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Museum of the Rockies · 2017 Docent Manual

ENDURING PEOPLES:NATIVE CULTURES OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES AND

PLAINSRewritten in Summer 2017

NOTE: The first part of the Enduring Peoples (EP) Section of the Docent Manual covers exhibit panel and label text and exhibit-specific background information and generally corresponds to the sequence of exhibits within the hall. The second part contains broader background information, maps and other useful information for developing hall interpretations

EXHIBIT BACKGROUND

In 1994, the Enduring Peoples exhibit was installed as a temporary exhibit. The exhibit space was originally a hallway connecting two parts of the museum; therefore, there is a distinctive upward slope to the floor as you walk from the beginning of the exhibit to the end by the History Hall.

The exhibit theme emphasizes the enduring cultures of peoples in the region and focuses on the similarities among the various tribes of the Northern Plains and Rockies rather than on any single tribal group. This approach would be similar to an exhibit on Europe that discusses similarities but ignores the differences in language, religions, customs and foods of individual European countries such as Spain, Denmark, and England. The museum decided to take the generalized approach to Indian cultures because of the selected theme (i.e. enduring cultures), the "temporary" nature of the exhibit, the amount of exhibit space, and the type of artifacts in the museum's collection.

These peoples are not gone. Indians are still in the region and continue to change and still influence the cultural, economic and political environment of the region. These people are here TODAY. To help emphasize this point, major exhibit panels include a final line with the heading of "TODAY" in capital letters to emphasize how certain traditions and ideas are still active TODAY. We have also capitalized the word TODAY whenever it appears in the EP Section of the Docent Manual to highlight current Indian life and activities.

CULTURAL CONTEXT AND SENSITIVITIES

People around the world face essentially the same basic problems of feeding and clothing themselves, caring for their children and the elderly, making group decisions, and having spiritual guidance. How these problems are solved may differ and results in unique cultures; however, solving these problems is a universal task.

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Indian cultures were complex and sophisticated in content. Do not call them simple (without complicated ideas) or primitive (crude or undesirable). They were neither. The term "primitive" means lacking in civilization and is often used to demean cultures different from European cultures (e.g. cultures with writing, cities and complex technology). Indian cultures have very complicated philosophical systems, elaborate kinship structures, and comprehensive bodies of knowledge about the natural and supernatural worlds. Indian cultures in this region did not have a writing system and did not need one. Their complex stories were committed to memory and shared in ceremonies and rituals. These stories incorporated ideals and morality into intricate and often amusing stories. Their extensive use of oral history and stories has successfully preserved and passed on their cultural beliefs and traditions for thousands of years.

Indian cultures have unique moral systems that are often difficult for non-Indians to understand. Some can be confusing. For example, in extended families, an older woman (outsiders might call a grandmother) will fulfill the role of mother. Outsiders often interpret this to mean that the mother is neglecting her children. The childrearing task traditionally was done by someone else who had more time and patience since the mother was responsible for gathering and preparing food, making clothing, constructing and maintaining the tipi, etc. Other ideals, such as reverence for "mother earth," are admired while also being misunderstood. Outsiders who call Earth a goddess, for example, neglect the true complexity of Indian notions of the spiritual world.

Indian peoples also have their own stories of origin, which are religious in nature. Other cultures have origin stories that differ from scientific interpretations. When doing an interactive activity with students, it is fine to allow students to try on clothes and touch and make sounds with the instruments. However, in order to maintain the utmost respect for American Indian culture and practices, we would like to discourage any formation of a Pow Wow circle or "Pow Wow" type dance with the students.

Over the years, outsiders have struggled with the appropriate term for the native peoples of America. While the term "Native American" became popular in the 1960's, most tribal groups in Montana refer to themselves as "American Indians." In this exhibit, the term "Native American" is occasionally used, but the primary term in use is "Indian."

Because objects of cultural and spiritual sensitivity were removed from the exhibit in 2016, PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOW PERMITTED IN THE ENDURING PEOPLES EXHIBIT.

EXHIBIT UPDATE

This "temporary exhibit" has served the museum well and has proven very popular over the years especially with elementary school groups. The Enduring Peoples exhibit is now considered a permanent exhibit on regional American Indian cultures. However, the museum recognizes the exhibit's limitations. Long term plans call for integrating the Enduring Peoples and History Halls into a single

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exhibit on regional history.

Indian Education for All (IEFA): In 1972, Montana ratified a new constitution. An important addition to this new constitution was Article X, section 1(2) which states, "The state recognizes the unique and cultural heritage of the American Indians and is committed in its education goals to the preservation of their cultural integrity." Montana is the only state in the United States to include an explicit constitutional commitment to its Indian citizens. In 1999, the Montana Legislature passed a law known as Indian Education for All to codify the intent of Article X, stating "Every Montanan . . . whether Indian or non-Indian, be encouraged to learn about the distinct and unique heritage of American Indians in a culturally responsive manner.” School curriculum standards and lesson plans have been expanded to include Indian history and cultural studies. Some teachers plan tours to the museum to augment their IEFA program. Some school groups are interested in specific tribes. When specific tribal information or artifacts are identifiable within the exhibit, the tribe's name has been capitalized in the descriptions within the EP Section in the Docent Manual.

Acquisition of the Hamilton - Povah Yellowstone Collection: In 2009, nearly 1,200 items collected by the Hamilton and Povah families while operating the Hamilton Store chain in Yellowstone National Park (1915 to 2003) were donated to the museum. This collection provides a unique and valuable insight into the Yellowstone area's cultural history including the area's Indian culture. The acquisition quadrupled the museum's collection of Indian artifacts. The Museum of the Rockies now has one of the best collections of Northern Rocky Mountain Indian artifacts in the region. The donation also included a financial gift to support the curation and interpretation of the collection.

Reinstallation of Enduring Peoples Exhibit : In 2016, the EP hallway exhibit area was closed for renovation. In November 2016, the area was reopened as the Gardner Western Gallery with a new regional history exhibit, Welcome to Yellowstone Country, and the reinstallation of an updated Enduring Peoples exhibit. The updated exhibit begins in the area of the full-size adult buffalo and ends at the entrance to the History Hall.

The overall exhibit space appears brighter and larger than the former space because the exterior walls were changed from brown to white and all of the mannequin displays were removed as well as most of the partial interior divider walls. This section of the Docent Manual includes the text of all EP exhibit panels and labels and are grouped topically. Note: Actual physical locations of some exhibit items may be in the same area but not necessarily adjacent to each other. The following topical groups are used in the updated exhibit: Origins of the People and Storytelling; A Mobile Lifeway; Diverse Resources; Clothing; The Tipi Way; Hunters and Gatherers; Decoration; Family and Indian Social Groups; Toys, Games and Entertainment; Indians in Yellowstone; Spirituality and Religion; and Friends and Enemies.

INTRODUCTION

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Enduring Peoples examines the lifeways of American Indians living on the Northern Plains and near the Rocky Mountains and illustrates how they have retained their cultural identities despite great challenges.

Indian cultures in the region have endured from paleo to modern American times. Traditionally, these peoples followed the vast herds of bison that once covered the region. As Euro-Americans moved onto the lands that American Indians had lived on for generations, conflicts became inevitable. Ultimately, the American Indians of the region were forced onto small areas of land that they reserved for themselves in their negotiations with the government of the United States. Although life has changed for Indians in the region, traditions endure. American Indians have inhabited the Northern Plains and Rockies for over 12,000 years. Most were mobile hunters and gatherers. Traditional native life remained largely intact until the 1800s.

The first outside explorers into native lands are unknown. However, the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806) provided the first systematic exploration, mapping, and documented descriptions of the area and its abundant natural resources. The fur trade, discovery of gold, and the Homestead Act all brought waves of outsiders to the region. Competition for resources and the introduction of horses, metal, guns, cloth and canvas by outsiders significantly affected Indian cultures.

Culture is the sum total of ways of living built up by a people and transmitted from one generation to another. There is a tremendous amount of similarity as well as diversity in Indian cultures throughout the region. With time, all cultures change. However, TODAY'S Indian life still reflects some traditions that are hundreds of years old. Many Indian people revere their heritage and work hard to maintain their cultural independence. They want to honor their ancestry by keeping their cultures alive. They can no longer fully support themselves with the mobile, hunting lifeway of the past; but they can continue to preserve many of their traditions through ceremonies, religious rituals, languages, and stories.

Introduction Panel: ENDURING PEOPLES, NATIVE CULTURES OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES AND PLAINSIndian cultures TODAY are not identical with those of 100 or 200 years ago. However, many ideas and practices have survived. Panel Text: The hunter-gatherers who lived in this area for thousands of years were well fed and spiritually secure. Life was predictable and usually good. In the late 1800s, many changes were imposed upon the Indian residents by newcomers. Even with the loss of land and the buffalo, Indian cultures have not vanished. Instead, they responded to new economic and social conditions by adapting new materials to older ideas and ways of living. They fitted the new into the old, struggling to keep traditional values meaningful and alive amidst the devastation caused by alcohol and unemployment.Panel Photo: Indian Couple at Columbia Fair. The outside world has been filtered through traditions, never to be adopted fully.

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Display: FULL-SIZE ADULT BUFFALOThe scientific name for the American buffalo is bison but the popular name remains "buffalo." The names "buffalo" and "bison" are used interchangeably in this exhibit hall. Docents can use either term but "buffalo" tends to be the more common name. This buffalo was part of a commercial herd raised for meat. It was harvested in November when its body weight and hide were in prime condition. The Indians used buffalo chips (dung) as a primary source of fuel. Buffalo eat plant material. Their waste product is mainly undigested cellulose (the same structural framework as plants and wood). The chips had no smell after drying for a year.

Photo Wall Mural: BUFFALO HERDBackground: This photo was taken on the Flying D Ranch located southwest of Bozeman, Montana. The ranch operates as a commercial buffalo ranch and is owned by Ted Turner. The photo shows the kind of grassland that was most attractive to the buffalo. The plains of Montana are classified as a short grassland region. The native grasses of the region have the property of retaining their nutritive qualities when dried out in the annual summer drought; therefore, the buffalo got the full nutritional value without concern for the amount of rain that had fallen.

The migration of the herds was only moderately predictable. Some years, the herds did not return to places they had been found in previous decades. Little is known about the reasons for such changes. Adequate water for drinking was probably one important variable. The buffalo clean themselves by rolling in dirt, which removes pests and parasites while also cooling the animals. The depressions or wallows made by rolling often fill with water in rainy times. TODAY, many tribes have buffalo herds which provide meat for feasts, hides and other parts for religious ceremonies and materials for tools. In families, schools, camps and tribal colleges, elders tell sacred stories of buffalo and demonstrate skills like hide tanning.

ORIGINS OF THE PEOPLE AND STORYTELLING

Religion, which many Indian people prefer to call spirituality, is central to everything else in Indian cultures. Stories of origin are basic religious ideas. They are like the stories in the Old Testament of the Bible except Indian stories are not written down. Special people were responsible for learning and telling these stories. For Euro-American cultures, time is viewed as a line from birth to death, always pointing into the unknown future. Indian people do not divide time this way. They think of time as circular. The retelling of stories brings the past into the present, ensuring that the future will resemble the past.

Panel: ORIGINS OF THE PEOPLETo Indian peoples, everything in the world had sacred origins. Since they did not have writing, their ideas about beginnings were contained in sacred stories and ceremonies that were remembered and told from one generation to the next. TODAY, sacred stories, often told in winter, still convey moral teachings and other important lessons. Note: The panel stories are very short summaries of story

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cycles that could take weeks to tell.

The SIOUX: People once lived underground and were brought to the surface when the Mother of the Winds begged Inktomi (Spider) to find them. These people were visited by White Buffalo Calf Woman who gave them their seven sacred rites.

The CHEYENNE: Maheo, the All Spirit, created a salty lake. From a ball of mud, he made land which rested on the back of a turtle. And the Earth was known as Grandmother, Earth Woman. Later, by breathing on one of his own ribs, Maheo created First Man and then First Woman. Maheo is still with us, as all good and all life. Note: Maheo is not referred to as a being or with a gender. Maheo is a generalized spiritual force, with many aspects and forms, some with bodies and others without form. All together, these aspects make up the CHEYENNE notion of spiritual power; what Christians call God.

The BLACKFEET: Old Man, Napi, made the animals and then molded clay into a human shape and said, “You must be People.”

