In this blog posting we will examine some of the variations in historic
18th and 19th century Iroquois regalia through old
paintings, photographs and examples of early material culture. Since first contact
with Europeans, artists have depicted the Haudenosaunee wearing diverse attire;
the images below are by no means a complete visual record of those that exist
but should suffice in this brief review.
The
dictionary defines “traditional” as “existing in or as part of a tradition;
long established, customary, time-honored, classic, accustomed, etc.” Today, what is generally considered
“traditional” Haudenosaunee regalia can trace its origins to early examples
from the 18th century, culminating with the work of Caroline Parker
in the mid-19th century (figures 1 & 2).
Fig 1 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of
Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in western New
York. Private collection.
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Fig 2 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of
Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in western New
York. Private collection.
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Caroline’s outfit has had a major
influence on the design of Seneca regalia and it has also been adopted by other
Six Nation peoples; it came about from a synthesis of European and Haudenosaunee
attire. Deborah Holler, in writing about
Caroline’s outfit, said “The navy blue
skirt, with the striking ‘celestial tree’ design in the corner and luminous
beaded border, incorporates the bold color aesthetic of the Iroquois in design
motifs that are traditionally representative of the feminine forces associated
with Skywoman, the first woman to inhabit earth in Iroquois culture. These two
images of Caroline can be seen as a formal statement of cultural identity that
became a prototype for the Seneca Women’s national costume. By incorporating
the highest fashion styles of the times into a bold statement of Seneca
womanhood, Caroline set a standard for fashion that has had lasting appeal for
Haudenosaunee artisans. The combination of Victorian and Native elements shows
her inventive adaptation of the Native aesthetic to European fashion goods, and
is a demonstration of Caroline’s adaptability in both worlds” (Holler
2011:15-16)
Some
of the earliest depictions we have of American Indians are allegorical
representations that served to symbolize concepts or ideas. That changed in
1710 when the Mohawks sent a delegation to England on a diplomatic audience
with Queen Anne (figures 3 & 4).
Fig 5 – Oil on canvass painting titled
The Indian Family, by Benjamin
West. 1761. From a private collection in
England.
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The artist Benjamin West was in Italy in 1761 where he took on a commission to produce a painting for John Murray, a British aristocrat living in Venice (figure 5). Although scholars consider this image to be a generic piece, and the historical accuracy of his paintings is disputed by others, the cultural artifacts depicted are accurate representations of Northeast Woodland material from the period. Some of the items depicted are illustrated in another of West’s paintings, notably General Johnson Saving a Wounded French Officer from the Tomahawk of a North American Indian, in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery in Derby, United Kingdom where the male subject’s bag, the moosehair decorated knife sheath that hangs from his neck and his tomahawk, are identical. Although the items themselves are authentic, the fact that they appear in more than one of West’s paintings suggests that they did not necessarily belong to the subjects portrayed but were rather used by West as studio props for his paintings. The decorations along the bottom of the woman’s dress in figure 5, which were likely done in a combination of ribbon work and moosehair or porcupine quill embroidery, as well as the style of her dress, are an incipient form of what would later emerge as the “traditional” Haudenosaunee woman’s outfit. Like the mid-19th century portraits of Caroline Parker, the woman in this image wears decorated leggings, a blue overdress, skirt, blanket and decorated moccasins in a dress style that is very similar to Caroline Parker’s outfit. During the 18th century, American Indians were often depicted with a blanket draped over their shoulder. This practice likely originated with the use of bear, moose or deer skins robes long before the introduction of the European blanket. The adoption of ready-made, European trade goods was a practical consideration for Native people because these items offered a perceived advantage over traditional items.
Fig 6 – Portrait of Joseph Brant,
Thayendanegea, by George Romney, 1776 – the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
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Fig 7 – Portrait of Joseph Brant by
Gilbert Stuart, 1786. From the collection of the Duke of Northumberland,
London.
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In another portrait of Brant (figure 7)
he is similarly dressed in a combination of European and Native attire. Old
images are also found in which individuals are wearing less formal (more
traditional?) attire but the older symbolic and allegorical representations
were never far from the surface (figure 8). In this
book illustration the subject is holding a wampum belt
in his extended hand and his plucked scalp and feather top knot of hair could
be an early version of the gustaweh, an Iroquois man’s headdress. I’ve seen similar
18th century illustrations where the subject was identified as
Iroquois. He is standing next to a large waterfall (possibly Niagara). His
attire could be made from animal skins or it could be a European trade
textile. Although the image may have been a fanciful depiction of
an Iroquois warrior, it appears that the artist got some of the details right. He doesn't appear to be wearing leggings.
