Visiting with the Ancestors: Blackfoot Shirts in Museum Spaces

232 Pages·2016·8.01 MB·English

by  Laura Peers

Visiting with the Ancestors

Visiting with the Ancestors
Blackfoot Shirts in Museum Spaces
Laura Peers and Alison K. Brown
Copyright © 2015 Laura Peers and Alison K. Brown
Published by AU Press, Athabasca University
1200, 10011 – 109 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8
ISBN 978-1-77199-037-0 (paperback) 978-1-77199-038-7 (pdf) 978-1-77199-039-4 (epub)
doi: 10.15215/aupress/9781771990370.01
Cover and interior design by Marvin Harder, marvinharder.com
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Visiting with the ancestors : Blackfoot shirts in museum spaces / edited by Laura Peers and Alison K. Brown.
Includes bibliographical references.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
1. Siksika Indians—Museums. 2. Siksika Indians—Clothing. 3. Cultural property—Alberta. 4. Museums and
community—Alberta. 5. Museums and Indians—Alberta. 6. Museums and Indians—Great Britain. I. Peers, Laura
Lynn, 1963-, editor II. Brown, Alison K. (Alison Kay), 1971-, author, editor
AM21.A43V58 2016 069’.50899735207123 C2015-907508-4
C2015-907509-2
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our
publishing activities.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts
to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le
Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
Assistance provided by the Government of Alberta, Alberta Media Fund.
This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons licence, Attribution–Noncommercial–No Derivative Works 4.0
International: see www.creativecommons.org. The text may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided
that credit is given to the original author.
To obtain permission for uses beyond those outlined in the Creative Commons licence, please contact AU Press,
Athabasca University, at [email protected].
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Blackfoot Sacred Protocol 1
Introduction 9
one Gifts from the Sun 13
two Introducing the Blackfoot Nations 19
three The Blackfoot and the Fur Trade 27
four Blackfoot Clothing 37
fiVe Making Relations in the Past 65
six Making Relations in the Present 75
The Importance of the Blackfoot Shirts Today 83
Connecting with Community
Wendy Aitkens 89
seVen Planning the Project and Raising the Funds 97
Preparing to Travel 109
Lending a Helping Hand
HeAtHer ricHArdson 111
eight Visiting the Shirts 123
“Our People Still Believe”
HermAn yelloW old WomAn 148
Visiting the Blackfoot Shirts
Alison FrAnk-tAilFeAtHers 153
Questions About the Shirts 156
nine Community Effects 163
Preparing for Our Ancestors to Come Home
rAmonA Big HeAd 182
A Conversation About Blackfoot Quillwork
deBBie mAgee sHerer And Alison k. BroWn 188
ten Why Were the Shirts Not Repatriated? 195
Continuing the Relationship 200
“They Will Matter to Us Forever” 207
Acknowledgments 211
References 215
Illustrations
FIgUre
1 Shirt with painted war honours, 1893.67.1
2 Shirt with layers of paint, 1893.67.2
3 Shirt for formal occasions, 1893.67.3
4 Shirt with replaced quillwork, 1893.67.4
5 Shirt for working, 1893.67.5
6 Map of Blackfoot territory
7 Writing-on-Stone area, with Sweetpine Hills (also known as Sweetgrass Hills) in
background
8 Napi’s playground
9 Encampment of the Peikann Indians, by Karl Bodmer, 1832–34
10 Petroglyph showing shirt, Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park
11 Iron Horn, Mix-ke-mote-skin-na, a Warrior, by George Catlin, 1832
12 Pieced trailer, shirt with layers of paint (1893.67.2)
13 Cloth, beads and sewing equipment, Edmonton House post inventory, 1841
14 Cloth over rosette, shirt with layers of paint (1893.67.2)
15 Cuts in hide from cutting fringe, shirt for formal occasions (1893.67.3)
16 Stamped heads, shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
17 Incised line of paint, shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
18 Man’s legging
19 Digitally enhanced front of shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
20 Digitally enhanced back of shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
21 Battle scene with horse, shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
22 Red fingermarks, shirt with layers of paint (1893.67.2)
23 Detail of yellow and red quills, shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
24 Replaced quillwork, shirt with replaced quilllwork (1893.67.4)
25 Plant fibres with quillwork, shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
26 Quill and plant fibre edging of central panel, shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
27 Shirt collected in 1827 by Lord Elvestone, Reiss-Engelhorn-Museeun, Mannhein, no. V
AM2651a
28 Horse and human hairlock detail, shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
29 Membrane wrap on hairlock, shirt with replaced quillwork (1893.67.4)
30 Damaged neck, shirt for working (1893.67.5)
31 Epidermis visible on hide, shirt for working (1893.67.5)
vii
doi: 10.15215/aupress/9781771990370.01
32 Sir George Simpson, Governor of Rupert’s Land, by Stephen Pearce, 1857
33 Canoe Manned by Voyageurs Passing a Waterfall, by Frances Anne Hopkins, depicting
herself and E. M. Hopkins, 1869
34 Tack hole, shirt with painted war honours (1893.67.1)
35 Left to Die, Frances Anne Hopkins, 1872
36 Frank Weasel Head and Andy Blackwater at Pitt Rivers Museum, 2004
37 Rufus Goodstriker and Louis Soop at Pitt Rivers Museum, 2000
38 Blackfoot shirts exhibition, Galt Museum and Archives
39 Torso mounts being prepared for display of shirts, Glenbow Museum, 2010.
40 Allan Pard with shirt and project team, Pitt Rivers Museum, 2009
41 Damaged quills on rosette, shirt with replaced quillwork (1893.67.4)
42 Cleaning soot from rosette on shirt with layers of paint (1893.67.2), showing cleaned and
uncleaned sections
43 Digitally annotated condition report, back of shirt with replaced quillwork (1893.67.4)
44 Shirt in crate drawer
45 Shirts crate in transit
46 Trina Weasel Moccasin and Josh Scout-Bastien looking at shirt
47 Byron Jackson wearing replica shirt, Glenbow Museum, 2010
48 Lonny Tailfeathers and Donovan Tailfeathers wearing replica shirts, Galt Museum, 2010
49 Students from Red Crow Community College (Kainai Nation, Alberta) visiting the shirts,
Glenbow Museum
50 Students and instructors from Blackfeet Community College (Browning, Montana)
visiting the shirts,
Glenbow Museum, 2010
51 Terran Last Gun Kipp, Frank Weasel Head, and shirt with layers of paint (1893.67.2),
Glenbow Museum, 2010
52 Winston Wadsworth, Jr., with his own quillwork and shirt with replaced quillwork
(1893.67.4), Glenbow Museum, 2010
53 Bull’s Back Fat, monotype by Mari King, 2010
54 Blackfoot shirts exhibition, Glenbow Museum, 2010
55 Crowshoe family members with shirts, Glenbow Museum, 2010
56 Untitled oil on canvas by Delia Cross Child, 2011
57 Shirt for formal occasions (1893.67.3), folded for ceremony, Galt Museum, 2010
58 Kainai High School students with quillwork
59 Montage, paintings made as gifts to ancestors by students at Kainai High School, 2010
60 Quilled baby garment by Debbie Magee Sherer, purchased by the Pitt Rivers Museum,
University of Oxford.
viii
doi: 10.15215/aupress/9781771990370.01
Visiting with the Ancestors