that made the book so popular in the early twentieth century.
The digitized content of this site is from the 1911 edition of Two Little Savages published by Grosset & Dunlap.
Thus far only content from Part 1: Glenyan & Yan is up on the site.
The Story
Two Little Savages follows twelve-year od Yan as he abandons his life in the city to live the life of a romanticized Indian in the woods. The book blurs the line between story and educational text with detailed descriptions of how to identify plants and animals, build survival tools, and live outdoors in combination with fictional prose and idealized depictions of nature and American Indian lore. The story begs questions about the reaction to urbanization and industrialization, the rise of the conservation movement, and the portrayal American Indian culture in popular media.
The Author
Ernest Thompson Seton was born in England in 1860, yet spent most of his youth in Toronto. Wildlife artist and storyteller, Seton displayed art and published scientific and popular stories throughout North America and Europe. He is most known for being one of the founders of both the Boy Scouts of America and of the Woodcraft Movement.
Sources and Related Material
Digitized Two Little SavagesWorks by Ernest Thompson Seton on Project Gutenberg
The Ernest Thompson Seton Pages
Library of Congress, American Memory site: “The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920”
Library of Congress, American Memory site: “Edward Curtis’s The North American Indian”
Brown University: Thawing the Frozen Indian
Blog: American Indians in Children’s Literature
Recently Added Items
Ute Indians at Play
This images questions the observers expectations of American Indian culture. That "play" is included in the title infers that the actors in this scene…
Ernest Thompson Seton, with three Blackfeet Indians
It is unclear in this image who is teaching whom. The description from the Library of Congress claims that Seton is demonstrating how to light a fire.…
Boston Chamber of Commerce, 1895-96
This image displays the growing presence of business, capitalism, and industry in the late nineteenth century.