Fig. 9 – 18th century
leggings from the St. Lawrence Valley, possibly Iroquois. They are decorated
with porcupine quills and moosehair on black dyed buckskin. Collection history
unknown.
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Fig. 10 – 18th
century Iroquois leggings on dyed deerskin, decorated with either porcupine
quills or moosehair embroidery, trade beads and silk ribbon work. National
Museum of the American Indian.
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Although not specifically part of someone’s regalia, other 18th century items that were made by Iroquois artisans, such as burden straps (figures 11 & 12), aptly demonstrate some of the bold and colorful geometric design motifs that were prevalent during this period. In an 18th century watercolor of a Mohawk woman and child, she is wearing a burden strap across her forehead that is holding her cradleboard (figure 13). She is dressed almost completely in European trade goods. The lower border of her dress appears to be decorated with silver brooches and silk ribbon appliqué.
Fig. 13 – Mohawk woman with child – 18th
century watercolor by an unknown artist. Her attire is almost completely made from
European trade material. Collection history unknown.
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Fig. 15a - detail view. |
Fig. 15b - detail view. |
Fig. 16 – Tuscarora village,
1822. Watercolor signed “Dennis Cusick,
son of the chief. Fecit.” Private
collection.
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I
am aware of at least one of these peaked caps/hoods that has survived (figure 17) and it does have similarities to the
Wabanaki examples. These caps are quite rare but their appearance in both the Quebec painting and the one from Tuscarora
suggests that they were made and used by more than one Haudenosaunee community
and this was no doubt a piece of “traditional” attire during this period.
Fig. 17 – Seneca headdress – late 18th
early 19th century. From the
collection of the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.
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The
standing woman’s dress in figure 18 is also similar in style to the Caroline Parker example in figures
1 & 2, and the edge of the dress could be decorated with beadwork.
Fig. 18 – Christening of the Tuscarora
Asa Thompson – Watercolor attributed to Dennis Cusick, August 21, 1821. From
the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC.
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As we get into the early 19th
century, we find a number of realist paintings, done by Iroquois artists that
give us a glimpse into the “traditional” dress styles from the period. In a watercolor painting by Denis Cusick (figure 18) we
see examples of both men’s and women’s dress styles from the early 1820s. The
bottom edge of the woman’s dress, which appears to be decorated in silk ribbon
work, might also be edged in beadwork. Unlike the man who is wearing pants, she
appears to be wearing leggings and both wear moccasins. The man has a frock
coat that is held closed by a hand-woven sash. In a more defined image from this period (figure 19) we can see a lot more detail in the men’s
outfits. It’s hard to say from the image if their leggings are beaded or simply
decorated in ribbon work but it may well be a combination of the two.
In 1833, the young Laura M. Sheldon of Barnet, Vermont, married the
Reverend Asher Wright, a preacher to the Seneca at the Buffalo Creek
Reservation, and she devoted the rest of her life to the Christian well-being
of the Iroquois. Very clever in devising
ways to get them to listen to her moralizing and religious instructions, she
would invite them to what we might now call a “tea meeting.”
They
were at the liberty to bring their needlework, which consisted in ornamenting
their deerskin moccasins with porcupine quills, or their broadcloth skirts and
leggings with beads, or perhaps fastening a quantity of silver brooches upon
their short gowns or hats. While thus occupied, she read and explained the
gospel truths in their own language, sang hymns with them, and frequently
encouraged them to tell her some story of old times. The simple repast, which
had really brought them there and held them through the afternoon, was then
served, and they went away to think of the “good words” that had been spoken to
them about the “new way” (Caswell 1892:65).
Two
Seneca ladies are depicted wearing an ample amount of silver broaches on their
collars in a circa 1860 tintype (figure 20).
Fig. 20 – Circa 1860 tintype of
two Seneca women in their traditional dress. Their collars are decorated with
silver brooches. Private collection.
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Fig. 20a - detail view |
Fig. 20b - detail view |
Fig. 20c - detail view |
Caroline Parker’s outfit in figures 1 and 2 is also decorated in silver brooches.
Although none of the brooches depicted in these images are in the shape of a
heart, many 18th and early 19th century Iroquois brooches
were.
The
heart shaped brooch has been called the national badge of the Iroquois because
of its popularity among them. It is found in both single and double forms,
often surmounted by a crown. The design is thought to have come to North
America from Scotland, where it was a popular love token and betrothal symbol.
