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Nations in Wisconsin

For Indian tribes in the United States, sovereignty and treaty rights are key issues involving historic and modern-day relations between tribes -- as nations with the ability to govern themselves -- and the federal government of the United States.

map of tribes in wisconsinBoth sovereignty and treaty rights rely on the historic recognition that Native American tribes possessed the lands they lived on when Whites came to this

Catalog Number : 14601
Accession Number : 3964
Tribe : Winnebago/Ho-Chunk
Region : Great Lakes; no specific area recorded
Material : Glass beads, cotton, silk ribbon, wool yarn

This bag has a pouch in the front. Tan cotton backing exhibits a loomed geometric design on the neck and pouch panel in yellow, red, blue, and green colors. The center has two horizontal black cotton panels with a beaded floral design in pink, blue, and green. Red tassels adorn the bottom.

Source : Collected by Dr. Paul Radin, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington D.C., 1908-1913.

Bibliography

Abbass, D.K.. "Ribbonwork." In Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Pub., 1994. 557-559.

"Indian Country Wisconsin - Great Lakes History: A General View." Milwaukee Public Museum. http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/icw-21.html

Marriott, Alice. “Ribbon Appliqué Work of North American Indians, Part I.” Oklahoma Anthropological Society, 6 (1958): 49-60.

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Cherokee coat

Two Cherokee women named Nancy A. Riley and Polly Webber are responsible for the intricate embroidery of this fringed leather coat made around 1865 for a William Gallaher of the Indian Brigade assigned to the Indian Territories. The coat was donated to the Milwaukee Public Museum by the Upham family in 1900.

Item Image
coat
Catalog Number
E315
56

Red Hawk Ledger

This ledger book was "captured" by Captain R. Miller from Red Hawk on January 8, 1891 at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, shortly after the Wounded Knee Massacre. The Milwaukee Public Museum purchased the ledger from collector H.H. Hayssen in 1897. Ledger art was a medium of Plains Indian art from the late 19th to early 20th centuries and illustrates the changes in Plains Indian life during this time. The Red Hawk ledger consists of 105 ink and crayon drawings done by Red Hawk and other Sioux men. Learn more about this collection here.

Item Image
ledger art
Catalog Number
E2063
53

References

Berlo, Janet Catherine, ed. 1996. Plains Indian Drawings 1865-1935: Pages From A Visual History. The American Federation of Arts and The Drawing Center. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated.

Frank, Ross. 2005. Plains Indian Ledger Art. Electronic document, www.plainsledgerart.org.

Neihardt, John G. 1961. Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

Catalog Number : 65950
Accession Number : 28217
Tribe : Winnebago/Ho-Chunk
Region : Great Lakes Area (Wisconsin)
Material : Glass beads, cotton cloth, silk ribbon, wool

The bag has a loomed geometric design in white, blue pink, green, yellow, orange, and black. It has green and brown silk appliqué on the edges with beaded tabs that end in red and blue yarn tassels.  

Source : Donated by Charles H. Laflin of New Berlin, WI. Collected by John Laflin, the donor.