Arapaho (Inunaina, Hinono'ei), Southern Search this
Object Type:
Dress
Place:
United States, North America
Accession Date:
5 Apr 1882
Collection Date:
1861
Notes:
A LETTER IN THE ACCESSION FILE STATES THAT THIS COSTUME BELONGED TO "THE PRINCIPLE CHIEF OF THE ARAPAHOES HO-HA-CA-CHE, OR LITTLE RAVEN" FROM CARD: "R.B. I. P. 65. INFORMATION FROM ACC. PAPERS. "THIS SUIT OF CLOTHES (SKINS TRIMMED WITH BEADS) ABOUT WHICH I SPOKE TO YOU THIS MORNING WAS PRESENTED BY THE PRINCIPAL CHIEF OF THE ARAPAHOES HO-NA-CA-CHE OR LITTLE RAVEN TO DR. F. B. CALVER [sic, should be Culver] WHO WAS APPOINTED SPECIAL COMMISSIONER AND AGENT WITH A.G. BOONE ESQ. TO NEGOTIATE THE CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHOE TREATY OF FEB. 18, 1861 (12 STATS P. 1163) [Treaty of Fort Wise, Colorado]. LITTLE RAVEN BECAME VERY MUCH ATTACHED TO THE DR. AND AS A TOKEN OF HIS FRIENDSHIP GAVE HIM THIS HIS FAVORITE SUIT. I DESIRE THAT YOU ACCEPT IT IN THE NAME OF MRS. ALICE B. CALVER [sic, should be Culver] THE WIFE OF THE DOCTOR. YOU CAN GET IT FROM 808 K ST. N.W. MRS. C. IS FROM DECATUR, ILL. AND NOW A CLERK IN THE OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. R.F. THOMPSON. RECORDED APRIL 25, 1882." ILLUS. PL. 1, P. 36 IN "A CENTURY OF PLAINS INDIAN ART" BY JOHN C. EWERS, AMERICAN INDIAN ART MAGAZINE, VOL. 17, NO. 4, 1992, AND ID THERE AS BEADED WOMAN'S DRESS, ARAPAHO. Per John C. Ewers, this is a three-hide dress with double-curved stylized floral beaded designs. See Ewers, John C. "CLIMATE, ACCULTURATION, AND COSTUME A HISTORY OF WOMEN'S CLOTHING AMONG THE INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS." Plains Anthropologist 25, no. 87 (1980): 63–82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25667588.
There appears to be an error in the records as this woman's garment does not agree with the description of the item described in the accession documentatio, which appears to reference men's garments.