The “Luckenbooth” brooch, as it was known in Scotland, may have been introduced
by British-trained silversmiths such as Robert Cruickshank or James Hanna.
Another possibility is that the Indians requested the brooch after seeing it
worn by Scottish traders and settlers (Fredrickson and Gibb 1980:53).
The earliest heart-shaped brooches were manufactured in Europe as early
as the seventeenth century. “They were mostly used as luck tokens, or betrothal
gifts, and the choice of the heart shape … is sufficiently obvious (Parker 1910:354).”
Many were later made by Iroquois silversmiths who found their inspiration in
European models, and historically, the Iroquois continued fabricating them
until at least the 1860s.
Any
brooch pinned to the garment of a child was regarded by the Scotch as an
efficient charm against witches.…When the Iroquois silversmiths copied the
Scotch patterns they left off many things that were common in the original
patterns and interpreted the design as their own education, environment, or
customs dictated … (Parker 1911:285).
The use of silver brooches as charms to ward off evil spirits was an
early component of many Native peoples’ traditional beliefs.
Silver
was a gift from the underworld with a natural luminosity – a quality much
revered by native people. They believed that the luminosity, especially in
ornaments of personal adornment, constituted a power that reflected or blocked
evil spirits and radiated the good powers of the sun and moon in the Upper
World. Reflective silver ornaments were placed at strategic locations on the
body by adults and children, the living, and the dead. Luminosity represented
knowledge and wisdom and gave life to inanimate objects. Iroquois ceremonial
masks have reflective surfaces at the eyes to give them life and the Naskapi
word for mirror translates as “see soul metal” (Hamilton 1995:49).
About
the same time that Caroline Parker was photographed in the famous
daguerreotypes of her
(figures 1 & 2), the artist Thomas Jacobs produced a watercolor illustration of three Iroquois women in traditional attire (figure 21).
(figures 1 & 2), the artist Thomas Jacobs produced a watercolor illustration of three Iroquois women in traditional attire (figure 21).
Their outfits appear to be embellished almost exclusively with silver brooches. In another watercolor from the same period (figure 22) the women’s outfits are also decorated with
silver brooches and additionally their leggings and dress appear to be beaded.
One of the unusual features of their outfits are the scarves/shawls they are wearing.
Some early 19th century observers mention these scarves but to the
best of my knowledge, none exist in either museum or private collections.
Fig. 22 – Watercolor of four Iroquois
women, artist and date unknown. Looks to
be from the mid-nineteenth century. Private collection.
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Caroline Parker’s mid-19th century outfit in figures 1 and 2 is clearly decorated with curvilinear
designs and floral motifs. None of the other outfits in the early images we
have examined in this posting, as well as others I have seen, are decorated
this way. By the mid-19th
century, floral beadwork replaced the abstract and geometrical designs that had
been the accepted art form among Iroquois traditionalist for centuries. Why
this happened may have its origins in Euro/American reasoning. In the early
nineteenth century non-Native girls were schooled to be pious, chaste,
submissive, patient, and adept at “every variety of needlework,” and to “have a
special affinity for flowers” (Welter 1966:165). During the same period, the Haudenosaunee incorporated
symbolic and representational floral imagery in their work and this development
came about rather suddenly. Although scholars have demonstrated eloquently that
flowers were related to Victorian ideals of womanhood (Phillips 1998), the sudden
emergence of this type of ornamentation is a fundamental question that has yet
to be fully explained.
Ted Brasser also points out that there is only scant evidence that
representational floral motifs, in Iroquois decorative arts, were in use prior
to the Revolutionary War.
Aboriginal
decorative designs were originally abstract and geometrical, but a curvilinear
art style became popular in the 1750s. This new art style was adopted by all
native peoples around French Quebec, suggesting that it was inspired by some
form of French art (Brasser 2009:71).
Others have argued that the complex foliate designs arrived in North
America with the French missionaries and fur traders and that they originate in
European decorative arts, introduced, in the French convents, by the Ursuline
nuns to their Indian students. The
course of instruction that was taught to young women in Europe and America that
Welter described above was no doubt adopted in the French convents as part of
the curriculum for their Indian students. These decorative ideas were
subsequently dispersed across the region as their Native students returned to
their scattered homes through the northeast (Barbeau 1930). Perhaps, as a partial concession to
ministerial educational programs, some Indian artists modified their
traditional iconography and adopted the floral imagery. The inspiration may
have been European floral designs, but Native aesthetics and cultural meaning
were incorporated into the final works of art. Ruth Phillips has suggested that
“the Western and Victorian association of flowers with ideal ‘feminine’
qualities of fragility, beauty, and godliness converged with traditional
Haudenosaunee associations of plants and the crops cultivated by women with the
sustenance of human life to create a shared visual artistic language” (Phillips
1998).
