Object: Cradle

E/1959/9/1
Beaded Cradle
Kiowa
North America: Plains
ca 1930
Materials: hide, wood, glass beads

This object is a beaded cradle board that was made by Mrs. Ahpeatoni, a Kiowa woman from Mountain View, Oklahoma. In typical Plains cradle fashion, this is a handmade wooden frame decorated with buckskin and glass beads. Along with the Kiowa tribe, many other tribes of the Plains region created cradleboards for their infants. Many of these tribes traditionally lived nomadic lifestyles, cradleboards provided protection for the baby’s head and neck during travel and made the infants easier to carry while the mother worked during the day. The cradle could be worn as a backpack, or hung from a tree or tipi pole. According to elders, the cradles were constructed upright to help the baby see adults at eye level and helped to socialize the baby.

Kiowa cradleboards are often made using a V-shaped frame made of two long pieces of wood. Men made the wooden frames for the cradles, and female family members made the buckskin pouch and beaded the exterior as a gift for the expecting mother. Kiowa cradles are often beaded in both floral and geometric motifs in many bright colors. This particular cradle’s beadwork is sewn with a “lazy stitch“ style. The history of the term “lazy stitch” is explained here. Despite the age of this cradle, the vivid colors of the beadwork are still visible and attest to the rich and lavish artistry. Beaded cradles are still made today by contemporary artists and they continue to be a symbol of pride and traditional culture.

Below is a short video showing a Northern Paiute version of a cradleboard and how the infants would be traditionally wrapped into a cradleboard.

[Alana Cox]

Object: Hairbrush

E/1947/1/76
Hairbrush
Cheyenne
North America: Plains
ca. 1890
Materials: Porcupine tail, wood, glass beads

Haircare has always been an important part of the daily human routine. Besides just maintaining a clean and healthy appearance, hairstyles can express individuality or identify an individual as part of a specific group. Changing your hairstyle can even make a difference in how you are perceived by others.  A different hair color could effect how old you look, and a different cut or style could make you seem either rebellious or old-fashioned. Pre-contact Native American tribes were no less conscious of hair care and styling that we are today, and they had nearly as many styling products. Hair was shined with animal fat, and was sometimes colored or decorated with colored clay. Some tribes even had techniques to lengthen their hair in a way similar to modern hair extensions or weaves. Certain hairstyles were more closely associated with one tribal group than others. For instance, men of the Kanien’kehake (Mohawk) tribe were known for shaving portions of their head, men of the Apsáalooke (Crow) tribe tended to prefer a pompadour style, while women of the Hopi tribe twisted their hair around circular bands to create a style that resembled butterfly wings on the side of their heads.

This object is a hairbrush made from the tail of a porcupine. It is made by sewing the bottom portion of the porcupine’s tail, where the quills tend to be smaller, around a wooden stick. The seam where the tail is sewn together is frequently decorated with glass beadwork. This type of hairbrush was common among many plains tribes. Porcupines are a type of plant eating rodent best known for their quills. The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is the largest species of porcupine in the world. A porcupine may have as many as 30,000 quills on its body. The quills are a special type of hair with barbed tips on the ends. Quills are solid at the tip and base and hollow for most of the shaft. Porcupines use their quills for self defense but, can not “shoot” them at predators. Instead the quills simply detach easily from the porcupine’s body on contact, typically ending up in the mouth or claws of the attacker.  [Kathryn S. (Barr) McCloud]

Object: Headdress

E/1982/11/9
Headdress
Niitsítapi (aka. Blackfoot Confederacy)
North America: Northern Plains or Southern Canada
unknown date (likely early 20th century)
Materials: Felt, ermine (or weasel) fur, feathers, glass beads, wood, and cotton cloth

This headdress has been attributed to the Niitsítapi people of the northern United States and southern Canada. Niitsítapi, also known as the Blackfoot Confederacy, consists of four separate yet related tribes. These tribes include the Aapátohsipikáni (or North Peigan), Aamsskáápipikani (Piegan Blackfeet or South Piegan), Káínaa (Kainai Nation), and the Siksikáwa (or Siksika Nation “Blackfoot”). These groups share a common dialect of the Algonquin language, they also historically worked together for mutual defense, and frequently intermarry.

