Object: Necklace

NAM-09-06-304
Choker (Necklace)

Collected among the Cheyenne, Western Oklahoma, USA
September 1883–September 1885
Materials: Glass Seed Beads, Horse Hair, Leather

Not all objects found in museum collections are in a condition suitable for traditional exhibition. This necklace, or “choker,” fragment is a useful example of a piece that would likely never be included in a public exhibition due to its fragile state; however, here we are able to highlight its importance to SNOMNH’s collections and use it as a vehicle for discussion on a variety of subjects.

This style choker was at one time worn by both women and men from a wide distribution of tribes found in the Midwest, specifically the around the Great Lakes and in Prairie (Eastern Plains) region. The technique used to create this choker is called side-stitch. This is a hand-woven, or more precisely “oblique interlacing” technique of beadwork that creates diagonal rows. This particular choker was constructed using black horse hair—a material that was later replaced by commercially available threads. The use of horse hair in its construction and the subsequent use by the donor’s family as a plaything have contributed to the current condition of this object.

In 1973, a collection of American Indian objects were donated to SNOMNH (formerly the Stovall Museum) by Mrs. John Surr, daughter of Dr. Vernon W. Stiles. Dr. Stiles worked for the Indian Traders, Hemphill and Way, at the Darlington Indian Agency, Indian Territory, between September 1883 and 7 September 1885. During his two-year employment as a salesman, Dr. Stiles had the opportunity to meet and trade with many Cheyenne and Arapahos in the local Native community. It was during this time that the choker came into Dr. Stiles’s possession.

Knowledge of where an object was acquired and who collected it can create inaccurate identification because the person who last owned an object was often not its maker. In fact, trade in objects was, and continues to be, a very common practice between Native peoples. Because this choker was collected among the Cheyenne and donated along with other items identifiable as Cheyenne material, it was labeled “Cheyenne.” As mentioned earlier, this style choker was common to a wide distribution of tribes; however, the Cheyenne were not among this group. It is possible that the choker was acquired in trade from another tribe, or perhaps, someone from another tribe married into a Cheyenne family bringing this piece or the construction technique with them. It is also quite possible that a Cheyenne beadworker learned this beadwork technique and produced it themselves, which would make the “Cheyenne” label accurate. Without any further information on who exactly made the choker it is impossible to say with certainty from which tribe this object originated.

To learn more about this style of choker, see Georg J. Barth (1993:145-158) and David Dean (2002) for details on the side-stitch technique. Also see Gaylord Torrence (1989:16) on the use of side-stitch chokers. For more information on the Cheyenne and Arapaho, see here or for more information about the Darlington Indian Agency see here.

SNOMNH invites your comments on this choker or any of the other topics addressed above. [John P. Lukavic]

Object: Hair Ornament

NAM-10-01-002
Hair Ornament

Mesquakie (Fox), Tama, Iowa, United States of America
before 1954
Materials: glass seed beads, thread, satin ribbon

This hair ornament came to SNOMNH in May of 1954. It is a beaded “hair tie” or “drop” worn by women of various tribes throughout the Midwest region of the U.S., particularly among the tribes originating near the western Great Lakes such as the Mesquakie (Fox), Sauk, Winnebago, Potawatomie and Menominee. This drop was constructed using a technique called “side-stitch,” which is a hand-woven, or more precisely “oblique interlacing” form of beadwork that creates diagonal rows. This technique differs from loom beadwork, which creates horizontal rows of beads and requires a heddle, a straight loom, or both.

This style of hair ornament was once widely used, but is much less common today. Unmarried women would attach side-stitch drops to a single braid behind their heads and allow them to hang down their backs. Today, when women wear traditional dress, loom beaded strips or decorative ribbon are more commonly used in this same manner; although, both side-stitch drops and “chokers,” worn around the neck of both men and women, are experiencing a sort of renaissance in recent years.

In 1954, SNOMNH (formerly known as the Stovall Museum) received a large donation of American Indian material objects from the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Among other goals, the mission of GFWC includes efforts to support the arts and promote education. Various local chapters of this organization contributed items from tribes residing in their area to support this mission. The Women’s Club of Iowa contributed this hair ornament, which was given to them by Jonas Poweshiek (Mesquakie)—the great-grandson of the Mesquakie chief, Powesheik.

To learn more about this style of hair ornament, see Alanson Skinner’s “Observations on the Ethnology of the Sauk Indians, Part III, Notes on Material Culture” (1925, p. 133 and p. 167). Also see Georg J. Barth (1993, pp. 145-158) for details on the side-stitch technique and Gaylord Torrence (1989, pp. 3-29) and Mary Alicia Owen (1902) for other relevant material culture background. For more information about the Mesquakie people and their history see here.

