Anonymous gift

Gift of Appleton Sturgis

Mask made of mud-covered fibre, decorated with pigment. The face is wide, with a protruding nose, a brow emphasized with a cord of fibre, and holes cut for the mouth and eyes. The face is decorated with lines of red and off-white pigment. Hide with fur attached to the mask by plant fibre, covers the top of the head and outlines the edge of the face. The interior of the mask has a support structure made of curved wooden rods tied together with fibre, supporting the mud and fibre front of the mask. Four pieces of furred hide hang down from the top rear of the mask.

AMEC Analysis: Comments: This artifact is an old sheep skin condom with a cinch-tie at the base. It is also attached to a bent, corroded nail of an unknown type. Two pieces of a condom, possibly sheepskin, with a nail embedded in the larger fragment. Rubber was used for condoms as early as 1844 and so material type is unknown. Object is highly degraded, dirty, and is stiffening along folds. Nail is corroded and bent. L. Penttila 2/1/2010

This woven carrying band would be worn around the forhead and attached to a woven basket that would rest on the back of the person carrying a load.

Probably Lakota because they were major quill workers, the bladder bag contains many dyed porcupine quills.

Possibly Lakota although many Plains women used such bags. . Women would use this small bladder pouch. It has bugle and basket type beads. It is holding a mixture of dyed and natural porcupine, very nice quills for sewing.

Bequest of W.S. Morton Mead

These mocassins have a delicately embroidered vamp executed with very fine bird quillwork.