The collection consists of a drawing James Mooney depicting the arrangement of tipis and other structures during the Sun Dance and other tribal gatherings in the period 1865-1875.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Biographical Note:
James Mooney (1861-1921) was an American ethnographer whose research focused on Native North Americans. Most of his knowledge of anthropology and ethnography was self-taught, largely through his field experience working with various Native communities. In 1885, Mooney began working for the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) under John Wesley Powell. There, he carried out ethnographic research for more than 30 years.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3298
Exhibit Note:
The diagram was displayed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. See MS 2351 James Mooney notebooks principally regarding Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Arapaho shield and tipi designs for a photograph of the exhibit case in which the diagram was displayed.
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds additional material related to James Mooney's research.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Diagrams
Citation:
MS 3298 James Mooney diagram of Kiowa camp circle, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The collection consists of a bound volume of preprinted US Army forms for recording results of target practice, subsequently filled with drawings of courting, hunting, warfare, Saynday stories, and scenes from the Kiowa Sun Dance by Silver Horn and other Kiowa artists. The artists were probably all Army scouts. The book also contains a 30 page pictorial diary by Silver Horn, spanning the period between January 1893 to June 1897. The diary starts near the end of the book and proceeds from the back towards the front. Among the many names inscribed in the book are "Hawgone" (Silver Horn) and "Auchchiah," both of whom served in Troop L of the Seventh Cavalry, an all-Indian troop that was commanded by Scott. The manuscript contains 186 drawings, as well as a number of scribbled images. The pages are hand numbered, 5-356, in red ink in the upper left corner of each page. A second hand pagination in black ink runs from the back of the book toward the front, encompassing the last thirty pages of the book. Previous inscriptions in the book record the results of target practice at Fort Meade, Dakota Territory in 1884. Hugh Scott was stationed at Fort Meade between 1883 to 1886.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Biographical Note:
Silver Horn, known as Haungooah in Kiowa, was born in 1860. His name also appears as Hugone, Hangun or Hawgon. He was a member of a prominent Kiowa family. His residential band, led by his father Agiati (Gathering Feathers), actively opposed the United States government's efforts to confine the Kiowa to a reservation. Members of his family participated in the Red River War of 1874-1875 and were among the last Kiowa to surrender to the military. In 1891, Silver Horn enlisted in Troop L of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry. He served with Troop L, which was part of a broader experiment involving the enlistment of all-Indian troops, until 1894.
In 1901, Silver Horn secured employment with James Mooney, an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Mooney was interested in the designs on Kiowa shields and tipis and hired Silver Horn to produce illustrations of the designs and models of the shields and tipis. The project provided Silver Horn with steady work between 1902 and 1904 and occassional employment between 1904 and 1906. Silver Horn also produced illustrations for Hugh Scott, an army officer and avocational ethnologist. Silver Horn was active in the religious life of the Kiowa. He was a Tsaidetalyi bundle keeper and participated in the Sun Dance, Ghost Dance, and Peyote religion. He was also a member of the Ohoma society. Silver Horn died on December 14, 1940.
Hugh Scott was a graduate of the United States Military Academy and served as an officer in the Seventh Cavalry. He was initially stationed in the Dakota Territory. There he learned Plains Indian sign language, a skill that enabled him to communicate more easily with the Cheyenne, Sioux, Crow, and Arikara scouts with whom he worked. He was transferred to Fort Sill, Indian Territory in 1889. From 1891 to 1893, he commanded Troop L of the Seventh Cavalry, an all-Indian troop that was comprised primarily of Kiowa men. He was an avocational ethnologist and compiled a small collection of Plains Indian material during his service in the West, including paintings and drawings by Silver Horn. In 1911, he published illustrations from this collection in "Notes on the Kado, or Sun Dance of the Kiowa", which appeared in American Anthropologist.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4252
Publication Note:
Many of the Sun Dance images are published with explanations in:
Scott, Hugh L. "Notes on the Kado, or Sun Dance of the Kiowa," American Anthropologist 13, no. 3 (1911): 345-79.
Exhibition Note:
Several of the Saynday images are published with associated stories in Saynday Was Coming Along...Silverhorn's Drawings of the Kiowa Trickster, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Candace Greene and Frederick Reuss, 1993.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Ledger drawings
Diaries
Citation:
MS 4252 Military target record book containing drawings by Silver Horn and others and a pictorial diary by Silver Horn, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The collection consists of a book of fourteen (14) drawings on eight (8) leaves of unruled paper in a commercial drawing book. The book was rebound by the Bureau of American Ethnology and the original covers are no longer visible. The drawings depict hunting, travelling, and camp scenes. The inside front cover is inscribed "Drawn by Buffalo Meat." The inside back cover is inscribed "Soaring Eegle [sic]." Buffalo Meat and Soaring Eagle were among the Cheyenne men imprisoned at Fort Marion. Although both men were artists, the drawings in this book are Kiowa, not Cheyenne.