Panel Drawing: This drawing is an adaptation of a shield painting of an Eagle. It is SIOUX in origin. The wavy lines represent Thunder, which for the SIOUX is associated with the West. The Thunder Beings are part of the stories of the origin of the world. They are also imaged as the Grandfathers. This image came from the man's dream or vision experiences and represented his connection to the spiritual world. Caption: Eagles were of the Winged People who carried messages between people and the spiritual world.

Panel: STORIES TEACH AND ENTERTAINBackground: Oral stories are a powerful tool for passing along cultural information. Combined with what people see and participate in, they are the classroom for Indian cultures. They are also entertaining for people of all ages. There were many kinds of traditional stories, some very sacred accounts of the beginnings of the world and other tales of peoples adventures.

Coyote, a ribald, raucous, wild, silly being, is an important part of sacred stories and very different from anyone in sacred Christian cultures. It is often hard for non-Indians to believe that such a character could be sacred. But he is. Coyote's antics and misbehaviors are often instrumental in creating the plants and animals of the world in their present state. Through his misbehavior, Coyote also defines morality, ethics and correct behavior. The lesson is, "Don't act like Coyote!" He was divine, so he always comes back after his punishments, but regular people who misbehave won't be so lucky.Funny stories of a rascal make for interesting listening and are also easy to remember. There are no directly stated morals at the end of these Coyote stories. The listeners create the message for themselves. How each person hears the story depends on his/her experiences, which makes them entertaining and instructive for many age levels. Even when abbreviated like the stories on the panel, the messages embedded in the story come through.

Panel Text: Storytelling was a favorite pastime, especially during the winter.

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Performers used special voices and facial, hand and body movements. Stories taught important lessons without preaching and were never directly explained. TODAY, stories are still important for teaching values and for entertainment.

Story: COYOTE AND THE PLUMS (CROW Story)Old Man Coyote noticed some plums in a pond. When he tried to pick them, they disappeared. When he waded into the water, they were gone. He tied rocks to his feet and almost drowned but still had no plums. At night, the plums disappeared. In the morning, Old Man Coyote asked his wife to help him. She laughed and pointed to the plums within easy reach hanging on a limb above the pond.

Story: COYOTE'S JUGGLING EYES (NORTHERN CHEYENNE Story)In one story Coyote asks for and receives a special set of eyes that can be sent out from his head, but no more than four times on any one day. Coyote ignores the rules and sends his eyes out a fifth time. The eyes refuse to return and rot while they are out of his head. Later, he convinces Mouse to loan him one eye, although it is too small. Then, he gets a second eye from Buffalo, but it is too large and has to sit on his cheek.

A MOBILE LIFEWAY

Panel: A MOBILE LIFEWAYBackground: People moved through a well-known territory, often stopping at the same places every year. They did not wander, but moved deliberately to specific pre-selected locations. The arrival of the horse in the 1720s made it much easier to move through the region to get to all of the varied resources. Life with the horse may have been easier but it was also more complicated as people could move into new territories they previously could not reach. The horse ended much of the isolation of the Northern Plains leading to increased interaction and increasing hostilities between some tribes.

There is little direct evidence for territory size for early hunter-gatherers. They probably ranged about 150 square miles based on our knowledge of modern hunter gatherers in Africa and Australia who move about on foot. Much more is known about territory size after the local arrival of Europeans and the horse. After they had horses, the BLACKFEET moved along the entire northern region of the state and as far south as the Gallatin Valley. The CROW moved from the Gallatin Valley to the Big Horn Mountains near the present-day CROW reservation. Panel Text: Foods and resources were widely scattered in the region. Family bands traveled hundreds of miles each year, staying several weeks at base camps to hunt or gather necessary supplies. Winter camps were set up for several months in one place. Survival depended on a complete knowledge of resources and the skills and experience to acquire and process a wide variety of raw materials.

When people moved to new camps everything they owned had to be moved. Items were carried by people or were placed on a travois, an A-frame of poles dragged by a dog. Horses, traded into the region by Indians from the Southwest in about 1720, replaced dogs in pulling the travois. Horses allowed people to hunt more

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effectively, move farther and carry more goods and objects. Panel Drawing: The horse and rider drawing is based on design from a petroglyph from this region.

Photo Wall Mural: HORSE TRAVOISBackground: Horses allowed people to have and move more things. A horse could drag a travois with about 250 pounds on it. Women's horses were normally used to pull the travois. Pictures from the 1800's show the travois piled high, often with small children riding on top of the loads, as shown in this photo. The woman's elaborate dress suggests preparation for a celebration or parade. The star designs on the tipi tops look like BLACKFEET designs. The canvas tipi and the buggy wheels visible in the photo indicate the photo was probably taken in the 1880's or later. The travois was made of long poles lashed together with a frame attached between them. Tied onto the saddle, the travois was dragged behind a horse.

DIVERSE RESOURCES

Panel: DIVERSE RESOURCESBackground: The area inhabited by Indian peoples had a wide diversity of resources for food, shelter, health and clothing which meant that families were well fed and protected. With spiritual security, there was no great push to change their life style. People had to move through a large territory to find everything they needed, but it was there. The CROW, for instance, moved over an area from the Gallatin Valley as far east as the Big Horn Mountains, just south of the present-day CROW Reservation.

Being a hunter-gatherer required hard work for short periods of time, but people had many "free" hours between dawn and dusk. Researchers have documented about three times as much free time for hunters-gatherers as for farmers or for workers in industrial societies.Panel Text: In historic times, many Indian people lived in the plains and visited the mountain regions for resources such as lodgepole pines for tipi poles. Others lived in the mountains and visited the plains to hunt buffalo. Long winters of blizzards and extreme cold were broken by warm, chinook winds. Summers were short, dry, windy and stormy, much as they are today.

Western Mountains: Mountains in the western third of the region are heavily forested, with many lakes and rivers. The area is wetter and cooler than the eastern section.

Eastern Plains: Grasslands in the eastern two-thirds of the region include low mountain groups divided by two major rivers (Missouri and the Yellowstone). This area is drier and warmer than the mountains to the west.

Resource Diversity: The mountains provided lodgepole pine for tipi poles, porcupines for ornaments, mountain sheep for horn spoons and deer for food and skins. Flakable stones and pigments were found along river banks. In the plains, buffalo and antelope provided food, hides and material for tools. Here grew wild

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turnips, chokecherries and onions. Early peoples developed tools to collect and process these resources. Their diet was well balanced and healthy, and they had abundant leisure time for socializing.

Panel Map: The color enhanced map shows the variety of ecological areas within the state. The mountains to the west are a dark green and the plains to the east are a golden tan. This does not give much indication of the tremendous variety within these broad regions. Along the rivers in the plains are lush growths of berry and chokecherry bushes. And the mountains have valleys with lush grassy areas and high meadows full of wildflowers and other important plans.

Panel: PLANTS AS FOOD AND MEDICINEBackground: The basic diet was heavily weighted toward meat and fat, but plants added variety and roughage. Most plants were suitable for drying, so the items could be eaten in winter and spring when fresh plants were not available. The dry conditions and frequent sunny summer days made sun drying the preferred technique for preserving foods. Plants were also a source of medicines. About 150 plants have been investigated by modern pharmacologists and found to have medicinal properties. Thousands more are still untested.

There are also Indian stories of the origin and use of plants. The SIOUX have a series of stories about White Buffalo Calf Woman who brought them sacred objects and ceremonies. Early in the stories, she is pursued by some men who do not trust her because she appears miraculously in their tipi. She runs away and hides by pulling herself under the skirt of her dress. While hiding, the decorations on her dress fall off and become the plants and small animals of the region. Later, she reappears and explains her spiritual origin and gives the brothers, who also originate as stars, the bison as a permanent food source.

TODAY, many tribes offer classes in the schools and tribal colleges that deal with traditional knowledge of plants. In several cases, the tribes have chosen to keep such information to themselves because of the religious nature of this information. This is another indication of the religious aspect of all areas of Indian life. Panel Text: Plants, gathered mostly by women, provided about 30 percent of the calories consumed. Plants added variety to the basic diet of protein and fat provided by meat. Pemmican, a CREE name for a mix of dried powdered meat, rendered fat and ground dried fruit, was a nutritious as well as durable stored and portable food.

Cooking Plants: Some plant foods were eaten as soon as harvested. Most could be dried in the sun and stored for winter use. Teas were made from plants and used for medicinal purposes, but people usually drank plain water.

Can you identify how these Native plants are used?Flip the pictures and check your answers. (Answers for flipped pictures, left to right; top row than bottom row are listed below) Buffaloberries: The delicious berries were harvested by spreading hides on the ground and shaking the plants with sticks.

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Onions: Cooked by putting hot rocks into water filled skins, onions were added to stews. Camas: The bulbs were roasted, dried or boiled to make a drink, or used as a sweetening agent. Chokecherries: The fruit has large pits that were ground up when dried and combined to make pemmican. Bitterroot: The root was dug before it bloomed, when it was still sweet. It took a few minutes to roast in a fire or was eaten raw. Willow: The bark was boiled into a medicinal tea to relieve pain.

Note: These native plants can still be found in Montana. Chokecherries grow in several areas around Bozeman. Camas and bitterroot are found in the western part of the state. Large stands of willows can be found on the banks of most of the rivers in the state and are a favorite food for moose. Onions are scattered through the plains and mountains. Many other tubers, such as turnips, are found in the plains. Honey was gathered as a sweet treat. There is no evidence of places to mine salt or of trade networks focusing on salt.

CLOTHING

CASE: WOMEN'S CLOTHINGA woman's skills at tanning hides and making and decorating clothing showed her pride in her child, her family and her own skills.

Panel Text: Women wore leather dresses, leggings and moccasins. Buffalo robes were worn as heavy coats. Long fringe was admired and helped to dry garments. Women wore plain camp dresses most of the time, saving fancy beaded items for celebrations. Woolen cloth was brought into the region by traders. By the late 1800s, cotton and wool had nearly replaced leather. TODAY, decorated garments like these are worn for celebration and important occasions.

Panel Photo: Dress Styles ChangedBLACKFEET women show the variety of clothing styles typical of the turn of the century. Label: Woman in the center wears a tradition style fringed leather dress. The blanket over her shoulder has a beaded strip. Other women wear cloth dresses which were considered stylish.

Panel Photo: CHEYENNE GirlPhotographed between 1880 and 1930, this girl wears an elk tooth dress and metal bracelets and rings, showing the changing styles of the period. Note: The most highly prized elk teeth were the canines or tusks. There are only two of these canine teeth in each animal, so the incisors or front teeth were sometimes used as well. In later years, the teeth became a very valuable trade item. She is also wearing elaborate braid coverings and shell necklaces.

Label: Trade Bead BraceletGlass beads such as these were sought by women because of their variety of design and color.

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Label: Elk Tooth BraceletThe ivory canine teeth of elk were especially prized. The elk teeth in this bracelet were dyed or painted green.

Label: BLACKFEET Beaded DressThis two-skin dress was made by joining two deer hides together with the hind legs at the shoulder. The deer tails can be seen at the center on both the front and the back. Cowrie shells were substituted for elk teeth, which became a rare commodity after people were put on reservations and it was difficult to hunt.

Label: LAKOTA Beaded Leggings (NOT ON DISPLAY). Women beaded only the bottom portion of leggings because the top was concealed under the long dress.

Label: Beaded MoccasinsThere were no differences in the style of moccasins for men and women, or in the designs put on them. Soles were made of soft leather and later of rawhide.

Label: Beaded Women's BeltDresses were cinched at the waist with wide, stiff belts. Some were completely beaded. Women hung cases, small bags and decorative beaded bands from their belts.

Label: Beaded Belt PouchThe red arrow on this BLACKFEET belt pouch is known as the "heart-line" motif, used to symbolize the life force of the animal spirit.

Label: Hair Pipe NecklaceBoth men and women wore necklaces and bracelets that often contained beads, teeth or other items that might bring good luck or ward off bad luck.

Label: LAKOTA Beaded Pouch LAKOTA favored beadwork patterns using blue, red and green colored beads against a white background. The symbols on this bag represent the mountains, stars and bear claws.

Label: Beaded BagPanels of beadwork, with geometric elements evoke earlier quill patterns. Turquoise was considered a neutral, acting as the sky behind the design.

BABY ITEMSChildren were thought of as small adults, with the rights and responsibilities for their own behavior. They were included in all group events, often with special duties. For example, during the Sun Dance it was the job of children to tease and annoy adults, who then had to show their maturity by ignoring such petty problems, i.e. living up to their religious ideals. Children were beloved as their fancy clothing shows. Children's clothing was often shared among members of extended families, with a younger child inheriting from those older and larger. The same pattern is present within Indian families TODAY.

