Ep. 19: Shadows of the Frontier

About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of the 1890 U.S. Census declaring the Frontier over and its influence on American art and culture.

When the U.S. Census announced in 1890 that the Frontier was over, America was plunged into a period of anxiety. As evidenced by the grand Indian photographs of Edward Sheriff Curtis, western nostalgia became a dominant theme of art, film, and pop culture. Another artist of the age, though, showed that the West endures into the modern age. Thank you to our sponsor  Velvet Buck . Subscribe now wherever you listen to podcasts. YouTube , Spotify , Apple , iHeart , Pandora , Amazon . MeatEater on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter , Youtube , and Youtube Clips Check out more MeatEater's American History audio originals " The Long Hunters " and " Mountain Men " Subscribe to The MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop  MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: MeatEater

Topics covered

• Frontier
• Western nostalgia
• American history
• Art
• Pop culture

Keywords

• Frontier
• Edward Sheriff Curtis
• Western nostalgia
• American history
• art
• pop culture

Sponsors

Velvet Buck

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Long Hunters, Mountain Men

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• Ep. 29: What Were Charlie Russell and L.A. Huffman Trying to Tell Us? · May 19, 2026 · 50 min
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