Object: Parfleche

NAM-9-6-204
Cheyenne Parfleche

Southern Cheyenne
West Central Oklahoma
Late 19th – early 20th century
Media: Rawhide, Pigments

This parfleche is decorated in typical Southern Cheyenne style. Reds, yellows and greens were the most prominent colors used by makers in painting parfleches. Originally these pigments were made from natural mineral deposits. Small pieces of porous buffalo bone were used to apply the paint. Note that the designs on the parfleche are outlined in thin brownish-black lines. This is another Southern Cheyenne feature. This pigment was made by mixing buffalo blood with burnt grass. Parfleches provided storage, fulfilling the same role that suitcases and plastic containers do today. The nomadic Southern Cheyenne needed durable containers that could stand up to the rigors of moving camp. Rawhide is both a durable and waterproof material. Envelopes, like this one, were the most common form among the Cheyenne. However they also produced flat and cylindrical cases. Parfleches were used to store a wide variety of materials, including clothing and food. [Michael P. Jordan]

Object: Moccasins

NAM-9-6-21a-b
Moccasins

Southern Cheyenne
West Central Oklahoma
Early 20th Century
Materials: Cowhide, Rawhide, Sinew, Glass Beads

These moccasins are constructed in the two-piece style. Each moccasin consists of a soft leather upper sewn to a stiff rawhide sole. The beaded design on the vamps of these moccasins is referred to as the tipi door design. It was used on girls and women’s moccasins. This pair exhibits a number of features commonly found on Cheyenne moccasins. For example, the heal seam does not extend to the top of the ankle flaps, creating a v shaped gap where the flaps meet. Cheyenne women were extremely selective about the beads they used. They preferred to use small beads in their beadwork. Even within a single lot there was frequently significant variation in the quality of the beads. Consequently, the beadworkers would often sort through the beads, selecting only those that exhibited uniform color, shape and size and culling inferior quality beads. [Michael P. Jordan]

Object: Beaded Pouch

NAM-9-6-331
Beaded Pouch
Southern Cheyenne
West Central Oklahoma
Late 19th Century
Materials: Hide, Glass Seed Beads

This pouch is made from the toe portion of a Southern Cheyenne moccasin. Note the distinctive shape. The beaded design on this pouch is similar to the decoration on a pair of beaded moccasins in the museum’s collection. Members of the Cheyenne community who viewed the pouch identified the beaded design as the “tipi door,” a design used to decorate the vamp on women’s moccasins. The reverse side of the pouch is not beaded. Materials from worn out objects were occasionally recycled in the production of new items. For example, rawhide moccasin soles were sometimes cut out of old parfleches. Evidence of this practice exists in the painted designs on the soles of some moccasins in museum collections. [Michael P. Jordan]

Welcome to Ethnology @ SNOMNH

Ethnology @ SNOMNH is an experimental weblog that makes the collections of the Division of Ethnology at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History more accessible to all audiences–source communities, students, the general public, and research scholars. It is hoped that, in addition to making information available from the museum to various audiences, that those who visit the site will feel encouraged to share, when appropriate, their own knowledge and experience of, and with, the kinds of objects and stories shared on the site. Comments on particular postings are one way to accomplish this. Email to the division staff in another. Please address comments to dcswan (at) ou (dot) edu.