This collection contains 93 photographs shot by amateur photographer Bird Carson (1842-1925) depicting daily life on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, circa 1890-1920. Bird worked as a housekeeper for the local school and her husband John Franklin Carson worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a teacher at Cherry Creek Day School on the Reservation.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains 93 photographs shot by amateur photographer Bird Carson (1842-1925) depicting daily life on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, circa 1890-1920. Bird worked as a housekeeper for the local school and her husband John Franklin Carson worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a teacher at Cherry Creek Day School on the Reservation.
The photographs include portraits of Lakota men, women, and children, photographs of the Carson family, school children, photographs of the Cherry Creek Day School #8 and the Thunder Butte Day School, and landscapes. Activities depicted include ration day, Indian band, chopping trees, tanning hides, cutting ice, washing clothes,
The photographs were donated in two separate albums which included handwritten and typed captions and identifications for many photographs.
Arrangement:
Photographs arranged in the original order in which they were organized and donated to NMAI.
Biographical / Historical:
Bertha "Bird" Louise Pickering Carson was born to Hannah Binford Pickering (1842-1925) and Philip Pickering (1837-1909) in Iowa on August 18, 1872. In 1891, she married John Franklin Carson (1860-1935) and they lived on the Cheyenne River Agency at Cherry Creek in South Dakota circa 1890-1920. John Franklin worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a teacher on the reservation and census records show that Bird Carson served as a housekeeper. The couple had four children: Catherine Hannah Carson Spain (1895- 1980); Franklin Morris Carson (1898-1941); John Henry Carson (1900-1964); and Philip D. Carson (b. circa 1902).
Bird Carson was an amateur photographer and photographed daily life on the reservation.
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[Excerpt below is from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe website (2022) which borrows text from Cheyenne River Sioux by Donovin Sprague. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S.C., 2003.]
The name Sioux is part of the Ojibway/Chippewa/Anishinabe word "Nadoweisiweg," which the French shortened to Sioux. The original word meant "little or lesser snakes/enemies." The Sioux are really three groups comprised of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota, each having slightly different language dialects. Geographically, the Lakota are the most western of the groups and there are seven distinct bands. Four of the Lakota bands (Minnicoujou, Itazipco, Siha Sapa, and Oohenumpa) are located on the land known as the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. The other three (the Oglala of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Hunkpapa at Standing Rock Reservation, and Sicangu at the Rosebud Indian Reservation and also at Lower Brule Indian Reservation), are all located in western South Dakota. The Standing Rock Reservation also stretches into North Dakota. Some of the Lakota also settled in Canada at Wood Mountain Reserve in Saskatchewan beginning in 1876. Collectively the bands are part of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota.
The present land base of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was established by the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Prior to this, the bands placed within this reservation knew no boundary to their territory. They were a hunting people and traveled frequently in search of their main food source, the sacred American bison or buffalo.
The Sioux Agreement Act of 1889 set reservation boundary lines and was named the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. West of the Missouri River was the waters of the Cheyenne River, known to the Lakota as the Good River (Wakpa Waste'). The "Post at Cheyenne River Agency" was established seven miles above Fort Sully on the Missouri River in 1870 and became known as Fort Bennett. Fort Bennett was next to the village named Cheyenne Agency, and was the quarters for the Indian Agent and soldiers. Separate from the fort was the agency town which housed U.S. Government employees and this location would later be moved to higher ground away from the river. The fort and town would be moved a total of four times in the coming years, with the name Cheyenne Agency attached to the town adjoining Fort Bennett. As reservation land was ceded following the Dawes Act of 1887, the town was moved again since it was now off the new reservation boundaries. After 1891, Fort Bennett was closed by the military and the reservation was believed to be safe without a military fort beside it. The next location of the agency would be between the Cheyenne River (Good River) and the Moreau (Owl) River at the site of Chief Martin Charger's camp. It was called Cheyenne Agency.
The final location of the Agency would be to the town of Eagle Butte in 1959, a move necessitated due to the construction of the Oahe Dam near Pierre, South Dakota, which flooded tribal lands along the Missouri River. When people refer to the Old Agency or Old Cheyenne Agency, they are referring to the Agency location prior to the move to Eagle Butte, which is now the tribal headquarters offices. There is also confusion about the name Cheyenne as people often think the four bands here are of the Cheyenne Tribe. Although the Lakota's have been close allies with the Cheyenne, they are, nevertheless, a separate tribe. The tribal headquarters of the Northern Cheyenne are located in Montana and the Southern Cheyenne are in Oklahoma.