The fur found on this headdress comes from ermine pelts. Ermine (Mustela erminea), sometimes called short tailed weasels or stoat, are a species of small carnivorous weasel that is common throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. They were recently introduced in New Zealand as well, and have since become a pest species causing catastrophic losses to native bird species. Ermine live in a wide variety of habitats including: woodlands, marshes, and open areas adjacent to forests or shrub borders. While ermine spend most of their time on the ground they can also climb trees and swim. Ermine use tree roots, hollow logs, stone walls, and rodent burrows as dens. Ermine are carnivores that hunt primarily at night. They primarily eat small mammals of rabbit size and smaller but, when prey is scarce, they can also eat birds, eggs, worms, frogs, fish, and insects. In severe climates, ermine frequently hunt under snow or in burrows and can survive entirely on small rodents.

Similar headdresses can be found at the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, the British Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and others. [Kathryn S. (Barr) McCloud]

Object: Kiowa Fan

E/1951/13/23
Kiowa: Peyote Fan
20th Century
United States: Plains
Materials: Feathers, beads, and buckskin

A peyote fan is an essential object for a peyote meeting. This Kiowa fan incorporates some of the main materials that are used in peyote fans.

The peyote religion is a sacred, yet often misunderstood, spiritual practice of some Plains Indian tribes. Peyote is the major sacrament of the Native American Church. The church has faced its share of scrutiny from the U.S. government and Christian followers. The spiritual use of peyote has its beginnings among indigenous groups in Mexico and the Southwestern part of the United States.

The plains groups learned about peyote in the late 19^th century. The Comanche chief Quanah Parker brought it to his people after he was reportedly treated with it in Mexico. He later established the Native American Church, a combination of Christian concepts and traditional indigenous beliefs. Members of the Native American Church believe that peyote is a gift from God. They have a variety of art, objects, and symbolism that is incorporated with their ceremonies and beliefs.

Fans are very important for several reasons. First, the number of feathers in a fan can represent family members. Secondly, the fans are specifically made for individuals. This fan is 22” and is made with hawk feathers. Some peyote fans are made with eagle feathers, macaw, scissortail and even roadrunner feathers. This fan may have been used while cedaring or blessing a person. In effect, the fan brushes away evil spirits. This all takes place during the ceremony.

This Kiowa fan has a buckskin handle and the feathers are partially beaded with the colored glass beads. This bead pattern is consistent to Kiowa and other Plains styles. Beadwork patterns vary from regions and tribes. This fan was likely made before the 1940’s, since it was cataloged in the museum collection in 1952. During that time period, the peyote cult was highly controversial and illegal in the United States. Native Americans were also facing other obstacles in that time period. Since the turn of the 20th century, the Kiowa tribe has resided in Oklahoma due to the Indian Removal Acts. In 1993 the Religious Freedom Act was reinstated. Now, the Native American Church and tribal followers legally consume peyote for religious purposes. Today, there are an estimated 250,000 to 400,00 members of the church.

[Alana Cox]

Object: Bag

E/1950/1/1
Comanche: Beaded Bag
North America
20th Century
Materials: Seed beads and leather

This Comanche beaded tanned white leather bag was used for hunting. The Comanche tribe is one of many tribes that comprise the Plains Indians. See map below for reference. For Plains tribes bags were used to transport and store many different types of game. The Plains tribes would adorn bags and pouches with geometric beadwork designs. This bag is made of white, yellow, red, blue and green seed beads which were applied by lazy stitch in geometric, rectangular patterns. The seed beads were applied to the white tanned leather. Attached along the top and sides there are metal jingles with yellow hair tassels.

Glass bead manufacture had been going on for hundreds of years before Plains tribes were introduced to them. By the 1500s, beads had become readily available by the Venetians. The first recording of the introduction of trade beads to the Americas dates back to Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1942. It is believed that trade beads were introduced to certain groups of Native Americans by Coronado in 1540 when he was searching for gold. Plains tribes were not introduced to trade beads until the 1800s. By the middle 1800s there were huge numbers of seed beads ready to be traded or bought by the Plains Indians. With the introduction of beads the Plains tribes moved from the traditional art form of quillwork to adorning clothing, tipis, bags and any other items which were of personal value with beads.