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Label: High Top Baby Moccasin and Beaded CapSmall babies spent most of their time in cradleboards, but they were fully dressed when they were not swaddled.

Label: Children's Beaded MoccasinsChildren's moccasins were as elaborately decorated as those of adults.

Panel: CradleboardsUntil two years of age, babies spent most of their time swaddled within a cradleboard. Moss, rabbit fur, cattail down, cottonwood fluff or soft leather was used as a diaper. The cradleboard was worn on a woman's back or propped up so that the child could easily look around.

Panel Photo: CROW Infant in CradleboardThis cradleboard has a long oval shape with wide beaded flaps that can still be seen with CROW, TODAY. This style does not seem to have been done by other groups. Label: This photograph of Mrs. Ten Bear, a CROW, was taken in 1899 when she was an infant. The CROW cradleboard almost hides her from view. This style has broad flaps and a high headboard, but no sun visor.

Label: CHEYENNE Cradleboard CoverA fancy beaded cradleboard cover was an important way for a woman to show her beading and design skills.

CASE: MEN'S CLOTHINGBackground: Women designed and made men's clothing. They showed their pride in their husband's, sons' or brothers' accomplishments by creating beautiful clothing. The men showed their pride in their wife's or mother's or sisters' skills by wearing and displaying their garments. Men's clothing, especially headdresses, also showed a man's accomplishments. Items of decoration like feathers often showed what someone had done in battle or as a hunter or in religious ceremonies (somewhat like looking at a military uniform to understand the person's rank, time in service and other accomplishments). Pride of accomplishment was an important cultural value, shared between the peoples of the region. Panel Text: Men wore long leather shirts, leggings, a breechcloth and moccasins. Before the reservation period, most men's clothing was made from tanned leather. Beaded and quilled decoration was done on clothing for celebrations. A fringe of hair, either donated from family or friends or from horses, was often added to arm seams. Men began to dress in cloth shirts as early as the 1850s.

Panel Photo: Dull Knife and Bobtail Horse, 1879Dull Knife was a nickname for Morning Star, a CHEYENNE leader. The CHEYENNE speak of Morning Star with reverence since he was among the leaders who led them out of exile. After the Battle of the Little Big Horn in the summer of 1876, the CHEYENNE were sent to a reservation in Oklahoma, where there was much illness. In 1878, a small group left and began walking north, enduring many hardships. In 1884, a reservation in Montana was created by executive order. The

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CHEYENNE tribally-controlled community college is named after Dull Knife. Label Text: Dull Knife is wearing a robe with a beaded blanket strip. According to a note by the photographer, split horse ears identify buffalo ponies.

Label: Beaded VestThis vest is an example of how new materials were adapted into older cultural patterns. A new material (cloth) and a new form of dress (the vest) were introduced to the Indians by Euro-Americans. These items were then adapted in a unique Indian manner by applying older beaded designs. Some assume that outsiders forced new objects onto Indian cultures. Instead, these ideas or items were chosen and modified to fit into existing cultural patterns. Label Text: Vests were incorporated into men's clothing by the 1870s. The beading was often done directly onto wool, cotton or silk of a purchased vest.

Label: Child's Beaded VestChildren's clothing reflects the style of clothing worn by their parents.

Label: Men's ShirtPanels of beadwork on the sleeves and down the front and back are typical of Plains shirts. The panels of beading could be removed and put onto a new shirt.

Label: Men's LeggingsLeggings are tubes of material that cover the legs. They would be worn with a breechcloth (underwear).

Label: Beaded Moccasins. A design like this with a white background and narrow colored designs was a favorite SIOUX pattern.

Label: Feather BonnetFeather bonnets were worn by men as a sign of their success at hunting and at war. Feathers had to be earned before they could be worn.

Label: Beaded Knife SheathThis ARAPAHO knife case was tied to the belt with the leather thong.

Label: GauntletsThe CHIPPEWAS and CREES who, in turn, were influenced by European styles of the late 1700s, introduced floral designs, represented on this pair of gauntlets, to the Plains tribes. The spread of the floral designs occurred in the late 1800s, about the same time as realistic beaded designs along with such motifs as animal, flags and humans.

Label: Copper BraceletCopper bracelets were popular trade items. Both Euro-Americans and Indians connected the bracelets with assistance in healing. It is unclear which group had this idea first. Label Text: Commercially made jewelry became popular in the 1880s. Copper bracelets were thought to ease joint pain. Older styles might have included elk teeth or large trade beads.

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Label: Beaded ChokerJewelry added further color to men's clothing. Necklaces often incorporated power items like special colors, bear claws or beaver teeth.

Label: Porcupine Hair RoachMade of a combination of porcupine guard hairs, deer tails and sometimes moose hair, the roach was worn on the head during dances and celebrations. Often there were feathers tied into the center which moved with the dancer. This may be a boy's roach because it is not as large as some roaches in other collections. Label Text: A roach of porcupine hair emphasized dancers' movements. A long braid of hair on the top of the head held the roach in place.

Case Photo: Buffalo Hide RobeBuffalo hide robes, with the hair left on for winter, were worn as coats. The hides were worn with the head to one side and the tail to the other. Sometimes, designs were painted, quilled or beaded onto the robes. In the 1880s, commercially woven blankets replaced hide robes. The actual size of the robe in this photo: 7.5' by 4.5'Case Photo: CROW MenThese CROW men were photographed in 1898 in the Pryor Mountains during a celebration. The first man wears a bear claw necklace and his hair is arranged in typical CROW style.

Case Photo: Plenty Coups, CROW LeaderPlenty Coups' skills and wisdom are evidenced in the long trailers of feathers which drape over the rump of his horse. Feathers were, and still are, sacred symbols of power that had to be earned by acts of bravery or generosity. Feathers were tied to his horse's forehead (which also indicates bravery in battle).

Case Photo: Three Men Dressed for a CelebrationThe men are wearing cloth clothing, beaded vests, roaches and big sleigh bells. Such bells, roaches and vests are still seen at Pow Wow celebrations TODAY. Label Text: In 1890 leather clothing had been replaced by cloth shirts, beaded vests and woolen leggings.

THE TIPI WAY

Panel: THE TIPI WAYA tipi is a portable conical tent composed of seven buffalo hides (or later canvas) supported by a framework of poles. Tipis varied in size from 10 to 20 feet in diameter. Ten to 20 hides were needed to make a tipi cover. Tipis were relatively easy to erect, take down and move. However, they were easily destroyed by high winds and fire. Hide covers and poles lasted about six years.

Small Case on Panel: TIPI COVER FASTENER. The overlapping edges of the tipi cover were held together by decorated sticks pushed through matching holes.

Photo in Case on Panel: SIOUX FAMILY AT HOMEGrass was stuffed in the space between the liner and the cover for added warmth

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in winter. A fire of buffalo chips was the only heat. The cover was waterproofed by the tanning process. Note: Several layers of hides covered the tipi floor in the sitting and sleeping spaces. With a small fire in the center, the tipi was reasonably warm even in the coldest winter months. However, John Ewers reports that elderly Indians he spoke with, who had lived in tipis as children, were very happy to move into cabins with wood stoves when these became available by the end of the 1800s. Comfort levels clearly change with time.

Photo Wall Mural: TIPI ENCAMPMENTThis tipi village is located near a river, a convenient water source. Horses are tethered so they can graze but not wander. This photograph was taken near Lodge Grass on the CROW ReservationPanel: SET UPTipis were made and owned by women. When people arrived at a new campsite, the women set up the tipi, usually working in pairs. Photographs throughout the exhibit show the variety of tipi sizes and shapes. Some are tall and thin, and others short and wide. Some have leather or hide coverings. By the late 1880s, most tipis were covered with canvas.

Panel Text: Two women could set up a tipi in less than an hour. Three poles were tied together and then lifted to form a tripod. Additional poles were stacked around the cone of poles. The cover was spread out on the ground and a liftpole slid under and tied in place. The cover was lifted into place and unfolded. The overlapping edges were then pinned together.

Panel Photo: The photo shows erected tipi poles without cover. There were three pole and four pole tipis, so names by the number of poles initially tied together to form the frame. Most of the groups in this region started their tipi with a "tripod" of poles which were named three pole tipis. Four pole tipis were not as sturdy in wind storms. The bottom ends of the poles were sometimes sunk several inches into the soil for added stability. The tops of the poles, at the smoke hole, were tightly wrapped with a rope to keep them in place. This rope was often pegged down to the ground at the back side of the tipi.

Panel: ARRANGEMENTThis circular BLACKFEET encampment is typical of the camp formation at times when many families gathered for ceremonies and buffalo hunts. A summer camp might be a half mile in diameter and include hundreds of tipis. During most of the year small groups of related families or bands, lived together in smaller, dispersed camps. Note: Tipis were usually set up with the door facing eastward, but the photos in the exhibit indicate that this was not always the case. Some tipis may have considered wind when erected. In most places within the region, the prevailing winds are from the southwest. Panel Photo: The actual location of this BLACKFEET camp is not known.

Panel: DECORATIONTipi covers offered the largest space for decoration. Sometimes, the designs were

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ancient and represented religious ideas. Other times, designs indicated vision quest experiences or warrior achievements. The men painted designs on the tipis.

Panel Text: Decorations on the outside of tipis were family designs or represented men's achievements or visions. BLACKFEET designs such as these were painted in panels. These tall tipis were made of canvas, which was typical after 1880 since buffalo had been eliminated from the Plains. TODAY, these same designs are often used on commercially made canvas tipi covers. Panel Photo: The Black Otter, an ancient BLACKFEET design, appears on the third tipi from the left.

HUNTERS AND GATHERERS

Panel: HUNTING WAS HARD BUT NECESSARYBackground: Because of the diversity of animal and plant resources in the region, the hunter-gatherers had a relatively stable lifeway. Spring was often a dangerous time because plants were unavailable, winter stores might be scarce and herd animals were scattered. Life was good enough that there was no reason for change, especially to an agricultural lifeway which was, and even now is, difficult given the weather and ecology of the region. Hunting involved short intense periods of activity once or twice a week. Gathering of plants was done only during those periods when berries were ripe or tubers were ready. Women did spend time every day gathering fuel, either buffalo chips or dead wood. They also had to bring water to the camp every day for drinking and cooking.

Communal hunts were often held to hunt larger numbers of buffalo. For thousands of years, driving buffalo over the pishkun or buffalo jump was the common way of harvesting buffalo. The buffalo jump was an ancient technology used by Northern Plains Indians to kill larger numbers of buffalo for food, shelter, clothing, tools, and other uses. Buffalo jumps were mostly used before the introduction of the horse and gun which significantly changed hunting techniques.

Over 300 buffalo kill sites have been identified in Montana. Two buffalo jump areas have been made into state parks: Ulm Pishkun State Park and Madison Buffalo Jump State Park. Archaeologists from Montana State University researched and excavated the Ulm Pishkun site, a mile-long sandstone cliff about 10 miles from Great Falls, Montana. They discovered that Ulm Pishkun is perhaps the largest buffalo jump in the world with human activity dating back at least 1500 years. They also determined that buffalo were killed and processed at the site throughout the year, not just during the fall or winter seasons. The Madison Buffalo Jump near Logan, Montana, is a limestone cliff and was used for about 2000 years and abandoned sometime after 1700.

Panel Text: In summer and fall, large herds of buffalo were driven over cliffs by many people working together. In spring and winter, groups of men hunted small groups of buffalo in the vicinity of camp. Buffalo were killed with darts, lances or arrows. Buffalo were butchered by men and women using knives and hammerstones of various sizes and weights. Stone tools dulled quietly, but could be resharpened. Metal knives replaced stone knives in the mid 1700s when European goods reached the area through trading with other Indians as

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middlemen.

Cooperation was the key to successful buffalo hunting. Whether a few men or the entire community sought buffalo together, preparations were elaborate and great personal discipline was demanded. Meat was roasted slowly over an open fire or boiled into stews or soup. The cooking vessels were buffalo paunches (stomach) and the heat was provided by heated rocks added to the liquid. Meat was also sliced into thin strips and dried in the sun to make jerky, a nutritious food that could be stored for months.Uses of Buffalo Shown on Panel:

- Strips of tendon were dried and separated into sinew for thread.- Tanned buffalo hide is thick and flexible.- Hooves were boiled into glue.- Buffalo hair can be left on a tanned hide.- The stomach or paunch was used as a cooking pot or to store water.- Rawhide is stiff and scraped clean of flesh and hair.- Horns were carved into spoons.- Liver and tongue were delicacies.- Roasts, chops and steaks were roasted or boiled until tender.

