Leggings Item Number: D3.149 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Pair of heavily beaded leggings; multicoloured double floral motif on white ground. Lined with cotton. Wool trim at edges; red at top, purple down side and around bottom. Tied shut with fringe-like hide thongs down the side.

Narrative

The donor said the objects in his donation should be known as the Hillyard Mitchell collection. Mitchell (1852-1923) spent much of his working life in the Northwest Territories, later moving to Victoria, B.C. The donor also said the collection came from his grandfather, F. Carson, who had gone to Saskatchewan in 1861 as a boy of 15, and stayed until 1918. He was a fur trader and trapper, working mainly amongst the Cree, and was recorded having been at Duck Lake and Prince Albert, Sask. It is now uncertain which objects were collected by Mitchell vs collected by F. Carson.