David Humphreys Miller’s Estate on “Strange Inheritances”, Fox News
Great interview on Strange Inheritances, Fox Business News
regarding the estate of David Humphreys Miller (June 8, 1918 – August 21, 1992). The estate included hundreds of David’s paintings of Native Americans and artifacts that had been given to him as gifts over his lifetime. David’s story is fascinating. From an early age David spent most of his childhood sketching and painting. From 1935 to 1942 he dedicated his life to finding, interviewing, and sketching the remaining survivors of the Battle of Little Big Horn, most of whom were over 70 years old at the time. Many of these Native Americans had never conveyed their stories of the battle to a white man. They did not allow any photographs as they felt the process would take away part of their soul. So David sketched everyone of them. From the sketches he painted a rare collection known today as “The 72 Survivors” of the Battle of Little Big Horn. David had to learn 14 different Indian dialects, including sign languages, and was eventually adopted by 16 separate Indian families. He was eventually given the name, “Chief Iron White Man” by one of the survivors. Below: Photos of
David and Jan Miller (circa 1990), artifact shelf in David's office, and part of "The Survivors" collection displayed in their home in Rancho Santa Fe.