Photo Wall Mural: WOMEN WORKING ON A HIDEThis photo was likely taken in summer or early fall when large communal hunts occurred. At least eight hides are staked out to be cleaned. There is also a lot of meat hanging on the lines to dry. Working in pairs or larger groups was common for women. The chance to talk lessened the burden of such hard work. Label: Buffalo hides were staked out so that the excess tissue could be removed by scraping. Scraping also thinned the hide. Stake holes in the hides were not cut off, but formed part of the decoration of robes or shirts.

Panel: ANIMAL SKIN WAS A BASIC RAW MATERIALBackground: There were few tools available for working hides. Instead women relied on knowledge, skill and experience to produce tough rawhide for packing cases, soft tanned hides for clothing and strong hides for tipi covers. The preferred hides for clothing and tipi covers were from female animals taken in midsummer, when the hide was thin and even in thickness. Buffalo cowhide might weigh 50 pounds when green. Bull hides, which might weigh as much as 200 pounds, were preferred for bedding and floor coverings.

The animal was skinned carefully, taking the hide in one piece with as few knife marks on the hide as possible. The animal was butchered and the meat wrapped in the green hide for transportation back to the village. There the hide was staked out and fleshed as soon as possible. Rawhide has all the flesh removed but is not softened by tanning or beating. It stretches when wet and then shrinks again as it dries. It is strong but will eventually break along sharp fold lines.

Tanning with raw animal brains and other internal organs changed the structure of the fibers of the skin. Further mechanical softening was required for soft leather used for clothing. This softening involved scraping with a flesher, pounding or

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rubbing a hide over or around a forked pole stuck in the ground. This broke the connections between the fibers as well as the fibers themselves. These multiple fibers make sewing on leather different from sewing on cloth which has only one layer. You do not have to stick a needle all the way through leather to make a secure stitch. Instead you can just catch a few of the fibers near the surface.

Panel Text: Hides were plentiful, tough and durable but workable. Buffalo hides were tanned for tipi covers, bedding and robes. Antelope and deer skins made beautiful clothing. Elk hides were made into courting robes. Furs were tanned and used as coverings and ornaments. Rawhide was formed into varying shapes and was used to haft stones to wooden handles to make hammerstones.

Items in Small Case on Panel:Moccasin: Many forms of leather are visible in this moccasin. The top is made of buckskin, the sole of rawhide. It is sewn with sinew thread. In winter people wore moccasins of soft buffalo hide with the hair inside.

Awl and Case: The oils of the hand, combined with constant rubbing while in use, make the awl glisten. Awls were carried in decorated cases that were attached to a woman's belt. She would also have a knife in a sheath and a pouch or purse with other tools hanging on her belt. Label: Sewing involved using an awl to punch holes in the leather. Then a piece of sinew thread was pushed through the hole. Made of horn or bone, awls became highly polished with continued use. They were carried in decorated rawhide cases.

Flesher: This flesher or hide scraper is made of antler or bone, has a metal working edge, and takes advantage of the natural turn of the original material. The first goal of scraping was to clean the hide of meat, fat and connective tissues that would spoil in the heat and sun. Hide scrapings were often saved and cooked into a soup with herbs added for flavor. In time of starvation (in years with long winters or when the bison herds were not numerous), rawhide could be boiled into a thin soup. The scraper not only removed flesh from the hide it also was used to create a hide of uniform thickness. Label: This tool, shaped like an adze, was used to remove meat and other tissues from a hide. The flesher was drawn toward the worker and considerable pressure was needed to do the work.

Rawhide: Rawhide that had been painted was often sized or covered with a thin glutinous layer to protect the leather from air and moisture and to keep the paint from being rubbed off. The common glue for sizing was made of boiled sinew or hide scrapings. Other forms were made from plant materials, the most common source being the stems of prickly pear cactus. Label: Hides that have been scraped clean of hair and flesh, but not processed further are called rawhide. Rawhide was sewn with heavy sinew thread and often was painted with geometric designs.

Tanned Hide: After being scraped clean, some hides were rubbed with a mixture of animal brains and internal organs and left for several days to cure. To be pliable and useable, the cured hides had to be rubbed and pounded to break down the fibers. Alternative tanning materials, scraping, smoking and dyes produced different colored leathers.

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Case: HUNTING AND GATHERING TOOLSBackground: Indian tool technology was simple. Anyone could learn to make the tools, but they required great skill and considerable knowledge to use. Modern society uses complex technology where things are difficult to make (e.g. a car) but easy to use (e.g. just add gas and oil to keep a car running).

HUNTING TOOLS: The display includes a bow and two types of hunting arrows. When hunting buffalo, Indians preferred using bows over guns because they were easier to handle and "reload" while on horseback. The only guns common in the Northern Plains were muzzle loaders, which required pouring powder, wadding and shot down the barrel, ramming them home with a metal rod. This was impossible while riding a horse in the midst of a buffalo herd. Breech-loading rifles were first received by the BLACKFEET in the 1870s when the buffalo were almost gone from the region. The Indians did use muzzle loaders for other kinds of hunting. The fur companies had provided muzzle loaders to the Indians because they wanted the Indians to spend less time on subsistence hunting and more time hunting fur-bearing animals.

Hunting arrows required straight shafts to be effective. This was achieved by cutting off any side branches and then rubbing the shaft on an abrader, a piece of sandstone or granite with a shallow groove worn into it. Carefully aligned feather fletching was also required for the arrow to fly straight and true. Most arrows were fletched with three rows of feathers attached with both sinew and glue. Hunting arrows were often made with grooves in the tips or shafts to hasten the flow of blood from the animal. Puncturing the diaphragm (the sack holding the lungs, which led to suffocation) was a preferred shot.

Projectile points (do not call them arrowheads, please!) were attached to the shaft in a variety of ways. In most cases, they were slipped into a space cut into the middle of the shaft tip, and then wrapped with sinew. The notches on projectile points were used to make this connection easier and stronger. Sometimes glue was added to strengthen the whole connection. Initially, projectile points were made of stone. Later, the Indians used metal points from trade metals. At first, they made points from metal trade objects like plates and coffee pots. Eventually, the traders made sheet metal available. Indians blunted the tips of arrows used to hunt birds so the arrow would not damage the feathers. Feathers were needed as fletching on arrows. Other feathers were used on pipes and shields for religious purposes and as decoration on horses, people and clothing. Eagle feathers were not gathered this way. Instead, eagles were caught in traps or in their nests.

Label: Bow of Laminated WoodLamination improved the power of a bow by increasing the resilience of the wood. Thus, the arrow struck with more force. Note: This bow is made of laminated wood, a series of thin strips glued together and formed into a bow. Much of the curve is now gone from this bow, which makes it look very inefficient. However, when it was new, it would have had a great deal of power.

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Label: Hunting ArrowsShafts were straightened with stone abraders rubbed along their length. The top arrow shows such marks and the others retain side branches.

Label: Arrow for Hunting Birds. Birds were hunted with blunt-tipped arrows which minimized damage to the meat and feathers.

GATHERING AND COOKING TOOLS: This display contains some of the tools used for gathering, preparing, cooking and eating food.

Parfleche: Parfleches served as all-purpose suitcases and are one of the most recognizable items of the cultures of this region. Buffalo was the preferred material because the leather was heavy and strong. Two parfleches could be cut from one buffalo hide. The designs were painted on while the hide was staked out, after the hide was defleshed but before it dried. The hide was then unpegged, the hair removed and the parfleches cut out. The flat piece of hide was then folded into an envelope shape. The painted designs are distinctive in that the two front flaps match. Label: Parfleche is a French Canadian word that refers to rawhide used to make cases. These were painted with a woman's personal designs.

Buffalo Horn Spoon: Buffalo horn is made of keratin, the same material as human fingernails. When boiled in water, it became pliable. Spoons were formed from wet horn which later dried into this new shape. Spoons were used as both serving tools and plates for each individual eating from the cooking pot. Meat was often cooked into a soup or stew (especially when people were living on dried meat in the winter and spring). Label: Food was served in bowls. Spoons were used to hold a single portion of stew or to serve meat onto a clean, dry buffalo shoulder blade.

Horn Spoon: Other animals such as mountain sheep also had horns that were workable when wet. These spoons are generally smaller than buffalo spoons. Label: Spoons were also made from the horns of mountain sheep.

Pemmican Pounder: This tool was used for pounding many different foodstuffs, but was commonly used in pounding dried buffalo meat into a powder that was then mixed with ground (or pounded) dried fruits. It was also used to pound dried turnips for stews. The weight was a round rock encased in rawhide. The handle is carved wood which has been lashed to the stone. The rawhide was applied when wet, when it was pliable. It shrank and hardened as it dried. In this pounder, there are sewing lines where the two sides of the rawhide cover were stitched together. This pattern of lashing handles to heavy stones was also used to create hammers. Such stones often have grooves in them to hold the lashing for the handle. Hammerstones were used for such diverse tasks as pounding in tipi pegs and breaking open animal bones to access the marrow inside. Label: Pemmican was a high energy food that stored well. Dried meat and fruit were pounded to a powder which was mixed with fat.

Fire Tongs: Wooden tongs were used to move rocks into the cooking fire to be heated and then into skin or paunch cooking vessels. The heated rocks brought

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the liquid to a boil but had to be stirred to keep the rocks from burning through the bottom of the bag. This system was quickly replaced by metal cook pots brought into the area by fur traders. Label: Tongs were used to move heated rocks into cooking sacks and to move roasting meats around the fires.

DECORATION

Wall Case: DECORATIONBackground: Like people everywhere, Indians wanted to have their life full of beautiful things. They used materials they had at hand to create colors and designs on everyday objects, like clothing and tools. They wore, used and carried their paintings and sculptures on objects they used every day. When new forms of materials became available (e.g. beads from fur traders), they were used in ancient designs that had previously been done in quills or paint. The designs continued even though the materials changed. New designs and patterns were seen when Indians from outside the region came onto the plains to hunt buffalo or as part of the fur trade. Some new ideas were adopted and adapted and others were ignored. The three major decorative techniques were painting, quilling and beading. Panel Text: Decoration identified owners and makers, recognized accomplishments, emphasized spiritual qualities and enhanced natural beauty. Women beaded and quilled clothing, bags and tools and painted geometric designs on containers. Men painted sacred symbols on tipis, robes and shields. TODAY, interpreting specific designs is difficult because often no one remembers the stories that explain their meanings.

PAINTING: Painting is probably the oldest decorative technique in the region. Paints were applied when the hides were wet so the pigments could be drawn into the spaces between the leather fibers. The painted parfleche in the case is also referred to as a rawhide case. The term "parfleche" has been extended from the original envelope shaped cases to include all painted rawhide cases. Holes were burned into the rawhide in order to sew or tie pieces of rawhide together. Such holes were less likely to tear out with heavy use. Thongs of tanned leather or softened rawhide or sinew were used for tying flaps closed. Panel Text: Paint was made from natural pigments mixed with water and glue: green was dried duck dung, red and yellow used plain or baked ochre and black involved minerals and charcoal. Pigments obtained from fur traders expanded the range of available colors to include blue and bright green. Brushes were made from triangular chunks of joint bones. The porous bone held the paint, which then flowed onto the leather. TODAY, traditional methods of painting are rarely done. Painting was used to decorate the parfleche in the display case, Gathering and Cooking Tools.

QUILLING: After the barbs were cut off, porcupine quills were dampened in the mouth and then were flattened. Quills were folded into complex patterns and then sewn down. Vegetal dyes created soft mottled colors. TODAY, only a few people do quillwork.

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Quilled Moccasin: The quills on the moccasin vamp (front top, over the toes) are dyed red. Dyes actually soak into the quills. When you cut a dyed quill in half, you can see the dye penetrates well below the surface. The variation in the red color suggests that a natural dye product was probably used. The cross, at the tip of the white bordered blue triangle shape is a very old design motif, predating any contact with Christianity. Rows of lazy stitch beading border the moccasin. Panel Text: Quills were never pushed through the leather. They were sewn on with sinew thread. Most quill patterns are geometric in design.

BEADING: Beads, which were made from long tubes of glass, were originally made in glass factories in Venice, Italy. Popular trade items, beads were available in many colors and sizes. Woven beadwork, using a loom, was not done at all here in the Northern Plains region; however, it was very popular in the Great Lakes region. Panel Text: The first manufactured beads were relatively large. By 1840 tiny seed beads were available. Metal needles with eyes made sewing faster and easier. Made in Europe, the beads and needles were received in exchange for furs men trapped during the winter. TODAY, beading is added to everything from vests and hat bills to traditional leather dresses and tennis shoes.