The Division of Ethnology at the SNOMNH invites your comments on this hair ornament and/or the style of beadwork used to construct it. [John P. Lukavic]

Object: Sandals

AF-6-?-8a-b
Wooden Shoes (Sandals)

Ethnic Group Unknown, Republic of Liberia, Western Africa
before 1969
Materials: wood, plant fiber

Here is a pair of carved wooden sandals (shoes) from the SNOMNH Division of Ethnology’s small African holdings. The collection records for this accession, which came to the museum in 1969, are not very detailed, but they indicate that these sandals originated in Liberia, the coastal West African nation colonized in the 19th century by African Americans from the United States of America. Hopefully those knowledgeable of Liberian woodcarving and footwear can help the museum better understand the use and background of these remarkable items. Visitors interested in seeing another pair of Liberian sandals from an American museum collection can find a very beautiful, and better-documented pair, in this instance of painted or dyed animal hide, in the collections of the Department of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). To see them, go to http://anthro.amnh.org/anthro.html and select the African Ethnographic Collection Database. One can search in Liberia for “Sandal” or look for 90.1/6755 AB, the catalog number given to this pair, which are attributed to the Malinké people. [Jason Baird Jackson]

Object: Drum

AF-1-4-1
Pottery Drum

Imazighen (= Berber), [Former French Morocco], Morocco, North Africa
before 1952
Materials: clay, glaze, adhesive, animal skin

Small, goblet shaped drums of this basic type are found around the Mediterranean eastward through Islamic and Islamic-influenced lands as far as South Asia. The general type is known widely under the name doumbek but this small, Moroccan version of the goblet drum is a tarija. It is central to the traditional music of the indigenous peoples of North Africa, the Berbers. Berber peoples increasingly refer to themselves as Imazighen, meaning ‘free people’ in their own languages.

Hear a tarija played by itself here. Read a BBC story here about Berber music today that includes discussion of the tarija. Find a scholarly account of Moroccan women’s musical performance, including use of the tarija, here.

Collection records indicate that the head of this SNOMNH example is of goatskin, but this has not been studied or confirmed independently.

Do you make or play such drums? Do you know of good sources of information on such drums? Let us know what you know. Provide a comment to this weblog or via email to dcswan (at) ou (dot) edu. [Jason Baird Jackson]

Object: Vase

EU-3-?-2
Pottery Vase

Italy, Southern Europe
before 1967
Materials: clay, glazes

Museums often hold objects and collections about which frustratingly little is known. This attractive vase is of considerable value to the Division of Ethnology at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History because it is one of only a few objects of material culture in its collections that are sourced to Europe. The field of anthropology aspires to understand and interpret the human story across space and time. In museums, this lofty goal is difficult to pursue when anthropological collections are unevenly patterned, either temporally or spatially. Less than one quarter of one percent of the SNOMNH collection comes from Europe. Thus for purposes of, for instance, doing a student exhibition on pottery around the world, this vase would be a crucial resource. Here is where the lack of adequate documentation accompanying this object reappears as a problem to be dealt with. Can you help? Do you know something about the kind of pottery that this piece exemplifies? Museum records suggest that it is from Italy, but even this fact is a bit uncertain. If you can help SNOMNH understand this item better, let us know what you know via a comment to this weblog or via email to dcswan (at) ou (dot) edu. [Jason Baird Jackson]

Object: Basket

AF-13-2-7a-b
Basket

Harari, Harar, Ethiopia, East Africa
ca. 1964
Materials: grasses, dyes

This coiled grass basket was purchased about 1964 in the old market of Harar (a.k.a. Harrar, Harer), an ancient city at the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands. Harer has long been a major commercial city connected by trade routes to the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the wider world. The city is venerated by many Muslims as the fourth holiest city of the Islamic world. It is home to more than 80 mosques, including three that date to the 10th century. In addition to Muslims, the city is also home to Christians. These two faiths are practiced by a variety of ethnic groups, including peoples with roots in diverse locales. The city’s distinctive architecture, for instance, draws on influences from Africa, the Middle East and India. The historic importance of Harar’s fortified old city was recognized in 2006 with a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.

For centuries, the city has been recognized for excellence in scholarship and the arts of basketry, bookbinding, and weaving. It is also famous for its distinctive coffee. Like many Harari baskets bought by tourists from around the world, this example was purchased from a leading 20th century weaver known as “Basket Mary.” It is made from a kind of grass known locally as akirma (Eleusine jaegeri Pilg. or Eleusine floccifolia (Forssk.) Spreng. Basket making with these grasses is a useful adjunct to cattle raising, as cattle avoid the grasses used by basket weavers, thus their use helps, in some measure, to control what would otherwise be a nuisance weeds (source).

The basket was donated to the museum in 2004 and was identified by the donors as a wedding basket, based on its shape and materials. The Division of Ethnology at SNOMNH hopes to learn more about the construction and use of such baskets and welcomes informational comments upon this example, as well as bibliographic suggestions.

To learn more about the city of Harar and its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, visit its UNESCO information page here. This site includes a set of photographs, including an image of one of the city’s basketry shops. Find Harar on Google Maps here.

This basket came to the SNOMNH collection as part of a larger set of gifts made by members of the Oklahoma-Ethiopia Society. This organization has its roots in a long term partnership between Oklahoma State University and educational and agricultural organizations in Ethiopia. This history was the subject of a recent story in the Daily Oklahoman. [Jason Baird Jackson]