Moccasins

Moccasins

Moccasins

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Introduction

Pair of women's leather moccasins created by Lillian Blackchief (Seneca) of Tonawanda reservation, NY. Each moccasin is constructed out of a single piece of hide with seams on back heel and front and leather tie. There are green and white glass beads embroidered onto front (covering seam) and along edge of cuffs. 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): Lillian Blackchief
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular nation(s)

catalog data; collected for the Indian Arts Project prior to 1949

Date Made or Date Range: before 1949
Materials

Leather, white and green glass beads, thread

Techniques or Format

Body of the moccasins have been made with a single piece of hide with central seam on the top and a modified 'T' seam at the heel. The front seam has been covered with a separate piece of leather, then beaded over. Cuffs are separate pieces of leather that have been sewn around the opening, bordered with beadwork along the edge. Hide thong tie sewn at the top corners of the cuffs to be tied across the ankle.

Motifs and Patterns

Domes and parallel lines, zigzags

Dimensions: 24 × 7.8 × 8.4 cm
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

catalog data

Current Location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 49-10-10/29427
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1949
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Exchange with Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences, through intermediary W.A. Ritchie
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: before 1949
Collection Narratives and Histories

Intermediary William A. Ritchie, curator of Anthropology at Rochester. He exchange was done through W.A. Ritchie, Curator of Anthropology. "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

GKS Reference Number: 45099
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

45.6426, -85.036

Source of Information about Places

from Tonawanda Seneca reservation, NY

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