Museum Expedition 1904, Museum Collection Fund

Hide saddle bag with a long hide fringe on the ends and short fringe along the sides. The border of the bag is red felt banded in beads on top and bottom in a red and blue diamond pattern on a white background. Above the border is a zigzag beaded outline. On the body of the saddlebag are beaded diamond bursts with rawhide streamers. The saddlebag is sewn of sections of buck skin with a cut opening and short fringes along the length of the bag and long fringes along the ends.

Anonymous gift in memory of Dr. Harlow Brooks

A piece of buffalo hide with fur on it.

Other pieces are located as follows, SKZ 12/29/10: 06.60c- Hide bag- 5H17-4C Box 1268 06.60d -Hide bag- 5H17-4C Box 1268 06.60e- Hide bag- 5H17-4C Box 1268 06.60f- Hide animal piece , woven hair and claw attached- 5H17-4C Box 1246 06.60g- Feather bundle- 5H17-4C- Box 1270 06.60h- Large hide bag that also goes by number 11.694.9077 5H17-4C Box 1268 06.60i-Three thin leather pieces tied with a string 5H17-4C-Box 1270 06.60j- Entire sacred bird, painted with blue on one side and red on the other , 5H17-4B (box has no number on it) 06.60k-Animal hide with fur- 5H17-4C Box 1246 06.60l-Whole animal skin with porcupine quill wrapped feet - 5H17-4C-Box 1270 Object appears on release dated 1-20-1972 to James Economos with other objects in exchange for 72.51.1-.2. Approved for deacc. 1-18-1972. See museum locations as most have been located..

Buffalo hide with fur.

Dick S. Ramsay Fund

This side fold dress consists of six pieces: the main body of the dress, the flounce, the shoulder flap, the top bodice, and two hide thongs as a second shoulder strap. The horizontal seam is low and the folded over portion is shorter and would barely cover the breast. The folded over flap is even shorter in the back. The hide is worked so that the flesh side of the skin lies against the wearer, with the fur side out. The flounce is laced with hide thong. The seam of the dress, the blue and white pony beads on the shoulder strap, and the hem tabs are all sewn. It is likely that the two bottom tabs at the left side of the dress are formed from a remnant of the foreleg of the animal or are a decorative form to resemble this pattern technique imitating the animal's legs. Ten quilled stripes are worked around the skirt of the dress, horizontally, in measured registers of blue (once blue-green but faded since original BMA acquisition) and brown quill, separated by shorter sections of white porcupine quill where red tufts, once the tassels, of yarn emerge. Small black lines separate each quilled section. Some vertical marks of what is probably ochre appear at the ends of the quilled bands. Tin cones and a few copper cones are sewn to the bottom of the flounce, more or less at knee length, and on the two bottom tabs, which are further elaborated with an edging of blue and white beads. Five pairs of copper cones are sewn up the side seam. If the shoulder strap is examined from above, blue and white beads can be seen ornamenting the seams. A single row or blue beads edges the sides while the front and back seams display eight bands of two rows of white beads alternating with two rows of blue pony beads. See Jarvis supplemental file in Arts of Americas office or Brooklyn Museum Library.

These hide moccasins are made identically to each other with a floral pattern on the vamp, sides and cuff. The hide cuff is sewn on and has a ribbon edging. The beadwork contains rare solid gold or gold plated beads considered unique and used in the Southeast region which suggests the moccasins are Cherokee in origin. Some historians feel the use of these beads is linked to the 1829 Georgia Gold Rush era. See supplemental file in curator office.

The object is a bow, a bow case, arrows and a quiver. Bow is inlaid with elk antler and decorated with bands of mallard duck neck skin. There is red dyed horsehair tufts at each end. Duck skin is used because for the Sioux the duck appears in all three levels of the world - sky, water and earth. The buffalo hide bow and quiver case has red and black pigment mixed with glue. Even lines of glue are used to create lines around the black triangles. The bow has an elaborate design on the surface created by inlaid sections of elk horn. On either side of the inlaid area is a red painted band, at the ends of which are mallard scalp feathers that have almost disappeared. The bow is backed with white-painted thread. Attached to each end of the bow are red horsehair ornaments. Also attached is a strip of red stroud cloth fastened around the handgrip. The bow case and quiver are made of buffalo hide and have sparsely painted designs. There are five configured designs: two on each side of the bow case and one on the quiver. The designs are made up of elongated diamond shapes divided in half with a small linking section between each repeated triangular part. All parts of the design are delineated with thin impressed lines. The triangles are filled in alternately with dark brown and red color. The small linking section is brown. The intensity of the colors is pale, perhaps from an application of sizing. From the bottom of the bow case hang hide tabs, with pierced decorations.