Overlay Beaded Cuff: This beautiful cuff has a light blue background color which is considered a neutral by modern CROW beadworkers, who often call it a sky color. Neutral colors can be used as background for any other color. In western cultures, these colors are usually black, white and various shades of tan. Label: Geometric patterns show the skill of the maker, who has to keep all lines straight and even. The sparkle is from "cut beads."

Beaded Drumstick: This drum stick is decorated with peyote stitch beading which uses a narrow netting technique that fits circular forms well. Glue may also be used to hold the beadwork in place. Label: All types of objects were decorated with beading, even when they were going to be heavily used.

Lazy Stitch Beaded Moccasin: The mustard color of these beads was a favorite of the ASSINIBOINE and GROS VENTRE groups. The pattern is a very common one throughout the region. Label: The name lazy stitch reflects the time and thread saved with this technique which some women consider more durable than overlay.

Case: PACKAGING FOR A MOBILE LIFECultures which base their economic lives on hunting and gathering, like the Indian tribes of this region, have to move to where game and plant products are available. Packages, with elaborate painted, quilled and beaded decorations, were made in a variety of shapes and sizes to help move and store goods. When stored in the tipi, they added color to the area, like paintings.Label: POSSIBLES BAGAnything could be stored in a bag like this one. Displayed prominently inside a tipi, the decorative design enlivened the tipi interior.

Label: RAWHIDE BONNET CASE: Men's feather bonnets were rolled up and stored in rawhide cases to protect the feathers. Women made and decorated these

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cases.

Label: LEATHER PAINT BAGThis small leather bag held powdered pigment (such as iron oxide) which was mixed with water and glue. Note: Such small bags are often made from animal bladders or scrotal sacks. These types of bags were also used for storing quills, needles and sinew thread.

Label: ELK HOOF BAG: The extra effort and skill required to tan this item suggests it was used to store something valuable.

Label: STRIKE-A-LIGHT BAGThe name strike-a-light comes from the large metal ring and flints stored in this shape bag. These were used to start fires.

Label: CROW BEADED BELT PURSE This bag was worn on a woman's belt. The beadwork, broad bands of geometric shapes, is a typical CROW design still popular today.

Case: THREE PAIRS OF MOCCASINSNorthern Plains, ca. 1940s - Deer hide with beaded embellishment.Label: Moccasins are some of the most basic, yet most important, pieces of clothing made and worn by the native peoples of the northern Rocky Mountain region. Traditionally, they are exclusively made by women though TODAY men sometimes make them as well. Like many everyday items, American Indians used moccasins as a canvas for designs based in nature and the cultural histories of individuals and tribes. Prior to the availability of glass beads obtained through trade, moccasins were decorated with the dried, dyed and woven quills of the porcupine. Note: From the Povah Collection.

FAMILY AND INDIAN SOCIAL GROUPS

Panel: COOPERATIVE SOCIAL GROUPSBackground: The notion of working within a group was extended from the family into larger groups. People needed each other to survive. Living alone, outside of a group, was physically impossible and socially undesirable.

A band was a group of friends and relatives who lived together for most of the year. People followed the advice of men who were skilled at hunting and war. There were no formal elections. All members of the group helped in making decisions which were arrived at by consensus. Disagreements were settled informally or they might lead to a split in the group. Leaders had no power to force other members to follow them. Instead, they had to inspire confidence. This loose structure of bands was a strength in a society that had no formal legal system (e.g. courts and police). The close family, marriage and friendship ties between members made it easier to resolve conflicts. People who could not resolve their conflicts could move away from each other.

There were two types of social ties which also bound people within a band into a

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close unit. One was the kinship and marriage ties. The other was societies. Societies were social groups that came together because of common interests and skills. For men, the groups were called warrior societies. These were joined when a boy was a teenager, often being recruited by an older friend or relative. Members of the same warrior society came from many different bands and families, but they thought of themselves as a family, with many of the rights and responsibilities of family. This closeness meant that the societies were part of the law and order system which also drew the bands closer together.

Women’s quilling or sewing societies functioned in a similar way. Outstanding craftswomen were asked to join the group by elder members. It was an honor to belong and the groups often had very important roles in ceremonies. Among some tribes, this group designed and sewed all of the tipis. On completion, the tipi was erected and elder members of the men’s warrior societies would count coup on the tipi. This ceremony involved the man touching the tipi with a bow or club and reciting his memorable war deeds. This recognized that the accomplishments of women were as worthy as those of men.

Tribes are the largest unit of people who speak the same language and share the same culture. TODAY, the term refers to the grouping of Indian people who live together on a reservation and other relatives who live off reservation. A tribe is a political and cultural unit. In buffalo hunting days, tribes often got together only during the summer, when they had important group ceremonies and held a communal buffalo hunt. The complete group might number several thousand people and their herds of 5,000 or more horses. Difficulties in providing food and water for the horses kept such large gatherings to a week or two.

Political leadership in the tribe often was as simply structured as in the bands. There were charismatic leaders who inspired loyalty. In other groups, leadership was by election. In either case, leaders had little power to force people to behave in specific ways. Leaders and councils presented problems, sought input from members and worked to build consensus in decisions. Both men and women had input to final decisions. NOTE: When American military officers negotiated treaties with “chiefs,” these were often the heads of bands or members of tribal councils. None of these men could force their followers to obey the rules of the treaty or punish them for breaking these rules. A chief led by example and inspiration. Many different people explained this political structure to the military, but they chose to ignore this information. Panel Text: People lived and worked cooperatively in groups. Group membership changed with the seasons and the nature of group activities.

Bands: Related bands of several hundred people assembled during the summer for ceremonies and communal hunts. In winter, bands split into extended families which moved apart to keep their horses alive on limited winter fodder. TODAY, Bands have been replaced by reservation communities.

Tribes: The adoption of the horse and larger seasonal communal hunts brought thousands together into a tribe. A formal organization of elders managed ceremonies, hunts and security. TODAY, membership on tribal councils involves

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formal elections. Tribes have special legal status and tribal members are formally enrolled.

Societies: Membership tied larger numbers of men or women from different bands into units that performed ritual, economic or political duties. TODAY, schools and churches are often involved in organizing social functions and tribal police maintain law and order.

Panel: LIFE CENTERED AROUND FAMILYBackground: A family is the group of individuals who raise children, care for the unwell or elderly, love one another and work together for economic and physical well-being. Indian people were, and are devoted to their families. They define family in an inclusive sense, extending connections out to “cousins” of varying degrees. TODAY, most Indian people would say that their immediate family includes several hundred people or more.

The core of Indian life was the extended family. People lived in nuclear families (parents and unmarried children) in one tipi, but carried out most of life’s activities within the larger extended family. Grandparents had primary responsibility for raising young children. Young parents did most of the heavy physical labor of hunting, gathering, and maintaining tipis, clothing, food supplies, etc. Sisters or brothers of parents were as important as biological parents in a child’s life. Cousins often felt as close as brothers and sisters. Everyone had a large group of people classified as family to give help and assistance and to celebrate success.

Panel Text: Large extended families with cousins, aunts and uncles shared in childrearing, education, defense, economics and social events. Men and women had separate but complementary responsibilities that ensured group survival and welfare. TODAY, extended families are still very important. Numerous close relatives provide support in emergencies.

Naming: People were given several names during their lifetime. The CHEYENNE leader, Dull Knife, got his name from a brother-in-law who teased him for never having a sharp knife. His first name had been Morning Star. TODAY, ancestors' names have become last names, with names like Pretty on Top and Horse Capture mixed in with European names such as Alden and Robideaux.

Marriage: Lengthy courtship, negotiations, gift exchanges and even trial periods of living together marked the beginning of marriage, as might the birth of a child. Men who were especially successful as hunters might support two or more families, each with its own tipi. Either party could seek a divorce. The wife would pile her husband's belongings outside the lodge, announcing to all that the marriage had ended. A husband might take up residence elsewhere. TODAY, marriage practices follow modern customs and divorce is a legal matter.

Adoption: No one grew up without membership in a family. Adoption extended family membership beyond its biological limits. Members of social, religious or war societies spoke of each other as kin, sought marriage partners in one another's families and even formally adopted one another. TODAY, federal law places

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responsibility for child welfare with the tribal courts.

Panel Photo: Chief Charlot and his family posed on the FLATHEAD Reservation circa 1908. Such serious looks suggest that Plains peoples were always serious. Actually, they relished funny stories and teased one another constantly.

Wall Photo Mural: SOPHIE AND CHIEF MOIESE FAMILY, FLATHEADFamily was the center of all life in the Plains and Mountains. Men and women worked hard to provide, protect and care for their relatives. Sophie Moiese's beaded dress and her husband's shield indicate that they were dressed up for a celebration. Note: The little girl in the photo does not have a deformed arm. By the look on her face, she is clearly irritated with having to stand there and have her picture taken.

TOYS, GAMES AND ENTERTAINMENT

WALL CASE: LEISURE HOURSPanel Text: The economic pursuits of hunting, gathering and camp maintenance, while strenuous and demanding, did not fill all the hours of daylight. Stories were told to amuse, instruct and reprimand people of all ages. Storytellers were honored. Everyone participated in religious ceremonies, social dances, contests and games. Games of skill and chance are a human universal. People enjoy being competitive, and they also hone their skills for important tasks.

Hand Game: Still popular TODAY, this hiding game was played by two groups who bet on the outcome. The guesser had to decide which of the hider's hands contained the marked bone. Special songs helped each side. Note: TODAY, most of the reservations have hand game tournaments involving large teams of players, both men and women. They sing power songs, accompanied with hand drums, to enhance their ability to hide or guess. Hand Game Set: One bone hiding piece was marked with a painted stripe. Some sets included an elk tooth for hiding. The blue sticks were used to keep score.

Hoop Game: Men and boys increased their hunting skills with games. In this one, they shot arrows at rolling hoops of various sizes. The best shooter won the arrows being shot. Hoop Target: The goal of the game was to shoot an arrow between the lattice strips without cutting the rawhide.

CASE: CHILDREN'S TOYSChildren learned to be adults by imitating adult ways. Indian children had small tipis of their own, which they set up in their own children's camps in the summer. The boys would hunt rabbits and the girls would skin and cook them, as they had seen their parents do.

Panel Text: Miniature tools gave children the chance to learn the behavior they would need as adults. Dolls were favorites for small children. Older children set up camps of small tipis and lived there for much of the summer.

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Panel Photo: Studio PortraitThese girls look serious because they had to hold still to be photographed. Actually, humor was a vital part of life. Note: One of the girls is holding a doll.

Label: Male BLACKFEET Doll. Hair was cut only for mourning or as a gift to a warrior. This hairstyle was popular in the late 1800s.

Label: Leather Doll with Buckskin DressClearly well loved by a child, this doll is dressed in a classic style (mid 1800s) buckskin dress.

Label: Female BLACKFEET DollThis doll is dressed in her ceremonial buckskin regalia, which include a buckskin dress with matching beaded moccasins and beaded belt. Her dress is opened on the sides, typical of two-skin dresses that are tied at the sides rather than having stitched seams.

Label: Tiny Shield and CradleboardChildren learn about the adult world by playing with small versions of adult tools and objects.

Label: Miniature TipiChildren practiced for adult life using small versions of adult objects. Older children set up small tipis and lived in their own camp, hunting and cooking for themselves when weather and safety allowed.

Label: Toy Horse and RiderChildren pretended to move camp with this toy horse and rider, learning how to make and load a travois. A travois consisted of two tipi poles, lashed together and dragged behind a dog or horse. It was used to transport heavy loads and children.

INDIANS IN YELLOWSTONE

Panel: 'WE NEVER THOUGHT THEY WOULD STAY"This is an apocryphal quote, meaning that it has no known origin, but rather sums up a general feeling of Indian people about that time. It functions here to summarize the historical changes that happened in the region between the late 1700s and the late 1800s. This hundred year period is marked by increasing pressure from outside peoples and cultures on the Indian tribes of the region.

Panel Text: Fur trappers were the first non-Indians to enter the area in the late 1700s. Some intermarried and established themselves among Native peoples while others were distrusted and treated as enemies. Explorers such as Lewis and Clark and Francois Laroque in the early 1800s were followed by miners, marauders, sodbusters and ranchers. The railroad reached the Northern Plains in the 1870s, bringing ever more outsiders.

