Red wool twill cloth, very coarse and very narrow (about 26" wide), selvedge also very narrow with two thick black threads. Decorations on the front include small spiral shells, sequins clustered with metalilc coils in the form of stars and sead beads, with mixed bugle and seed bead fringe at the botton edge of design. Thick cotton or linen thread is used for the beadwork. Seed bead colors are:opaque turquoise and light golden brown; clear lime and medium green, pink and salmon. Fringes are gold and transparent bugles and seed beads. There is also some form of metallic braid and pony beads edging the black velvet at the sleeves. There is a cotton or linen tape edging the neck. Back: one cowrie shell, one conch shell disk; floral beadwork originally size 13 cut beads on hand-tanned hide, trimmed and reapplied to dress (linen thread). Trimmed section also has metallic cut beads (bronze colored). Glass bead colors: turquoise, medium and dark green, salmon. Also has two rows of fringes transparent seed beads and clear lime green.

Seams are machine sewn from the inside, but black velvet trim is hand sewn on top of the neck and sleeve edges. Sleeves are cut in one piece with body with added sections to increase sleeve length. The beadwork is applique that was originally worked on a brown wool cloth then cut out and sewn onto the red cloth. Back neck velvet piece is edged with small shells; looks like they may have also edged the front, but have come off (there are several attached still). Sleeve edges are also trimmed with shells, but sewn on top rather than dangling like at neck.

Front: The motif is symmetrical and floral. Stars. Back design: also symmetrical and floral; smaller stars set into part worked on hide.

CW examination. Photo details: "Lou Stancari, NMAI"

Collected by Albert Heath in 1919.

Heath, Albert G.; Collected. Albert Heath was a Chicago area artifact collector who also maintained a second home at Cross Village, Michigan, where he became vitally interested in Odawa people and collected a number of objects. Following his death, Bud Whiteford of the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College attempted to secure the entire collection, but they could not afford all of them, so Whiteford contacted other buyers (Milwaukee Public Museum, the Museum of the American Indian, etc.) to dispose of the other pieces. Heye bought about 25 pieces in 1955. A small book about the Heath collection was also published by the Loan Museum (Ann McMullen).

This record was created on site at NMAI by the GRASAC members listed below. Ann McMullen and Pat Nietfeld of NMAI supported the research onsite. Cory Willmott's research was funded by a grant from the American Philosophical Society. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provided Cory with an RA, Ceara Horsley, in Fall 2008 to work on GRASAC data entry. (CH)