The first towns were Evarts and then LeBeau which were trading posts. LeBeau was established by Antoine LeBeau, a French trader. Evarts and LeBeau became non-existent when railroad service left and the town of LeBeau burned. Both locations are now under the waters of the Missouri River. The old main home camps of the Minnicoujou were in the towns of Cherry Creek, Bridger, and Red Scaffold in the western area of the reservation. Cherry Creek is believed to be the oldest permanent community in South Dakota. The home camps of the Oohenumpa went from Iron Lightning, Thunder Butte, Bear Creek, and White Horse along the Moreau (Owl) River. The Siha Sapa located around the Promise and Blackfoot areas in the northeast part of the reservation. Green Grass and On The Tree communities were home to the Itazipco. Green Grass is the home to the sacred Buffalo Calf Pipe. There would soon be some reshuffling of the band locations as allotments were chosen and intermarriage. Many Itazipco joined the Minnicoujou and the Siha Sapa had earlier camped in close proximity to the Hunkpapa on the neighboring Standing Rock Reservation. Today, other communities on or near the reservation include Eagle Butte, Dupree, Red Elm, Takini, Bridger, Howes, Glad Valley, Isabel, Firesteel, Timber Lake, Glencross, Swiftbird, La Plant, Ridgeview, Parade, and Lantry. There are also many rural areas on the reservation.
There are different spelling preferences by individuals of the band names and the spellings in this writing appeared on a tribal flag. An older name for Minnicoujou was Howoju meaning "the people." Minnicoujou means "planters by the water," Itazipco means "Without Bows," and the French called them Sans Arc. Siha Sapa means "Black Foot," and Oohenumpa means "Two boilings/Two Kettle." The Black Foot Lakota should not be confused with the larger Blackfeet/Blackfoot nations of Montana and Canada. Many tribal members are a mixture of the four bands.
Related Materials:
Other Bird Carson photographs from Cherry Creek are held at the South Dakota State Historical Society.
Provenance:
Gift of the family of Catherine Spain, 2022.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Bird Carson photographs of Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, image #, NMAI.AC.425; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Minneconjou Lakota (Minniconjou Sioux) Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Date:
1989-1991
Summary:
This collection primarily includes newspaper clippings and pamphlets about the Chief Bigfoot Memorial Ride (Si Tanka Wokisuye) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains pamphlets and newspapers published by the ride organizers, clippings about the Big Foot Memorial Ride and related events, and clippings related to the Wounded Knee Massacre. Also included are audio transcripts, video logs, and media releases taken during the ride. The corresponding film and audio were unsalvageable. Materials were collected by Kate Ferraro while serving as a media coordinator for the Bigfoot Riders.
Please note, some of the articles include photos of deceased individuals which may be upsetting.
Arrangement:
Series 1: Clippings
Subseries 1.1 Si Tanka Wokiksuye
Subseries 1.2 About the ride
Subseries 1.3 About the Wounded Knee Massacre
Series 2: Media Transcripts
Subseries 2.1: Audio Transcripts
Subseries 2.2: Video Logs
Series 3: Additional Materials
Subseries 3.1 Media Releases
Subseries 3.2 Commemorative Calendar
Subseries 3.3 Photographs
Si Tanka Wokisuye:
Si Tanka Wokisuye, also known as the Chief Big Foot Memorial Ride, was started by Birgil Kills Straight, Alex White Plume, and Jim Garrett to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre. For five years, starting in 1986, a group of riders carrying a sacred hoop followed the original route taken by the Lakota people when fleeing from government sanctioned violence starting at Sitting Bull's camp at Standing Rock, then to Chief Bigfoot's camp on the Cheyenne River Reservation, and on to Wounded Knee. The group of riders grew from 19 the first year to over 350 the fifth year
The ride was undertaken as a spiritual experience. The sacred hoop of the Lakota people was broken by the Wounded Knee massacre and the ride was meant to mend it 100 years later, leading to the ride's slogan "Rebuilding the Nation in the Seventh Generation." Each day of the ride was dedicated to a different prayer including the earth, those who are sick or imprisoned, women, children, elders, victims of the massacre, and the next seven generations. In 1990, at the end of the ride a traditional Lakota ceremony known as "the wiping of the tears" was held at the mass grave site to end the mourning period.
Wounded Knee Massacre:
In the 1800's, Lakota communities were worried for their way of life as they were forced onto reservations and faced violence from the U.S. government. After the death of Sitting Bull, Miniconjou Lakota Chief Big Foot (also known as Si Tanka or Spotted Elk) and his people left the Cheyenne River reservation intending to join those at the Pine Ridge reservation in hopes of finding a peaceful resolution with the colonists and preserve Lakota traditions. On December 29, 1890, the U.S. 7th Cavalry led by Colonel James W. Forsyth surrounded the encampment near Wounded Knee Creek, planning to disarm and arrest them. One man, Black Coyote, refused to give up his rifle. He was deaf and didn't understand the orders being shouted at him. Soldiers grabbed him from behind and the gun accidentally went off. The army responded by opening fire on the unarmed Lakota. The soldiers followed and killed anyone who tried to escape, leaving more than 250 Lakota men, women, and children dead. The deceased were placed in a mass grave overlooking the encampment. 19 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for their roles in the massacre.
Provenance:
Gift of Kate Ferraro, 2019.
Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Chief Bigfoot Memorial Ride, image #, NMAI.AC.409; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
