Materials

Fine red stroud. Formerly black rateen (as identified by the ridged effect of weft; often made of combo of linen warp with worsted weft). Size 11 white seed beads. Printed cotton in brown and red.

Techniques or Format

The rateen has mitered corners. The cuff is reinforced inside with a narrow strip of printed cotton. Only the outline of the beadwork goes through all the layers.

Motifs and Patterns

The beadwork patterns appear to be identical on all 4 sides except that one does not have the horn-like ( "V" ) feature at the top of the running oval motif. Alan Corbiere suggests there is also a possible cowrie reference in the V feature. GRASAC researchers observed the patterns are also suggestive of Underwater. There are 26 running oval designs (13 on each side), diamonds inside those, and running horn-like (V) features. They also observed a design sensibility of a vibrating line of saw-tooth pattern inside the ovals and edging outside so that the whole thing vibrates with energy, emanating power.

Additional Context

Rateen was used by fur traders wives, and was used in England as mourning cloth.

Dimensions: 47.1 × 27.2 × 0.5 cm

Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Museum documentation

Current Location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 25-29-10/98195

Link to Institution's Collections Database: http://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/24232

Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1925

Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: The leggings were purchased from Elizabeth McMurray in 1925, using the Huntington Frothingham Wolcott Fund.

Collection Narratives and Histories

Elizabeth McMurray is listed as the second owner of the leggings in the Museum's records. The only other named owner, prior to McMurray, is Susan Johnson who was McMurray's great-grandmother.

Source for Provenance information

Museum documentation

GKS Reference Number: 26505

How to Cite this Item

Unknown Chippewa/Ojibwe Maker. Woman's leggings. GKS ID 58967. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, catalogue number 25-29-10/98195.

Record Creation Context

Cory Willmott, Alan Corbiere, Adrianna Grecci Green and David Penney conducted research on site at the Peabody Museum for Archaeology and Ethnology in July 2007 with help from Susan Haskell and Patricia Capone of the PMAE. Cory Willmott's research was funded by a grant from the American Philosophical Society. Al Corbiere was supported through Ruth Phillips's SSHRC Canada Research Chair Funding. An internal grant from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provided Cory with an RA, Ceara Horsley, for 2009 and 2010 to work on GRASAC data entry.
Sheila Wheesk contributed additional information to the record, building on available museum documentation.
Cara Krmpotich identified two records for these same leggings, and combined the content into one record on May 31, 2024. The second record (GKS ID 26505) was archived and unpublished.