Clothes can be an indicator of a person's lifestyle, values, or status in society. What a person wears often determines how he is treated by others. However, in any given society, dress is not always interpreted in the same manner by everyone. When different societies come in contact with each other, gross misunderstandings can arise due to the different contextual frameworks, especially if these societies do not speak a common language. To understand the dress of a person of another society, or even a subculture of the same community, the observer must be able to acquire a point of reference that is intrinsic to that particular society. There are many theories as to why people wear clothing. Often these theories are based on the cultural values of the observer rather than on the internal values of that particular society. The modesty theory is based on the assumption that morality is dependent on modesty and the covering of a person's "private parts". The immodesty theory states that clothes are worn to bring attention to people's erogenous zones and to accentuate them. The adornment theory states that clothes evolved as a decoration. Initially people decorated their bodies with dyes through painting and tattooing. Clothes evolved, according to this theory, as a more developed form of adornment. The protection theory is based on the fact that people cover their bodies to protect them from the elements, animals and insects, and supernatural forces.1 What we know of the dress and adornment of the American Indian - to be referred to in this book as simply "Indian" or Native American - depends upon where they lived at first continuous contact with Europeans or Euro-Americans. In order to paint a full picture of what different Indians tribes wore at different periods in time, it is necessary to understand the process involved in fashion research and, also, to learn about European and Euro-American dress during the same time periods. European and Euro-American dress can be researched in five different ways:
These sources are relatively accurate and not very difficult to find. The term "relatively accurate" is very important and will be discussed at length throughout the course of this book. An example in this context of what is meant by "relatively accurate" can be found in the comparison of illustrative fashion plates in a fashion magazine and their actual counterparts. One will rarely see a fashion illustration or plate in a 19th century fashion magazine that shows bust darts in the bodice of the garment. However, upon examination of actual specimens, bust darts are prevalent. The methodology and accuracy of research of Native American fashions depends upon when the Europeans first made continuous contact with the Indians and the nature or purpose of this contact. The later the contact, the easier is the research because photographs, clothes, and anthropological accounts and specimens are available. The Indians of the Southwest are a prime example. Early photographers, such as Charles Lummis and A.C. Vroman,2 traveled and lived amongst these Indians. They were able to document their contact with these Indians through journals, photographs, and specimens of their material culture - pottery, jewelry, dress, etc. Similarly, painters like George Catlin and photographers like Edward Sheriff Curtis were able to spend many years documenting the Plains Indians as well as other tribes. Even with these first hand, indelible records, one is not able to always obtain an accurate record of Indians' dress. William Goetzman, in his book The First Americans, states: "Stunning and often accurate renditions that they were, paintings, drawings, woodcuts, and lithographs of native Americans did not reveal the `real Indian.' "3 "....our collection of Native American photographs begins with the concept of the photogenic. That is, most of these pictures were intended to represent the Victorian aesthetic notions of beauty, grandeur, or the picturesque, as well as the dominant sentiments of Victorian popular art - pathos, exoticism, and irony."4 During the Victorian era, the Indian was usually portrayed either as the wild savage or the noble and romantic savage. In order for painters and photographers to sell their work on the eastern seaboard of the United States or in Europe, they often manipulated the dress of the Indian and painted or photographed him in a style and with a background that met the standards and expectations for that period. In addition, since candid photography was almost impossible to do because of the length of time necessary for proper exposure of the subject on the wet plates (the negative material of early photographs) or on early films, most of the pictures were posed. In the late 1800's, The Kodak Company introduced its first camera with easy to roll film. This increased the number of photographers taking pictures of the Indians as well as enabled these photographers to catch their subjects in more natural poses. Even though many of the photographers were conscientious in taking photographs that truly depicted the Indian in his natural setting and respective dress, there is documented evidence that some photographers actually dressed their subjects in clothes not even affiliated with their particular tribe. John K. Hillers took a photograph of a Pauite woman clothed in a White River Ute buckskin dress brought to Kaibab Plateau near the Grand Canyon in Arizona by John Wesley Powell from the Smithsonian collection in Washington D.C.5 Hollywood has always influenced how Native Americans were perceived. "From the beginning, in the 1890's, American film-makers were drawn to the West...."6 Buffalo Bill Cody was often the star. People often knew no other Indian than those feathered and decorated Indians who were part of his "Wild West" Show. The photography of Indian Ceremonial occasions was always an area of concern to Native Americans. Throughout the brief history of the photographic process, non-Indians have alternately been allowed and then banned from photographing these religious ceremonies. The Indians that had the earliest contact with the Europeans, other than those that resided in the area of Mexico and Central