Flowers and plants did have a place in Iroquois ceremonial life,
although not necessarily in the forms depicted on clothing.
The
fact that floral designs were adopted for ceremonial clothing indicates that
there had to be more to their use than mere imitation and commercial motives.
They had become an accepted part of the art style, and a source of group
identity (Harding 1994:26).
In summary, many believed that
the shimmering patterns, fashioned by the beads, attracted the spirits that inhabited
the woodlands of the Northeast. Richly decorated clothing was, after all,
intended to please benevolent spirits and to protect the wearer against harm
from malevolent ones. Clothing styles and fashion accessories change over time;
this is true in most cultures. The reasons for the change are varied and
sometimes complex. Jennifer Neptune, a
contemporary Penobscot artist, aptly points out that the floral motifs that
appear in Northeast Woodland beadwork were meant to convey a message about the
individual or group identity of those who created them.
I
see medicine plants in the designs, and it’s obvious to me that people were
beading designs of plants that were highly valued to themselves, their
families, and their tribe. When I look at the floral designs I see plants that
ease childbirth, break fevers, soothe coughs and colds, take away pain, heal
cuts, burns, and bruises, and maintain general health.… A hundred years ago
plants were the main source of medicine for Natives as well as non-Natives.
With the knowledge and importance of these plants in our culture beadworkers
needed to look no further than their own backyards for their own floral
designs. A hundred years later these same plants are still in our backyards,
are still being used for healing, and are still being used to inspire our
beadwork designs (Faulkner, Prince & Neptune 1998:41).
If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you
might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust
jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN
978-0-9785414-1-5.
Since the early nineteenth century,
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by
travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic
beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A
long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry,
"souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in
the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This
lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively
produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical
development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice
for Native women.
In this book, the
beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy
of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the
most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique
collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context,
this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this
little understood area of American Indian art.
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REFERENCES
CITED
Barbeau, C. Marius
1930 “The
Origin of Floral and Other Designs Among the Canadian and Neighboring Indians.”
Proceedings of the Twenty-third International Congress of Americanists, held at
New York, September 17 – 22, 1928. Nendeln/Leichenstein. (Krans reprint, NY
1968).
Brasser,
Ted J.
2009 Native American Clothing – An Illustrated
History. Firefly Books, Ltd. Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
Caswell,
Harriet S.
1892 Our Life Among the Iroquois Indians.
Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, Boston and Chicago.
Faulkner,
Gretchen Fearon, Prince, Nancy & Neptune, Jennifer Sapiel
1998 “Beautifully
Beaded: Northeastern Native American Beadwork” in American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 24, Number 1, Winter edition.
Fredrickson, N. Jaye and Gibb, Sandra
1980 The Covenant Chain – Indian Ceremonial and Trade Silver. A catalog to a travelling
exhibition of the National Museum of Man. Published by the National Museum of
Canada / Ottawa.
Hamilton,
Martha Wilson
1995 Silver
in the Fur Trade 1689–1820. Published by the author. Privately printed.
Harding, Deborah
1994 Bagging the Tourist Market: A Descriptive
and Statistical Study of 19th Century Iroquois Beaded Bags. Unpublished
Masters Thesis. Anthropology Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
Holler,
Deborah R.
2011 ‘The Remarkable Caroline G. Parker Mountpleasant,
Seneca Wolf Clan.” Western New York Heritage, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring.
Parker,
Arthur C.
1910 “The
Origin of Iroquois Silversmithing” in American
Anthropologist, New Series, Vo. 12, No. 3, July-September.
1911 “Additional
Notes on Iroquois Silversmithing” in American
Anthropologist, New Series, Volume 13.
Phillips, Ruth
1998 Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native
North American Art from the Northeast, 1700 – 1900. University of
Washington Press, Seattle and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal
and Kingston.
Pratt,
Stephanie
2005 American Indians in British Art, 1700-1840.
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Welter,
Barbara
1966 “The Cult of True Womanhood 1820–1860.” American Quarterly 18(2), pt.I:151–174.