Although the drawings were originally cataloged as Cheyenne by Buffalo Meat, neither Candace Greene nor Karen Daniels Petersen agree with this attribution. They note that the drawings can be identified as Kiowa based on elements of clothing, as well as shield and tipi designs. Furthermore, Greene compared the drawings with other works by Buffalo Meat and determined that they do not correspond with the artist's style. Both Greene and Petersen note that the drawings are the work of at least two artists. The inside of the front cover is inscribed, "Drawn by Buffalo Meat, Cheyenne." Petersen notes that the handwriting matches an inscription written inside the cover of MS 39-b, a drawing book that is known to have been collected at Fort Marion by George Fox, who inscribed the cover and captioned the drawings. (Candace Greene and Mike Jordan compared the inscriptions in MS 4656 and MS 39-b and agree that the handwriting is the same.) George Fox worked as an interpreter at Fort Marion until March 26, 1877. Consequently, the book dates between May 21, 1875, the date the prisoners arrived at Fort Marion, and March 26, 1877, the date George Fox departed.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Historical Note:
Fort Marion, also known as Castillo de San Marco, is a stone fortress in St. Augustine, Florida. Between 1875 and 1878, seventy-two prisoners from the southern plains were incarcerated in the fort. Captain Richard Pratt supervised the prisoners during their incarceration at Fort Marion. The prisoners consisted of 27 Kiowas, 33 Cheyennes, 9 Comanches, 2 Arapahos, and a single Caddo. With the exception of one Cheyenne woman, all the prisoners were men. They had been accused of participating in the recent Red River War, earlier hostilities, or both. With the exception of the wife and daughter of one of the Comanche men, the prisoners families were not allowed to accompany them to Fort Marion.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4656
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Ledger drawings
Citation:
MS 4656 Book of anonymous Kiowa drawings, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Ledger drawings
Date:
1902-1906
Scope and Contents:
Pencil and crayon drawings intermixed with Manuscript notes by Mooney. Oversize drawings identified as Cheyenne, Cheyenne or Arapaho, Kiowa, Dakota and Comanche. Typed list of these, with annotations made by Father Peter J. Powell during visit to National Anthropological Archives is included with master list of drawings in N.A.A. Many of the oversize drawings were preliminary sketches for the Cheyenne tipi curtain now on exhibit at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. Previously cataloged as "Kiowa and others." However, it was changed to the Cheyenne file after more complete identifications supplied by Karen D. Peterson and Father Powell showed that the majority of the drawings were Cheyenne.
Box I: Notes and drawings relating to men and horses in war paint, shields, tipis, shield tripods, lances and pennants. (Oklahoma) (March, 1902-April, 1906.) Pencil and crayon drawings intermixed with Manuscript notes by Mooney. 219 pages and slips (some with material on both sides.) List of owners of shields and tipis, in handwriting of unknown person, with Manuscript notes by both Karen D. Peterson and Father Peter J. Powell. (Washington, D.C.)(1968 ?-1971.) Manuscript document. 7 pages. According to list, 51 of the 80 owners have been identified as "Cheyenne" or "Cheyenne?"; 12 owners have been identified "Kiowa" or "Kiowa?"; 8 are unidentified; 3 each are Kiowa-Apache and Arapaho; and one each is Comanche, Crow and Ute.
The tipis are shown in finished drawings in Manuscript Number 2531, Volumes 9 and 10. The entire contents of boxes are discussed in detail in Manuscript Number 2531, volume 5; notations apparently refer to what pages in 2531, volume 5 discuss the subject of the drawing, e.g., the note "54-55a" on David Pendleton's shield. Drawings with notes have been separated by name of owner and filed alphabetically in sections on shields and tipis. Most of the drawings have Manuscript notes by Mooney as to owner, date, artist and place; for details see individual photo catalog cards to copy neg. nos. 72-1826 CN through 72-1926 CN, 72-1939 CN and and 72-1940 CN. A few drawings were also signed by the artists themselves. All the drawings which are dated, date between March, 1902 and April, 1906; the Administrative Reports of BAE-ARs for those years confirms Mooney's presence in Oklahoma from February 1902 until he left in April, 1906.
Box 2: Unidentified shield and tipi drawings. Many of the numbered pages are those cut by Mooney from his Kiowa volumes (Bureau of American Ethnology Manuscript Number 2531, Volumes 1-5). Oversize drawings: Tribes tentatively identified as Cheyenne, Cheyenne or Arapaho, Kiowa, Dakota, Comanche. 16 drawings. See typed list; copy filed with drawings, master copy inserted in Master copy of catalog of drawings, 11/71.
