A collection of 3 stories as told by White Buffalo of the Kiowa people of southwestern Oklahoma. These stories center around the character of Saynday, one of the trickster figures. Though he causes mischief and behaves in humorously inappropriate ways, his actions usually help the Kiowa people
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
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 As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today.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
