Native American Artifacts Research Papers (original) (raw)

Two well-preserved and well-provenanced collections of Native American artefacts survive from the American Revolutionary era which were collected by members of the 8th, or King's, Regiment of the British Army. These were acquired as a result of the diplomatic exchanges of gifts and negotiations that took place between these two officers and the chiefs of various Nations in the Great Lakes area and the Ohio Valley. In addition, the circumstances are examined of a council at Sandusky in January 1880 between Native American Chiefs and Lieutenant John Caldwell, which is commemorated by two versions of a painting depicting Caldwell dressed as a Chief holding a wampum belt. When interpreted in conjunction with Caldwell's report of the council in the papers of Governor Haldimand, the paintings are shown to be important evidence of the efforts by the British to maintain Native American cooperation during the war with the American rebels and of the dilemma faced by Chiefs caught between the conflicting powers.

- by Zoey Reisdorf
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- Native American, Games, Native American Artifacts, Discoidal

Les collections ethnographiques sont devenues un enjeu de réappropriation culturelle pour beaucoup de communautés autochtones. Face à leurs revendications croissantes, les musées d’ethnographie sont confrontés à de nouvelles problématiques en matière d’éthique, de déontologie et de conservation-restauration. Une nouvelle catégorie d’objets, dits culturellement sensibles, a été définie dans le monde muséal canadien et fait l’objet de considérations spécifiques, traduites par la mise en place de protocoles de soins en collaboration avec les Autochtones. Si la notion s’est exportée en France, elle rencontre des réticences dans le monde muséal, qui ne semble pas encore enclin à suivre, ou du moins à considérer la perspective canadienne, qui fait pourtant figure de modèle. Cette étude tentera d’apporter des éléments de compréhension à cette situation complexe en comparant la compatibilité des modèles canadiens et français concernant la gestion de ces objets symboles d’une mémoire vivante, au cœur de traditions culturelles en pleine renaissance.

The ethnographic artifacts deposited by Father Friderik Baraga in 1837 in the Carniolian Provincial Museum in Ljubljana are of substantial importance for the local and temporal attribution of regional styles of the Native arts of the Great Lakes region of North America. Since Baraga’s contacts with Ottawa and Chippewa Indians between 1831 and 1836 are well documented, and since additional information can be derived from various lists of the objects prepared at the time of their accession, the collection can help to shed light on other, less well documented materials.
A general discussion of the problems inherent in the interpretation of historically collected ethnographic specimens and their importance for historical ethnography is illustrated by comparative perspectives on selected artifacts from the Baraga collection.

An object, catalogued in an American museum as a gunstock club, was recognized by the author as related to a reputedly unique “sacred slab” thought to have been given by the Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa to the Winnebagos in the early nineteenth century. Further research showed that six such “prophet sticks” had ended up in collections, and the cumulative evidence raised doubts about their origin and meaning. Fifteen years later, the author noted the club/prophet stick’s appearance on the Native American art market and helped the museum to recover it. The museum’s curator was identified as the thief and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
Thirty-five years after first encountering this unusual piece, the author looks at these prophet sticks in the contexts of their collection histories and of the prophetic movements as well as iconographic and mnemonic traditions of the early nineteenth century in the western Great Lakes region of North America. He suggests their association with the Winnebago prophet Wabokieshiek and interprets their pictographic inscriptions as a combination of cosmographic representation and (perhaps) a mnemonic prayer record. But there are no final truths either in research or in the museum world.

- by Zoey Reisdorf
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- History, Archaeology, Native American, Iowa history

Discussion of metal-inlaid catlinite gunstock club, c. 1850s, associated with the "conjuror" (probably "Medicine Bottle") of the Mdewakanton chief Shakopee (probably Shakopee III) in the context of the comparative evidence on catlinite... more

- by Christian Feest
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- Native American Artifacts, Metal Inlays, Native American Art, Pipestone

The reproduction of this article in whole or in part without the written permission from either Anita or Robert Jirka is prohibited.

This is a compulation of sites within North America at which this particular glass bead has been found. As more information becomes available it will be updated.

Racially categorized art canon can be detrimental to an artist's work, and to its perception. Jimmie Durham, however, upsets expectations of what Native American art "should" be, demanding we question our reactions and prescribed... more

- by Jordan Philson
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- Art History, Art, Art Theory, Contemporary Art

This is a compulation of sites within North America at which this particular glass bead has been found.