Plains women were responsible for the beadwork. The art form of beadwork was a way in which the women could gain prestige, as men did this through warfare. Beadwork gave women more power and an immense pride in their art. Plains women created beadwork in geometric designs, which required a lot of thought. This has been said to be attributed to the abstract way that Plains women thought. Beadwork was as important to Plains women as was the ritual dances which the Plains men participated in. The women who were doing beadwork have left a lasting impression of the Plains tribes’ cultures through their art, through their beadwork. While this art form began in the 1800s for the Plains tribes, there are many who still practice beadwork. Now, Native American women as well as men take part in creating beautiful, intricate beadwork.

[Heather Ratliff]

Object: Figurine

E/1989/1/12
Sioux: Dancer Doll
North America
20th Century
Materials: wood, feathers, beads, leather

This object is a Northern Plains style traditional “fancy dance” doll. It measures about 14.5 inches in height. The body of the doll is made of carved wood and is painted brown, with red paint under the eyes and across the face. The doll has black braided hair wrapped in brown leather. A hair roach made from deer hair and two blue feathers is attached. The doll is wearing a headband; it is beaded with seed beads of white, red, yellow, brown, and blue and contains a small rosette at the center of the forehead. A line of white beads hangs from the headband around each eye. The doll is wearing a silver and turquoise beaded choker and two wrist bands made from seed beads and leather fringe. The dance costume is comprised of gray suede material with a machine-stitched design. A band of bells is attached at the knees.

The back of the doll contains a gray suede bustle and beaded rosette. The bustle contains 22 blue and white Blue Jay feathers. A beaded rosette is at the center of the gray suede bustle. Two leather shoulder straps are decorated with white, red, yellow, blue, and black beads. The doll’s legs are painted black from below the knee to the mid-thigh and are covered in white rabbit fur. The figure is in a dancing position, mounted on an oval, wooden stand.

The dancing doll is fashioned in the Northern Plains style of a Sioux dancer. The regalia is similar to that used in a contemporary dance called the fancy dance. When many Native American religious dances were outlawed by the United States and Canadian governments in the 1920s and 1930s, the fancy dance style was created to allow communities to continue dancing in public. The fancy dance style originated in Oklahoma and was initially performed for spectators of wild west shows. The style grew in popularity, however, and is now one of the most anticipated dances at modern Pow Wows.

[Lauren Simons]

Object: Bear Claw Necklace

NAM-09-18-051
Bear claw necklace
United States, Plains
Osage
19th Century
Materials: Plains Grizzly claws, glass beads, otter fur, leather

This bear claw necklace, from the Osage tribe, is currently on display at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. The necklace is made of 30 Plains Grizzly Bear claws and three beaded medallions in blue, yellow, green and pink. There are amber colored cut glass beads strung between the bear claws. The base of the necklace is made from otter pelt.

Plains Grizzly claws are long and yellowish, unlike the short and dark colored claws of Black Bears. All of the claws from the front paws were typically used, although the claws from the rear paws were used on rare occasions. Sadly, the once fierce and powerful Plains Grizzly, otherwise called Ursus horribilis Ord, is now extinct due to human population expansion and other causes. In traditional Native cultures and mythology, the bear was a sacred animal and a seeker of the unknown and mystical. Additionally, bears possessed admirable attributes such as strength, power, and courage, which the wearers wished to display in their own lives. Otter fur is always used for this type of necklace. Like the bear, the otter was also believed to be a seeker of the unknown and to possess great power.

Traditionally, only chiefs and elders wore bear claw necklaces. These necklaces were a mark of distinction among most Plains tribes. This particular necklace has been rumored to have been worn by Chief Bacon Rind (Chief Wah-shi-ha), and two other warriors before him. Bear claw necklaces also held ceremonial importance in times of war. It was believed that the necklace would aid in overcoming difficulties and help to obtain victory. [Erin Duncan]

Examples of how bear claw necklaces were worn can be found at the following links:

Chief Shon-Ton-Ca-Be (Black Dog) in 1876

Nah-Kea-Pu-At-See (One Who Reaches the Sky) in 1877

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: Moccasins

E/1953/8/73
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]