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Panel Photo: THE CAVALRY (General Custer)Relations between Indians and outsiders became progressively violent between 1862 and 1877. The warring ended with negotiated treaties. By 1880, Indians had been forced to abandon much of their traditional lands and lifeways. It was expected that the tribes would simply vanish. Note: General George A. Custer led the Seventh Cavalry into the Battle of the Little Big Horn in June of 1876. This date marks the virtual end of the free-roaming buffalo hunting cultures of the region. As a matter of interest, Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, four years BEFORE the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Panel Photo: BUFFALO DESTROYEDIn 1864, railroad builders wrote of buffalo herds so vast in numbers that their movements stopped trains for hours. By 1883, when the Smithsonian Institution sent a team to Miles City, Montana, to collect buffalo for an exhibition, they found only 50 after a six-month search. For decades, buffalo bones were collected from the prairies and shipped east to St Louis to be processed into fertilizer or gunpowder.

Panel: AMERICAN INDIANS IN YELLOWSTONEThe history of American Indians in Yellowstone since it became a national park in 1872 is full of ironies. Philetus W. Norris, one of the Park’s earliest superintendents, submitted important American Indian artifacts to the Smithsonian Institution that demonstrated the presence of native peoples in the park dating back many centuries. However, he also wrote newspaper and magazine articles and government reports claiming that American Indians were terrified of the park’s thermal features, feared the “bad spirits” that resided in the park, and had never been physically present in Yellowstone.

In retrospect, we can see that Norris’ words from the early 1880s were propaganda. They were an attempt to calm the fears of potential visitors to the nation’s new national park. In 1876, the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn had been fought just outside the park’s boundaries. The following year, the Nez Perce exodus had run through the park and resulted in the death of park visitors. Considering these events, Norris’ fabrications are understandable. However, Norris’ myth concerning Indians’ fear of geysers far outlasted his tenure as superintendent and was a part of park lore as late as 2002.

In the 1990s, the National Park Service hired anthropologist Dr. Peter Nabokov and archaeologist Dr. Lawrence Loendorf to investigate the history of American Indians in the Yellowstone. American Indians and Yellowstone National Park: A Documentary Overview, the result of Nabokov’s and Loendorf’s research, was published by the National Park Service in 2002. The authors documented dozens of tribes and nations that had passed through or inhabited the region, many of whom still live in the area. They also determined that Indians were not afraid of Yellowstone’s thermal features but rather had been quite comfortable using the region’s resources for millennia.

Ultimately, their report inspired a book called Restoring a Presence: American

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Indians and Yellowstone National Park. These publications revolutionized the way historians and anthropologists view Yellowstone and the native peoples who have lived in and around it for the past 12,000 years and fundamentally changed the way American Indians’ lifeways are interpreted in Yellowstone National Park.

NOTE: For more information, see the digital map, “The 26 Associated Tribes of Yellowstone National Park,” located at the end of the Welcome to Yellowstone Country exhibit.

VIDEO: BEFORE THERE WERE PARKS,YELLOWSTONE AND GLACIER THROUGH NATIVE EYES

Label: In 2009, Montana PBS and director/producer Charles Dye released this film that tells the story of American Indians and their long history in Yellowstone. Just as importantly, Dye’s work examines the ongoing relationships that native peoples maintain with the region through language, ceremonies and the sharing of traditional knowledge. Additional Note: Three-minute video plays on a loop. Native speakers talk about their traditional lands and their tie to the land. The video also follows a group of Eastern Shoshone youth who spent three days in Yellowstone National Park in 2009 on a cultural exchange program.

Wall Photo Mural: INDIAN COUPLE AT COLUMBIA FAIR

SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION

Each of the cultures in the region had its own religion, with complex ideas of the nature of the universe and humans’ place within that creation. This part of the exhibit focuses on some of the ideas which are shared by many of the groups. These generalizations are like talking about Christianity without explaining the differences between all of the different types of Christian churches. People of all ages, from tiny babies to the elderly, participate in Indian ceremonies. Children are in attendance at all cultural events. They learn about religion the same way that humans learn language, by being immersed in it, absorbing it almost unconsciously. Formal instruction occurs later in life, when a person seeks out a mentor, a knowledgeable elder, to explain ideas, ceremonies or symbols further.

NOTE: All religious and sacred objects from the original EP Exhibit have been removed. All the sage bundles have been removed from the exhibit. Because objects of cultural and spiritual sensitivity have been removed from the exhibit, PHOTOGRAPHY IS PERMITTED IN THE ENDURING PEOPLES EXHIBIT.

Panel: SPIRITUALITYBackground: A religion is a system of knowledge which explains the origin and working of the world, the human place in that world, proper behavior and morality, the nature of life and death, and gives people a sense of security in life. All that information is shared through stories, ceremonies, symbols, and peoples’

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participations and meditations.

The questions people want answered are universal: What is death? Why am I here or why are we here? Why do bad things happen? How can I make things better for my child, family, and community? What is different between religions is the content of the answer (e.g. death is a void; death is rebirth in a new form; death is another stage of life, etc). The beings in the stories have different names, forms and actions; but often they are accomplishing similar things such as acting immorally and being punished, finding new ideals, surviving trials, etc.

What is also different between religions is the form that ceremony and symbols take. These are two of the most powerful ways that religious ideas are expressed and reinforced. A symbol is an object or image which stands for important ideals. For example, the American flag stands for the United States of America, for citizenship, for pride in country, and more. There are deep emotions tied to symbols. There are stories which are tied to the object. Symbols are powerful because they pack so much information into such a small space without written descriptions.

Panel Text: The people believed that Nature was a divine system created by a mysterious power. To them, everything in the universe had a unique spiritual quality, defined in sacred stories of their origin. TODAY, many Indians believe and follow traditional spiritual ideals. For them, Nature is a divine system.

Spiritual symbols express complex ideas and values with simple images. The buffalo was a symbol of support and plenty. The circle represents the interconnectedness of all things. Complex oral stories explain the beginnings of the universe. Moral behaviors, such as generosity, bravery and kindness, are acted out by characters in the stories.

Pipes hold the knowledge of the universe. The smoke carries prayers upward to the Creator whose help is sought. Ceremonies invoke the powers of the spiritual world on behalf of the sick, injured and needy. Spirit Helpers are sought for knowledge and protection.

Panel Image: MEDICINE WHEEL IMAGEThe medicine wheel is an ancient arrangement of stones located on high locations. Wheels were located in many different places in this region. The dots in this image represent stones which were piled into cairns of different heights that were arranged in the pattern visible. This is one way that a sacred place is marked for Indian ceremonies, acting as a church. Other times, sacred places are created with bowers or circular shelters of brush or areas whose edges are marked by a long line of tiny tobacco pouches. These are Indian churches.

Panel: STORIES EXPLAIN LIFEBackground: For Indian people, all of the natural resources of the region came into being through religious means and there are stories to outline these events. A task as simple as picking chokecherries or as complex as hunting an antelope had

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spiritual aspects. For Indian people, preparing food was not just a trip to the grocery store. Rather, it was a re-creation of the beginnings of the Universe, a religious experience. Stories are still told today. Many tribes have special school programs where older storytellers visit the classrooms so that all children can learn these revered stories.

Panel Text: Sacred stories explain how plants, animals, peoples and cultures were created. The First People created sacred objects and rituals that formed the core of life. The stories convey traditions from one generation to the next. Storytellers, both men and women, are respected for their knowledge and skill.

A BLACKFEET Story: Napi made the antelope out of dirt and took it down on the prairie where it could run fast and gracefully. And he said, “This is what you are suited to do.”

A CHEYENNE Story: From time to time, Maheo realized that his people walking on the Earth had certain needs. So Maheo gave them deer for clothing and food, porcupines to make their ornaments. Then Maheo thought with the Power, “Why, one animal can take the place of all the others put together.” And the buffalo was made.

Note: Animal images on the panel are adaptations of animal and bird life from pictographs and petroglyphs from this region. Scientists do not know how old these images are. Indians think of them as representative of the sacred periods of origin. These periods are evoked in all tellings of stories of origin and remind people of the sacred aspects of the world in which they live in today.

Panel: SURVIVING RELIGIOUS PERSECUTIONBackground: Many people are surprised to discover that the notion of “separation of church and state” and the “right of religious freedom” are not equally applicable to modern Indian religions. The US Supreme Court has labeled such “minority religions” as a “luxury.”

In the 1860s, Congress decided that its goal was to “civilize” Indians, i.e. create Christianized, acculturated Indians who would act like any other citizens. Congress assigned responsibility for reservations to specific church groups. These churches set up missionary schools and churches on reservations, sometimes controlling the distribution of annuity goods and foods. Children were forced to attend. Some were forced to attend off-reservation schools or boarding schools where their hair was cut and they were forced to speak English.

During the 1880s, the US government set up Courts of Indian Offenses, in which Indians were jailed and fined for participating in traditional ceremonies such as Sun Dances, for seeking help from traditional healers, and even for leaving their communities to attend ceremonies in other areas. Such prohibitions were not lifted until the 1930s and in some areas, states continued to outlaw Sun Dances until the 1960s.

Panel Text: TODAY, many Indian people continue the religious ceremonies that

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have been guarded for generations. Every summer, men and women fulfill their vows to Sun Dance. In addition, Indian people pray with ceremonial pipes, participate in sweat lodge ceremonies and seek spiritual help on sacred mountains. Traditional ceremonies continue despite decades of opposition to them. Indian people who defied federal, state and church authorities ensured that such practices were, and are, available for future generations. The struggle continues. As recently as 1990, the United States Supreme Court ruled against traditional Indian religious practices, asserting that the diversity of religions is a luxury. Native American religious practices are experiencing a renaissance on many reservations across the country. Young Indian people are realizing the importance of maintaining their traditional values and beliefs. Pow Wows are public celebrations of these traditions. Panel Photo: Dancers at a Pow Wow are honoring religious traditions that connect Indian people to all of creation.

Case: SMOKING IS PRAYINGBackground: Communication with the spiritual world is a human universal. Christians might call it communicating with God. One unique form of prayer among tribes of the region involved the use of pipes. Handling a pipe in a public or private ceremony did a number of different things. First, smoke carried words and ideas to the spiritual world, disappearing from sight and smell as it rose. Second, the ceremony showed human reverence for the traditions described in the sacred stories. Third, smoke made private thoughts physical, to be shared by all present. Fourth, such prayer demonstrated human devotion by being a complete break from regular activities. Finally, the ceremony with the pipe bound people together through time and space, creating a sense of community.

Panel Text: Smoke gave a physical form to words spoken or thought in prayer. Smoke carried messages into the sky where the spiritual beings would notice them and help the people. Pipes were among the most sacred items possessed by Plains and Mountain peoples. TODAY, social and ceremonial events still begin with prayer in this manner. Panel Photo: George Bull Child Holding a Pipebag. Pipes were carried in special bags. This CROW pipebag is decorated with quills. Photo on Back of Panel: Ritual Smoking. The people are gathered for a Grass Dance, a special social occasion.

Label: Wooden Pipe StemOften the stem of the pipe was decorated, in this case with a wrapping of braided quills. Pipe bowls and stems were not united until the pipe was sanctified and ready for smoking.

Label: Stone Pipe Bowl: Pipes were, and are, so sacred that they had to be blessed by ritual specialists before being included in this exhibit. The fairly soft stone was carved with stone tools. When finished, the surface was rubbed with facial oils until shiny.

Label: Pipe Bags. Most Plains pipe bags were of a similar shape suggesting ancient origin.

Label: Tobacco TamperThe tamper was used to pack tobacco tightly so it would burn well. It was used

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four times as the bowl was being filled. A filled pipe represented the whole universe.

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

Panel: FRIENDS AND ENEMIESBackground: There were extensive and ancient trade networks which tied this region to resources in many other areas. There were gathering places which fur traders used. Indian groups, families or bands, frequently traveled outside of this region either for pleasure or to search for new sources of game or other resources.

The tribes in the region were not constantly at war, although the emphasis on bravery and war deeds was an important characteristic of these cultures. There were also strong cultural rules about men’s behavior at home where generosity and kindness were expected. It is probably that there was less warfare in the period before 1800 when the tribes had free access to all of the good hunting areas in the region. With the influx of whites in the 1800s with wagon trains and military patrols, huge areas were off limits and the tribes increasingly fought in the remaining hunting areas. Settlers also disrupted the migrating buffalo herds by destroying forage in 10-mile strips long the various wagon trails cutting across the Plains.

