The inscription at the bottom of this study indicates it was done at New Harmony on February 9. It has been attributed to Bodmer, although from all accounts he was at Natchez until February 6 and could not have been back in New Harmony three days later. More probably it is an illustration by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, New Harmony's resident naturalist-artist, who may have given Prince Maximilian this drawing as an identification aid.

Maximilian spent the latter part of February and the first days in March at New Harmony collecting zoological and botanical specimens. He was frequently aided by the local inhabitants, particularly a hunter named Russell. Bodmer made a sketch of Russell dated February 18. The inscription indicates only that it was made near New Harmony and that the subject himself was from Illinois.

On Christmas Eve, Maximilian recorded in his journal that "a backwoods man came riding in on horseback from a distance of twelve miles and brought us a fine lynx ... for which I paid him two dollars .... The lynx was beautiful, but exceedingly slender. His feet were very thin." Although he makes no specific reference to Bodmer's having sketched this specimen, the dated inscription on the reverse of this study is the same as the journal entry.

Throughout November Bodmer made frequent excursions into the wilderness near New Harmony to hunt and sketch. On days when it was raining or too cold to sketch, he worked indoors producing finished versions of his earlier studies. His drawing of a deer with the inscription "New Harmony, Ind. Nov. 1832" corresponds to an entry in Maximilian's journal for November 12 which relates that "Mr. Bodmer made sketches of the deer we received yesterday. I took its measurements." He adds that "the skinning and dissecting of our deer gave gave an all day's work to Dreidoppel."

Returning home on December 31, 1832, from a visit with Say, Maximilian found that "a fine and large otter" had been delivered to his door by one of the local hunters. He subsequently bought it to add to his North American collection. He does not mention Bodmer's sketching this particular specimen, but an inscription identifying the subject of this drawing as indigenous to the Wabash suggests that it was made during the artist's stay at New Harmony.

The travelers arrived at Mount Vernon, Indiana, at twilight on October 18. The next morning Maximilian hired a wagon for the transportation of luggage and set out for the village of New Harmony, located some fifteen miles north. Dreidoppel accompanied the Prince while Bodmer and a recent acquaintance from the boat started out for New Harmony on foot. During the weeks that followed, Bodmer made numerous studies in and around New Harmony, including this unfinished view of the settlement as seen from a distance.

People from surrounding settlements congregated in New Harmony on the morning of November 5, 1832, to vote for the next president of the United States. Many came on foot or in wagons, but the majority arrived on horseback, according to Maximilian, who faithfully recorded the event in his journal. Although dated simply "Nov. 1832, 11 Bodmer's pencil sketch of a backwoods couple on horseback may have been made this same day.

Following an excursion along the Fox River, Maximilian described its waters as "clear and dark green, the visible ground at the bottom completely covered with shells." He also remarked upon the beauty of the surrounding forest in which "tall, widely ramified, colossal Platanus trees were shining snow white in the densely entangled thicket." Bodmer produced several finished watercolors of the wilderness landscape near New Harmony which include aspects of the scene described by Maximilian.

Maximilian planned at the outset of his journey to stop at New Harmony to visit the distinguished entomologist Thomas Say, who had accompanied Stephen Long's 1819-20 expedition to the Rocky Mountains and from whom Maximilian hoped to obtain advice concerning travel in the West. The stay at New Harmony proved longer than intended because the Prince contracted "a serious indisposition nearly resembling cholera." On October 23 and 30, he noted in his journal that Bodmer made drawings of New Harmony. It is not certain if this undated study is referred to in either case.