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Introduction

This relative is an eastern Sioux or Minnesota Dakota bag with quilled designs and tin jingles. It was probably made in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. This bag was collected by Charles Hallowell Stephens who purchased it on July 12, 1906 from a person named Osborn, a Philadelphia dealer for $1.25. His whole collection was left to his son D. Owen Stephens, whose wife sold it to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in 1945, where this bag currently resides.  

Name of Maker(s): Unrecorded
Maker role: Artist
Nation of Maker: Sioux
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular nation(s)

David Penney attributes it to the Eastern Sioux or Minnesota Dakota on the basis of quillwork style and shape of the bag. Additionally, the composition of the bag's decoration are very consistent with well documented eastern Sioux pieces.

Date Made or Date Range: Before 1906
Summary of Source(s) for this Relative

Information in this record comes from museum documentation.

Materials

tanned hide; porcupine quills, white and dyed red, blue, black and orange; metal tinkle cones; black silk ribbon; opaque white glass beads (size 10 or 8); thread.

Techniques or Format

The front of the bag is decorated with porcupine quillwork, with a row of metal tinkle cones attached below a row of quillwork at the pocket opening and at bag's base. Single-bead picot edging decorates the top of the bag and the pocket opening. The bag's sides have been edged with black silk ribbon.

Motifs and Patterns

The bag is decorated with star, trefoil, and double curve motifs.

Other Notes

It is unusual that there are quilled designs on the body of the bag rather than a loon or mallard duck skin (see for example the bag collected by Collezione Beltrami (27218). He identifies the bag he corrected as an eastern Sioux woman's bag.)

Dimensions: 25.5 × 13 × 0 cm
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

The bag was purchased by Charles Hallowell Stephens in 1906.

Current Location: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 45-15-814 (museum number); CG 911125-2312 (found in collection number)
Link to Institution's Collections Database: https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/464588
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1945
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Purchased from Mrs. Owen Stephens, 1945
Collection Narratives and Histories

This bag was collected by Charles Hallowell Stephens who purchased it on July 12, 1906 from a person named Osborn, a Philadelphia dealer for $1.25. His whole collection was left to his son D. Owen Stephens, whose wife sold it to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in 1945, where this bag currently resides.

GKS Reference Number: 27175
How to Cite this Item

Maker, Name unrecorded. Pouch. GRASAC ID 27175. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 45-15-814.

Record Creation Notes/Observations

GRASAC study visit, participants: David Penney, Ruth Phillips, Stacey Loyer, William Wierzbowski, December 3, 2009.
This record was augmented by Joy Kruse on July 27, 2024.

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