America, were those that resided on the east coast and in the gulf area of North America. The Native Americans of these regions were first visited by the Spanish in the beginning of the sixteenth century and described in official correspondence. From that time onward, descriptions of the Indians were forwarded to Europe through paintings, journals, and letters. These descriptions need to be regarded with critical objectivity. The writers were male and were writing these reports for various reasons. Often they were soliciting funds for further exploration by depicting the Indians of the Southeast as being wealthy and having a lot of gold. The intent of these particular descriptions were to lure prospective colonists by describing how easy it was to settle on these new shores and how friendly the Indians were. At other times, they described them as heathen savages in the need of Christianization. Thus, these descriptions of the Indians by White men were often biased in accordance with the latters' specific missions or agendas. As early as 1705, the author of The History and Present State of Virginia in Four Parts, described in his preface how many authors mislead their readers: "If an honest author might be believed in his own cause, I would solemnly declare, that I have not knowingly asserted any untrue thing in the whole book."7 A group of land-holders in Georgia wrote a narrative about their colony. In the beginning of their narrative, they wrote: "Nothing is more difficult for authors than to divest themselves of biases and partialities, especially when they themselves are parties or sufferers in the affair treated of."8 Even if an author correctly reported his findings in his native tongue, translations of the book were not always accurate. Small changes in the meaning of a word in a translations can transform an author's original work and, thus, change its intent. In speaking about the Indians in Louisiana and their concept that land was communal property, Henry Tonti wrote in 1697: "...ils se croyent tous égaux ..." In 1698 the book was translated into English, and this statement read: ".... they know no superiority ..." It is obvious that the latter statement carries a negative connotation, whereas the French statement actually means: they believe themselves all equal.9 The original version of M. Le Page Du Pratz's book, Histoire de la Louisiane, was written in French and published in 1758. This version differs from both translations which were printed as a two volume edition in 1763 and as a one volume edition in 1774.10 The original French version was contained in three volumes. These translations are widely used by modern authors to describe the customs of the Southeast Indians. The original French version of Du Pratz's book was relatively specific in delineating between the customs of the Natchez and those that applied to most of the Indians of that Southeast region. However, the translations did not follow the original text, and thus, important differentiations were lost. "Elle est encore chez les Naturels de la Louisiane....." The translated version from the 18th century, stated that "It still subsists among the Natchez....."11 It should have read among the Natives. This type of an error can cause serious confusion when trying to delineate customs specific to certain groups of people. Thus it is critical for primary sources in their original language to be used whenever possible to lessen the chance of error. Other issues clouded the early portrayal of the Southeastern Indians. Acculturation was early because often European traders married Indian women; Indians were early exposed to European clothing; Indian dress, especially that of the women, was not recorded in any detail in diaries and journals. Also, often, these writers didn't name the tribes they were describing or accurately pinpoint their geographic location. By the time ethnologists were seriously studying the Southeastern Indians, a "rapid fading of native knowledge" had occurred because there were very few informants alive who could remember early details or remember them accurately.12 The drawings created by the early artists were stylized to meet the expectations of their audience and very few first hand accounts remain. Most of the early art work consisted of copies made from drawings or paintings. The Flemish engraver De Bry is one of the first to depict the Indians of Florida in the late 1500's. He used Le Moyne's paintings of the Florida Indians in the mid 1500's as a base for his work. Unfortunately, all but one of Le Moyne's paintings have been lost and so cannot be compared to De Bry's renditions. In addition, the art work used to illustrate the text was not always reflective of the verbal description found in the text. An important distinction is necessary between those Europeans that settled in the Northeast and those that settled in the Southeast. The majority of the Europeans that first settled in the north came as family groups and settled for religious reasons; while the majority that migrated to the Southeast were single men: adventurers, convicts, traders, and those of the leisured wealthy class. Women came to the Southeast in number at a much later date than they did in the North. Thus, the interaction between the settlers in the North and South with the Indians was different. The South was more sparsely populated and, as the centuries progressed, became an area of contention between the great European powers - France, Spain, and England. "The culture of the region (which includes the southern United States from Texas to the Atlantic Ocean) was rapidly and almost completely devastated by wars, diseases and tribal dislocations which followed European discovery and settlement."13 The authors have not been able to locate any authenticated specimens of clothing of the Southeast Indians prior to the middle of the nineteenth century. Most of the clothing found in museum archives date from the end of the nineteenth century. They are catalogued in respect to tribal affiliation, which at times is questionable, and by date of acquisition.14 The dress and adornment of the Southeast Indian has to be gleaned from sparse entries