Warfare in the region was not about possessing land, although it was about access to resources. There were traditional enemies: CROW and SIOUX; CROW and CHEYENNE; SIOUX and BLACKFEET. There were also traditional allies: CROW and GROS VENTRE; CHEYENNE and SIOUX. However, enemies and allies also changed many times. The goal in war was threefold: 1) to prove individual bravery; 2) to obtain horses; and 3) to steal women and small children. Bravery was an important personal quality that fitted a man for other tasks in life such as being a husband and father or a participant in ceremonies. Horses were needed for hunting and war, to move a person’s belongings and as a source of pride. Captives were a way of increasing the size of the tribe and the number of people available for work. Captives who worked hard were often adopted into the group, married and raised children. Such captives were a major source of change in the tribes since they brought with them ideas from their home tribes.

Panel Text: Intergroup relations were usually peaceful, although rivalries did exist. Long standing trade networks extended throughout the region. Trade sometimes continued between partners even while they were at war.

Trade: Raw materials and products, and sometimes captive slaves, were transported long distances. Obsidian from Yellowstone and tanned hides were traded as far east as Ohio and the Dakotas. Pipestone, Knife River flint, and olivella shells were imported from the Midwest, North Dakota and the Pacific Coast. Knowledge also travelled great distances. Lewis and Clark mention in their journals that Sacajawea knew of trails through the Gallatin Valley even though she had never been there. TODAY, cultural exchanges involve visiting and participating in social and spiritual ceremonies on other reservations.

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Warfare: In the Plains, raids were planned to obtain horses, to capture new members, to avenge past offences or to fulfill promises or vows. Displays of courage and bravery were highly valued. Some women became warriors, such as the Manly Hearted Women of the Crow. TODAY, servicemen and women take the place of warriors in ceremonies and celebrations. As members of the US military, many Indians have fought in American wars.

Panel Photo: THREE MOUNTED WARRIORSMen trained special horses for war and decorated them lavishly with fringed leather and beadwork. They donned special war shirts and feather bonnets.

Panel: NAMES FOR NEIGHBORSBackground: Archaeological evidence shows that Indians inhabited the Montana area more than 11,000 years ago. Artifacts indicate the KOOTENAI have roots in the area's prehistory. The KOOTENAI inhabited the mountainous terrain west of the continental divide, venturing only seasonally to the east for buffalo hunts. The SALISH, the PEND d'OREILLE and the CROW were probably among the first "modern" Indians to join the KOOTENAI in Montana. The majority of Montana's Indians arrived after 1700. By the time most Indians came to the

area, cultural change was already underway. Horses introduced to Indians by the Spaniards in the Southwest and guns from frontiersmen became deciding factors in determining which tribes would dominate the Montana territory in a culture completely dependent upon the buffalo.

The SALISH and the PEND d'OREILLE occupied territory as far east as the Bighorn Mountains. During the 1700s, the SALISH, PEND d'OREILLE, and the KOOTENAI shared common hunting and gathering grounds. With the signing of the Hellgate Treaty in 1855, their massive landholdings were ceded; and the tribes now share the Flathead Reservation. The CHIPPEWA and CREE were the latest tribal groups to come to the Montana. They came from reservations outside the state late in the 19th century after Montana's reservation system was in existence. TODAY, these tribes are intermixed and use the hybrid name, "CHIPPEWA-CREE" and claim the Rocky Boy's Reservation

This exhibit uses the most commonly used names for each of the tribes. In some areas of the country, Indians are shifting to using names in their specific Indian languages. Indians on the Flathead Reservation are legally known as the SALISH and KOOTENAI. The SIOUX groups speak of themselves as LAKOTA, NAKOTA and DAKOTA (based on their languages) or by band names such as SANS ARC or OGLALA.

The panel lists eleven federally recognized tribes in Montana, the possible origin of the name, and the tribe’s name for themselves. After this exhibit was installed, Montana recognized a twelfth tribe, the LITTLE SHELL PEOPLE of the CHIPPEWA; however, this tribe has not received federal recognition.

Panel Text: People knew about other groups, but they did not always admire or

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respect one another. The name GROS VENTRE, for instance, translates as "Big Bellies." The CROW spoke of this group as the "Hairy Noses." TODAY, some tribes assert their rights to use their traditional names. The GROS VENTRE speak of themselves as the White Clay People.

Tribe: AssiniboinePossible Origin: From Chippewa, it means “One who cooks by the use of stones”Their Own Name: Nakota: “Our People” or “The Peaceful Ones”

Tribe: BlackfeetPossible Origin: CreeTheir Own Name: Siksika-Saeketakix: “Men of the Plains”

Tribe: CheyennePossible Origin: From Sioux, it means the “People of Alien Speech” or “Red Talkers”Their Own Name: Dzi-tsi-istas: “Our People” or “People Alike”

Tribe: ChippewaPossible Origin: Popular adaptation of OjibwayTheir Own Name: Ojibway: “To Roast Until Puckered Up” or “Original Language Speaker”

Tribe: CreePossible Origin: French word is “Kristinax” or “Kenistenoag”Their Own Name: Ayisiyiniiwok: “People (?)” or “Lyniwok” or “Neh-iyawok” means “Those of the First Race”

Tribe: CrowPossible Origin: From interpretation of own nameTheir Own Name: Absarokee: “People of the Big-Beaked Bird”

Tribe: FlatheadPossible Origin: From French word “Tetes Plates.” Slaves among them had flat top hairstyles or heads flattened by cradleboard.Their Own Name: Salish, Okanogan word for “People”

Tribe: Gros VentrePossible Origin: French word for ‘Big Belly”Their Own Name: A’aninin: “White Clay People”

Tribe: KootenaiPossible Origin: From corrupted name for themselvesTheir Own Name: Cat-tan-ahaws or Ku-ton: For group of people who live east of mountains

Tribe: Pend d’OreillePossible Origin: French word for “Ear Drop” since the people wore large shell earringsTheir Own Name: Kalispell: “People (?)” or “Camas People”

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Tribe: SiouxPossible Origin: Chippewa word meaning “Enemy”Their Own Name: Dakota: “Allies”

Case: CULTURAL EXCHANGES AND TRADE

Panel: CULTURAL EXCHANGESTribal groups in the region traded information and objects with each other. For example, the sharing of ideas is visible in clothing. There are common patterns for shirts and dresses with designated places for decoration. Sometimes what differed were the kinds of designs and color combinations placed into these decorative areas. It is very difficult to identify tribal origins for some kinds of decorative patterns because of their widespread popularity in many different groups.

Panel Text: Peaceful relations between groups on the Plains and in the Mountains were common, although some peoples entered into hostilities and remained enemies for long periods of time. Long-established traditional trading relationships continued even during times of intergroup conflict. TODAY, cultural exchanges mostly involve visiting and participation in social and spiritual ceremonies on other reservations.

Panel Photo: SIOUX in North DakotaThe long hairpipe breastplates of SIOUX women became popular with other groups in the region.

Label: CHIPPEWA BeltSome items were traded into the region but were not incorporated into regional lifeways. Finger weaving was a common technique for creating belts among Indian groups of the Great Lakes and the Southeast but never became popular in the Northern Plains or Rockies. However, someone liked and used this belt. We can only speculate on how the belt reached this region. Label Text: Finger weaving of wool yarn was popular among Eastern and Southeastern Indians in the 1800s.

Label: NEZ PERCE Baby MoccasinsThe majority of items and resources that were traded into the region came from groups who lived adjacent to the region such as the NEZ PERCE. The NEZ PERCE twined corn husk bags were very popular trade items. The NEZ PERCE in turn incorporated Plains items into their lifeway, as evidenced by the Plains-style moccasins. Label Text: The design and decoration on these moccasins, typical of Plains buffalo hunters, were borrowed by the people of a nearby region.

Panel: TRADEBackground: The most important aspect of the early fur trade was that it introduced outside goods to the tribes, who became dependent on these new items. Metal knives and cooking pots, sewing needles and beads, and guns and ammunition became popular and then became necessities as they displaced traditional items. Whiskey, which was outlawed by the federal government, made its way into the trade and devastated traditional cultures. The fur traders paid for

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furs with these goods, often elevating a cooperative Indian man to the position of chief to handle all trading for his band. The chief brought in all their furs and took the goods back to the camp where he decided each person’s share. The process disrupted traditional notions of political leadership and in some cases led to the military’s misunderstanding of the idea of chieftains.

Because of the potential for obtaining new goods, some groups nearly abandoned their yearly cycle of following the buffalo and began fur trapping exclusively. The fur companies hired whole bands to provide food for the fur trappers. The CHIPPEWA, who had lived along the Red River in Minnesota, and the CREE, from south-central Canada, moved into the Northern Plains region as buffalo hunters. They supplied vast quantities of pemmican and hides in exchange for manufactured goods. These tribes changed their entire economy to fit into this new pattern.

The LITTLE SHELL TRIBE of CHIPPEWA of Montana also came into the region as part of the fur trade activities. Known in Canada as METIS (most commonly pronounced May-tea), they represented a class of fur traders who were mixed bloods – CHIPPEWA and Scots or French. They traveled through the Northern Plains region in both Canada and the United States acting as middlemen in the fur trade. They collected furs from tribes distant from the fur posts and paid for them with goods. Moving through the region on carts with large wooden wheels, they delivered the collected furs to the posts and picked up a new supply of goods for the trade. In this way, relatively few, centrally placed fur posts along the Missouri River served to drain the entire Montana area of beaver in the period between 1820 and 1840.

Label: CHIPPEWA-CREE VestDrastic changes in native life during the late 1800s are reflected in new styles and materials used in clothing.

Label: NEZ PERCE Fiber BagBags were made of twined plant materials by the NEZ PERCE who came into the area periodically to hunt buffalo and trade for hides.

CONCLUSIONToo often Indian cultures are represented as historical lifeways instead of enduring peoples who continue to celebrate and participate in important gatherings, festivals and events. The following two wall photo murals are in color to highlight some current Native American gatherings combining both traditional and modern activities in 2016.

Wall Photo Mural: 2016 ALL NATIONS INDIAN RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS, Billings, Montana

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Label: White Calf team rider Lil Muncie Osborne of Browning, Montana. Indian Relay is a popular sport among the American Indian nations of the northwest and northern plains. Men, women and even kids on ponies all compete in a thrilling relay race where a single jockey rides three horses in succession around an arena, assisted by horse holders and grabbers who catch and hold his/her mounts. With historical roots in tribal cultures dating back to the 1600s when the horse was first introduced to the northern plains, Indian Relay continues to draw crowds to events across the region.

Wall Photo Mural: GIRLS AT 2016 CROW FAIR YOUTH POWWOW, Crow Agency An annual event held in August on the Crow Reservation south of Billings, Montana. The fair is one of the largest Native American events in North America attracting thousands of participants and spectators. The Crow Fair is referred to as “the tipi capital of the world.” Label: These girls wear traditional Crow powwow outfits as they watch the action at the 2016 Crow Fair Youth Powwow at Crow Agency, Montana.

Concluding Panel: ENDURING PEOPLES, NATIVE CULTURES OF THE NORTHERN ROCKIES AND PLAINS

Indian cultures persist TODAY as distinctive lifeways in the midst of modern America. Sweat lodges, pipe ceremonies and useful knowledge of plants and animals still meet central cultural needs, while VCRs, pickup trucks and satellite dishes are everyday matters. Traditional Native lifeways in the Northern Rockies and Plains region remained largely intact until the 1800s. Life was not easy, but families were fed, protected and spiritually secure.

This mobile hunter-gatherer lifeway did not fit with the newcomers who wanted the land. Wars and treaties resulted in the creation of reservations and the relocation of Native peoples. By the late 1880s, the buffalo were gone and Indians were starving. Introduced diseases killed many, while government policy suppressed Indian languages and religions.

Many thought Indian cultures would vanish. However, fringed leather dresses and eagle feather headdresses remain as silent reaffirmations of cultural survival. Life has changed but traditions have endured. Panel Photo: Indian War Dance Bozeman Round-up.

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INDIAN HISTORY - BACKGROUND INFORMATION

PALEO-INDIAN PREHISTORY

Archaeological discoveries show that people began to use the abundant resources of the region over 11,000 years ago. As hunter-gatherers, they relied on hunting game and collection wild plants. People moved throughout the region in a semi-nomadic pattern following ripening plants and migrating animals. The distance traveled was a function of how far people could walk. Archaeologists believe that this general pattern of life looked about the same for thousands of years until horses reached this region in the 1700s.

