Plateau Indian Beadwork in the Maryhill Museum (Photo Diary)

The Maryhill Museum located near Goldendale, Washington, has a display of Plateau beadwork. The Plateau Culture Area is the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana. From north to south it runs from the Fraser River in the north to the Blue Mountains in the south. Much of the area is classified as semi-arid. Part of it is mountainous with pine forests in the higher elevations.

 photo P1090010_zps0qjdkyls.jpg The shaded area on the map shown above designates the Plateau Culture Area.

European glass beads began to be traded to the Indian nations of the Plateau area in the late eighteenth century. In her entry on beadwork in The Encyclopedia of North American Indians, JoAllyn Archambault reports:

“American Indians incorporated glass beads into their aesthetic and technical systems, and in some places replaced native-made beads with the new trade versions. Beads were strung, sewn, netted, woven, and used as inlay, and these techniques continue to be of primary importance today.”

During the first half of the nineteenth century, most of the glass beads used by Plateau artists were obtained from the Hudson’s Bay Company and other trading companies. According to the Museum display:

“The Hudson’s Bay Company acquired much of its bead stock from select Chinese sources and from British suppliers whose wares came from manufacturers in France, Italy and Bohemia. Prior to 1850, the fur traders’ inventories contained a preponderance of large trade beads and small beads that were blue, white and other colors. The seed beads that are popularly associated with American Indian beadwork first appeared in quantities in the Columbia River region during the mid-nineteenth century. Their arrival encouraged the creation of a new regional style of geometric decoration that adorned clothing, personal accessories and horse gear.”

 photo P1090120_zpsyybc2ynd.jpg

Two regional styles developed: one which used geometric designs and one which was figurative. Pictorial beadwork often utilized floral designs, horse imagery, and depictions of deer, elk, and birds.

 photo P1090086_zpsre2ybhnk.jpg The man’s vest shown above was made about 1910.  photo P1090088_zpscdzv2zuc.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made in the 1950s by an unknown Yakama artist.  photo P1090089_zpsag4qpxt8.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made about 1920 by an unknown Klikitat artist.  photo P1090090_zpsvmyg6p59.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made about 1880. Both the artist and tribal affiliation are unknown.  photo P1090092_zpsukmzunyi.jpg The beaded bag was made in the 1950s by an unknown Plateau artist.  photo P1090093_zpszzev7ekm.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made in the 1940s by an unknown Yakama artist.  photo P1090095_zpsuwdcwqh0.jpg The beaded gauntlets shown above were made in the 1920s by Klikitat artists Lucy and Elsie Kuneki.  photo P1090097_zpso4ihfzzc.jpg The beaded vest shown above was made about 1920 by an unknown Wenatchi artist.  photo P1090098_zpshkbt9rai.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made about 1920 by an unknown Klikitat artist.

 photo P1090100_zpsx7hi750j.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made in the 1880s by an unknown Plateau artist.

 photo P1090101_zpsg33hxb7x.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made about 1880 by an unknown Plateau artist.  photo P1090102_zpsnspudrjk.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made about 1880 by an unknown Plateau artist.  photo P1090104_zpsi3vnexw1.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made in the 1930s by an unknown Plateau artist.  photo P1090105_zpshisnaxae.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made in the 1930s by an unknown Plateau artist.  photo P1090107_zpsbbbzcvcq.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made in the 1880s by an unknown Plateau artist.  photo P1090108_zpshg0wnxmm.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made in the 1880s by an unknown Klikitat artist.  photo P1090109_zpsv4yjs0wv.jpg The beaded bag shown above was made in the 1880s by an unknown Plateau artist.  photo P1090111_zpsce8cbbhc.jpg The man’s beaded vest shown above was made about 1910 by an unknown Umatilla artist.  photo P1090113_zpsvmkg2phr.jpg  photo P1090115_zpsmqjuvrea.jpg Shown above are beaded blanket strips made about 1880 by unknown Plateau artists. The two strips shown above were done in “transmontane” style—it is a style shared by Indian nations on both sides of the Rocky Mountains.

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