in diaries, letters, and journals as well as from the few drawings and paintings that are presently in existence. Due to the damp climate of the region, little clothing has been found in the burial mounds although jewelry and other nonperishable artifacts have remained. "In as much as clothing and appearance refer to networks of meanings and values, they are connected to a whole gamut of collective norms. Clothing and appearance messages, then, become a part of the socio-historical nature of the group of people. These messages represent that group's culture and obtain their value in that context."15 Since the clothing of a group of people is part of its collective culture, it is necessary to study the living patterns, mores, and social structure of the group in order to form a composite picture of their dress and adornment. It is also necessary to study the emotional and intellectual climate of Europe to see how the environment affected the historical perspective of the chroniclers of the New World. European society was always very stratified and there were specific norms that dictated fashion. Indians, on the other hand, were more individualistic. While the latter's society had a definite set of values and moral codes, these codes reflected a set of inner values and were not externalized to dress to the same degree as were those found in European society. The Indians's independence was reflected in their dress and adornment. While certain tribes were stratified and priests and leaders in these tribes dressed differently than other members of the tribe, indiviualism was still reflected in the choice of garments, ornaments, body paint, tattoos, and, even to a degree, hair styles. As the natives began to acquire European dress, they assimilated it with their former dress and wore it so that it appeared pleasing to them. It is important to understand that Indian dress changed rapidly, unevenly, and sporadically after the advent of the European. Traditional dress of the Southeast Indian has to be defined, initially, for a specific period in time; and demarcated, secondly, for the type and extent of contact that that particular group of Indians had with the European and/or with his goods. Southeast Indian dress must be defined by time period, geographical region, tribal affiliation, and degree of contact with Europeans and their goods. The authors of this book have intentionally steered away from relying on oral histories and museum specimens of southeastern Native American clothing. They have limited their use of the latter because, unfortunately, often when specimens were donated to museums from the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth century, their origins were not clear. Thus, their date of creation, tribal affiliation, and purpose is frequently not correct. Articles were sometimes created especially to sell to traders or White people while needle skills that were not part of the Indian heritage were taught and introduced by missionaries. This does not mean that these latter articles are not Indian nor does it mean that they do not belong in museum collections. However this statement does mean that these articles need to be annotated and their history identified. Grant Foreman in his papers mentioned that: "A full Indian suit of dressed buckskin beautifully embroidered with silk by the ladies of the family of Mr. J. M. Payne had been sent to New York for exhibition."16 It will be shown that the Cherokee Indians did not normally wear suits of silk embroidered buckskin clothing. It will also be shown that often specific needle skills were taught by White missionaries and the items created dictated by them. Cassandra Sawyer Lockwood reported: "About five years since, [circa 1837] a Female Benevolent Society was formed at Dwight [mission]. The principal object was to raise money to print tracts in the Cherokee language. The members met once in four weeks.....The meeting was opened during the afternoon & continued the remainder of the day. The older women & the children made quilts, while the larger girls belonging to Miss Stetson's school, made needle-books, pin--cushions, braided pretty mats, besides a variety of other fancy work. Some specimens of their work upon lace & muslin would reflect honor upon any young lady."17 The same is true for the clothing that is endemicably of Native American origin. Individual pieces only tell part of a story. The integration of these articles is critical. Too often, however, one would have to override the information attributed to each piece in order for this information to be historically correct. This, then, presents many of its own problems. If a collector attributes the clothing to a specific period of time and a specific group of people, how can a curator a hundred years later challenge this information? These statements do not imply that the museum collections of clothing worn by the Indians from the Southeast are not important nor intentionally misleading. Some have been collected by reputable anthropologists or other informants who have supplied complete descriptions as to their origination, use, etc. Also, many curators, when placing them on exhibit, go beyond the information specified with each piece and place them in contextually appropriate settings. What needs to be remembered by the viewer or researcher is that most of these museum pieces are representative of styles worn by mixed-bloods no earlier than the middle of the nineteenth century. It is also important to remember that these styles represent only a small segment of time in the history of dress and adornment. In addition, for example, it must be remembered that just because an article might be labeled as Creek does not mean,: 1 - that it is necessarily of Creek origin; 2 - the degree of blood of the wearer or creator is known; 3 - when or how it was worn or with what other attire is known; 4 - that the article is unique to a Creek Indian since the same style of garment could have been worn by a Choctaw, for example. As stated previously, oral histories also present problems; however, these problems are different. It is well known that information changes as it is passed down generationally