Clothing

Clothing

Clothing

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Introduction

Woman's beaded blue wool skirt with a cotton waist and drawstring. Created by Louise Kennedy (Seneca) in 1932, at Tonawanda reservation, New York. Collected by William A. Ritchie, Curator of Anthropology, Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences, for the Indian Arts Project, and received by Peabody in an exchange in 1949.

Name of Maker(s): Louise Kennedy
Nation of Maker: Seneca
Nation of Origin

catalog record

Reasons for connecting this relative with particular nation(s)

catalog record

Place of Origin: Tonawanda Seneca Nation
Date Made or Date Range: 1932
Materials

wool, cotton, white and yellow glass beads, satin trim

Techniques or Format

Made of one piece of blue wool, with blue cotton fabric waistband sewn at the top edge with drawstring made of blue cotton. Slit at the top edge of the waistband where the drawstring is tied for closure. Beadwork of white ornmaents the bottom of the skirt. Hem at the bottom is edged in red satin and bordered with beads. The seam of the blue wool is covered halfway by red satin that is also bordered with beads, with zigzag motif on one side. The seam is sewn all the way down, the skirt does not open.

Motifs and Patterns

Zigzags up the seam. Triangles, zigzags, wavy lines, parallel lines at the bottom hem. Large flower with 5 blossoms with yellow centres in the corner.

Dimensions: 83.7 × 65 × 0 cm
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

catalog record

Current Location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 49-10-10/29425
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1949
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Exchange with Rochester Museum through William A. Ritchie
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: before 1949
Previous Collectors: William A. Ritchie
Collection Narratives and Histories

W.A. Ritchie, Curator of Anthropology, Rochester Museum of Arts and Scineces as intermediary - Exchange with the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences in 1949. "We are sending you today by express prepared a collection of Seneca Indian articles made on New York reservations during W.P.A. times under the Indian Arts Project" - Correspondence from W.A. Ritchie to J.O. Brew 6/29/1949.

GKS Reference Number: 45124
Record Creation Context

Visit to Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) of Wahsontiio Cross and Alexandra Nahwegahbow, assisted by Meredith Vasta on 11-12 August 2015.

Approximate Place of Origin

43.0612, -78.4489

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