Scientific research has produced information that supports the idea that Indian peoples are descendants of early peoples who moved across the Bering Land Bridge into the Americas. The evidence for such a theory is the location of habitation sites throughout the Americas which date to 15,000 years ago. There are also numerous sites in the Bering Sea area which date from this period; however, most of these sites are now under water. During the Ice Ages, the water level in the region was about 300 feet lower than it is today.

The climate was milder about 13,000 years ago when the worldwide ice age ended. The water level rose and the Americas were cut off from Asia. There were open tundra and grasslands in the interior regions of Alaska and central Canada. The animals of the region were large and plentiful. This was the period of the megafauna: huge grazing mammals and equally large predators -- mammoths, mastodons, bison, saber-toothed tigers and the like.

The people were moving through the region supporting themselves by hunting these animals. Following the animals, moving a few miles south and east, over the next mountain or river, people had expanded throughout the Americas by 12,000 years ago.

The only tools found for this period are made of stone. Projectile points, large enough for hafting onto spears, are the most common hunting tools. Other stone implements were used for skinning, butchering and hide preparation.

There were changes in the styles of projectile points and other stone tools throughout the following 10,000 years, but it is clear that the people of this region were hunters-gatherers for that entire time. Different shapes for the points suggest that people were experimenting with different ways of hunting the megafauna.

They moved through a region, spending short periods of time at temporary campsites, which might be occupied intermittently for many years. These are identified through concentrations of artifacts and often fire pits, which provide wood or charcoal samples that can be dated. There were also sites marking the location of important wood or charcoal samples that can be dated. There were also sites marking the location of important resources, such as obsidian or other rock sources.Stone tools were created by pressing off flakes with a pointed tool, such as an

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antler tine. With training, experience and the proper type of stone, a flint knapper can create very sharp tools in a matter of minutes.

By about 10,000 years ago, mastodons and mammoths were gone, to be replaced by modern antelope, deer, buffalo, elk and the like. By about 7,000 years ago, there were drastic climatic changes as the entire region became hotter and drier. The megafauna and the plants upon which they depended changed with the warmer weather.

TODAY, American society places considerable faith in science, thus the general acceptance of the Bering Land Bridge hypothesis. Indian peoples have their own religious ideas about where they came from and when.

People probably came across the land bridge because it represented new hunting territory, with the animals expanding into this previously empty region. Being 1000 miles wide, and about 50 miles long, it would not have taken very long for people to have unknowingly moved into a region that would be a new continent after the end of the Ice Age. Movement down into the "United States" and eventually through "South America" took many generations.

Archaeologists (who study the remains of human cultures) have limited material from which to reconstruct lifeways. They rely on items made of stone, bone, antler, pottery and other preserved materials of human activity. They also have evidence of foods available through bone fragments and pollen analysis.

They reached conclusions about cultural patterns by comparisons with living groups of people. Thus, they infer the ways stone points were used by seeing how living peoples use them. Archaeologists then extrapolate to other nonmaterial elements of culture. This logic allows them to reconstruct a lifeway from the physical remains that are left in the ground.

Dating of sites is done with many different techniques. The most accurate appears to be radiocarbon dating, which measures the amount of Carbon 14 remaining in a sample of wood, charcoal or bone. Absorption of Carbon 14 ceases when a tree or animal dies and Carbon 14 has a known half-life. It is possible to measure the amount of Carbon 14 remaining and determine how long ago the tree stopped growing. There is a margin of error to such a determination, but this technique does give the best approximation of elapsed time presently available. This technique can be used when tools are found in situ, close to wood, charcoal or bone.

Archaeological discoveries show that people began to use the abundant resources of the region about 11,000 years ago. As hunter-gatherers, they relied on hunting game and collecting wild plants. People moved throughout the region in a semi-nomadic pattern following ripening plants and migrating animals. The distance traveled was a function of how far people could walk. Archaeologists believe that the general pattern of life then looked about the same for thousands of years until horses reached this region in the 1700s.

A CENTURY OF OUTSIDE CHANGE (Late 1700s to Late 1800s)

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Historical and cultural changes happened throughout the region between the late 1700s and the late 1800s. This period marked increasing pressure from outside peoples and cultures on the Indian tribes of the region.

FUR TRADE: The fur trade became a large influence by the 1820s and continued in importance until the late 1840s. By that time, furs had become scarcer and the demand in Europe had diminished when silk hats replaced beaver hats in fashion. Note: TODAY, fancy cowboy hats are still made of felted beaver fur which makes them feel silky to the touch while still being very strong material.

The fur trade companies (Hudson’s Bay Company and American Fur Company) continued to be important until the 1880s. Beginning in the 1830s, these companies owned and controlled many of the ships plying the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and the trading depots along the rivers. It was the fur companies that bid on and won contracts to supply the military, Indian agencies and, later, the reservations with goods and foodstuffs.

WAGON TRAINS AND TRAILS: During the period from 1840 until 1880, there was increasing movement of settlers, miners, ranchers and adventurers across this region. At first, people were just traveling through, seeking permanent settlement or gold in Washington, Oregon and California. The wagon trains quickly increased in numbers so that, by 1852, more than 150,000 men, women and children had crossed the plains and mountains to Oregon and California. The most heavily used trail went from St Louis up the Platte River to Fort Laramie, then across the mountains to Fort Hall (a Hudson’s Bay Company outpost) and then split into the Oregon and California trails. In 1852 alone, 23,000 people were traveling west along the trail with 6,000 wagons, 150,000 cattle and 50,000 sheep.

The trip took the travelers about 140 days. Since the people and their animals (oxen, horses, mules pulling the wagons and livestock) had to be fed, their impact far exceeded their numbers. Wagons cut deep ruts, livestock soiled water sources and dead animals, abandoned gear and food stuffs littered the roadside. Cholera and other epidemics killed thousands who were hastily buried. Within a few years, grass and game along the route was depleted in a path that in places was almost 10 miles wide.

SETTLERS, MINERS AND RAILROADS: From the 1840s until the 1880s, the easiest entry to the Northern Plains and Rockies region was by steamboat up the Missouri River. Late ice jams, low water and shifting sand bars kept river travel confined to a few months, and the farthest western point accessible was Fort Benton. Many of the boats were built and owned by the fur companies, which shifted their interest in the latter half of the 1800s to general trade, shipping and then to merchandising buffalo hides. They also carried tons of freight for the US military.

By 1864, there were enough white settlers and miners to have Montana declared an official territory, the first step toward statehood. The transcontinental telegraph was completed in 1866, further drawing the region into closer contact with the rest of the Union. The first Homestead Act was passed in 1862 to

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promote western land settlement; however, its implementation was interrupted by the Civil War. Officially, homesteading began here in Montana on August 1, 1868.

Mining also brought many outsiders into the region. Between 1864 and 1868, about $72 million in gold was mined. In the 1870s, the gold rush into the Black Hills drew large numbers of peoples into that area of Dakota Territory. The large mining operations around Butte came with the railroads in the 1880s.

After the Civil War, the influx of settlers and ranchers increased dramatically. In 1877, 25 steamers carried 5,000 tons of freight and 1500 passengers to Fort Benton and took 3,200 tons of freight, 1220 tons of gold and silver, 200,000 pounds of wool and 50,000 buffalo robes down river to Bismarck, the closest railhead at the time.

The first railroad bisecting the region was completed in 1869 (Union Pacific) which followed the Platte River, then went overland to Denver, north to Fort Laramie and eventually to Salt Lake City. A feeder line, the Utah Northern, was built into the area of Dillon, Montana, in 1880 and into Butte by December 1881. The Northern Pacific, which runs along the Yellowstone River to Livingston and then from Bozeman farther west, was completed in 1883. The Great Northern, which crosses Montana close to the Canadian border, was not completed until 1893.

TREATIES AND RESERVATIONS (1850s to 1880s)

The increasing numbers of outsiders moving into and through the region between 1820 and 1880 had a significant impact on the tribes. First, it disrupted traditional hunting patterns, either by preventing the free movement of game or by occupying good hunting territories. The overland trails disrupted the migratory pattern of the buffalo, which would not cross trails that were now overgrazed and without grass or clean water. This split the buffalo into a northern and southern herd and prevented the northern herd from seeking shelter during tough winters. The professional hunting of buffalo for hides led to the destruction of the northern herd by 1883. Such increasing encroachment brought hostile reactions from the tribes as they tried to protect their families and traditional hunting lands from outsiders.

Second, by compressing the tribes into increasingly smaller hunting areas, they came into more contact with each other, increasing inter-tribal warfare. Third, groups of SIOUX who had a traditional home in Minnesota were being driven into the Dakotas as white farmers encroached on their lands. They revolted in 1864, were imprisoned and then exiled to Dakota Territory in 1865. Their expansion into the Northern Plains put pressure on the CROW to give up their claims to hunt in Wyoming. Due to increasing inter-tribal war and hostility to wagon trains, settlers and miners, the US government began taking an increasingly active role in protecting people from Indian attack. The government also engaged in a series of treaty negotiations headed by the US military. Between 1850 and 1853, 52 treaties with tribes were negotiated, acquiring for the federal government about 180 million acres adjacent to the overland trails.

Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851: This treaty typifies the negotiating process and

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form of agreements made during this period. The negotiations occurred in the fall of 1851 with representatives of the CHEYENNE, some SIOUX groups, the ARAPAHO, SHOSHONE, and all of the CROW in attendance. Not attending were the SALISH, KOOTENAI and the BLACKFEET. The main provisions of the treaty were: 1)pledges of friendship between Indians and the United States; 2)designations of territories of influence for each of the tribes, which would keep them apart from each other and from the whites; 3)promises of access to common hunting areas; 4)provision for the federal government to build and maintain roads and posts within Indian territories; 5)promises of punishment for whites and Indians who broke the provisions of the treaty; and 6)promises of payment in goods and services for lands the Indians gave up to the federal government. The Army hired interpreters to explain all these provisions to the tribes. These meetings were not really negotiations, as the military had already decided most of the provisions of the treaty prior to meeting with the Indians. The purpose of the gathering was to convince specific representatives (which the military designated as “chiefs”) of the Indian people in attendance to agree to sign the treaty.

The result of the Fort Laramie treaties was a large, reserved Indian area across the western and northern half of Montana and another large Indian area south and east of the Yellowstone River. The tribes were to be paid $50,000 in goods and services for a period of 50 years (later reduced to 15 years by Congress) as substitute for access to resources in newly forbidden areas. These payments, called annuities, continued the dependency of the tribes on outside economic influences, but also rescued many groups from starvation and illness. Unfortunately, the goods were often late, reduced in amount or inferior in quality. Over the years, many Indian leaders complained of these conditions but there was never any improvement.

The treaty period coincided with the emergence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) which was moved out of the War Department and into the new Interior Department in 1849. From that time until 1890, BIA would have control of Indian activities in Indian regions (and later reservations) and the military would be responsible for any Indians traveling outside of these regions. Between 1850 and the 1880s, there were a series of treaties, agreements and congressional and presidential actions that resulted in the development of reservations in their modern form.

From the treaty actions came three important concepts which underlie the modern legal positions of Indian tribes. The first consequence of the treaties was the creation of reservations as lands reserved by the tribes, while giving title to all other lands to the federal government. Through this process, the federal government got title to the western lands now controlled by the Interior Department, the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, and the military. Land within reservation boundaries was held in common by the tribe. No individual had personal title to the land.

The second impact of these treaties was to create a special legal status for Indian tribes, separate from the states in which their reservations are located. Therefore, Indian tribes are considered semi-sovereign nations, governing themselves on domestic issues. However, they have had to submit to the dictates and protections

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of federal law. This means that the federal government has decided what is best for the future of the Indians.

The third impact of treaties was the paternal relationship established between the tribes and the federal government. The government was required to provide provisions and services as annuity payments by the treaties. By the 1890s, this legal obligation turned into a moral obligation as Congress had to face the terrible conditions of illness and starvation on the reservations to which they had banished the tribes. TODAY, that sense of moral responsibility still underlies federal policy toward Indians.

In 1887, the government decided that the tribes in this region should become farmers. This was known as the Dawes Act or the General Allotment Act. In allotting quarter sections of land to individual Indians, extra land was opened to outside homesteading. In this way, much land within the boundaries of the reservations was transferred out of tribal hands. Allotment was thought to be the fastest way to force Indians to become acculturated, “civilized” and similar to white, Christian citizens.

Since the 1930s, many different federal programs have been devised to solve the Indian problems of poverty. Not until the 1960s were Indians consulted in any of these programs. TODAY, many tribes have contracts with the federal government to provide schools, hospitals and other service and economic programs for themselves.

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