and remembered years after it is first heard. It also changes because all persons have biases and prejudices of which they are not aware. These latter emotions can be positive or negative. Regardless of their bent, they still color the information. Once again, this does not mean these histories are not important. But they have to be understood contextually and not looked at in isolation. A good example of this is in the document "Wahnenauhi." The full manuscript is entitled "The Wahnenauhi Manuscript: Historical Sketches of the Cherokees Together With Some of Their Customs, Traditions, and Superstitions." It is contained in Bulletin 196, "Anthropological Paper No. 77 "of the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology. This bulletin is edited by Jack Frederick Kilpatrick. He brings attention to the fact that the author of the manuscript, Wahnenauhi or Lucy L. Keys, confuses her time periods when describing attire as well as misrepresents some of the early dress.18 In addition, much of Wahnenauhi's descriptions reflect elements of the dress of the plains Indians. According to Wahnenauhi: "In early times, the clothing of the Cherokees was made entirely of the skins of animals which they killed in hunting. The Cherokee women became quite skilful in making clothes for their families. When very young, girls were instructed in the art of preparing material for, and making clothing. After dressing, the skins were rubbed and polished until they were very smooth and soft, often nicely ornamented, by painting in different colors; for paint, or dye, the juices of plants were used. The men wore a turban on their heads. Their clothing consisted of a hunting-shirt, leggins and moccasins, all deeply fringed. "The hunting-shirt was worn wrapped tightly around and folded over the chest, fastened with a belt around the waist. Belts, in later years, came to be very much prized, being worn as an ornament. "They were made of bright colored worsted yarn interwoven with white beads, and were several yards in length, so as to fold many times around the body. They were worn tied at the left side. The ends ornamented with tassels hung nearly to the knees. Garters, made to match the belt were tied over the leggins below the knees, the tasseled ends left dangling. "The women wore a skirt and short jacket, with leggins and moccasins. The jacket was fastened in front with silver broaches [sic]. The skirt was fringed and either painted or embroidered with beads, and the moccasins were trimmed with beads, in many colors. Their hair they combed smooth and close, then folded into a club at the back of the head, and tied very tight with a piece of dried eel-skin, which was said to make their hair grow long. "The men, in cutting their hair, always left the lock growing on the crown of the head, this was braided and hung down the back. It was called a `coo-tlah.' "Both sexes were fond of wearing ornaments. Some wore broad bands of silver on the arms above the elbows, and on the wrists and ankles. They wore rings on their fingers, and in the nose, and ears. I have seen old men with holes made in their ears from the lower edge to the very top; I never saw them wear more than two pair of ear-rings at one time. They liked very much to wear beads around their necks."19 20 One fallacy often apparent in portraying an event, custom, mode of dress, etc. "after the fact" is that credence is given to information just because it is old or because of how or by whom it is related. As can be evinced from Wahnenauhi's descriptions, part of the content can be justified historically as being attributed to the dress of the southeastern Indians while some of it simply cannot. Another problem encountered in such descriptions is the condensing of time periods. The only oral history used in this manuscript was material reported in the WPA project of the Pioneer-Indian Papers collected in the nineteen thirties that pertained specifically to nineteenth century dress. This material, though, has been contextually evaluated. Where it differed from the majority of primary source documents, the material was evaluated as to possible authenticity and presented in that context. 2. William and Robert Weinstein, Dwellers at the Source: Southwest Indian Photographs of A.C. Vroman, 1895-1904 (University Of New Mexico Press, 1987). Patrick T. and Betsy E. Houlihan, Lummis in the Pueblos (Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Press), 1986. 5. Paula Fleming and Judith Luskey, The North American Indians, p. 133. Photograph 5.39 "A Paiute woman clothed in a White River Ute buckskin dress, Kaibab Plateau near the Grand Canyon, Arizona." John Wesley Powell brought the costume from the Smithsonian collections: the access number on her bodice reads `Colorado territory 10800'. Taken by John K. Hillers on the Powell Survey." 7. There is no mention of the author of this work within the text; however, it is attributed to Robert Beverley. 9. Henry Tonti, Dernieres Decouvertes dans L'Amerique Septentionale de M. De La Sale, p. 11 & An Account of Monsieur de La Salle's Lost Expedition and Discoveries in North America, p. 7. 10. From the foreword of a 1947 copy of The History of Louisiana which states "The texts in the English editions are identical." 11. Le Page Du Pratz, La Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. 2, p. 385 and History of Louisiana or The Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina, translated anonymously (New Orleans, 1774), p. 326. 12. John Swanton, Social and Religious Beliefs and Usages of the Chickasaw Indians, Bureau of American Ethnology Annual no. 44, p. 206. 13. The Northern American Indian Collection. A Catalogue edited by Judy Thompson from the Berne Historical Museum, p.119. 14. The author photographed and viewed the collections of Southeast Indian clothes at the Smithsionian Research Center in Washington D.C., The National Museum of the American Indian Archives in N.Y.C., the New York Museum of Natural History Archives, and other regional museums. 15. Susan Kaiser, The Social Psychology of Clothing, p. 447. Originally from R. Barthe's Mythologies, (London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1972). |