For the Native American people of Southern California, games and gambling were an important part of daily life. There were a number of gambling games which involved dice and games which involved guessing which hand held a marked stick or bone. In their book The Cahuilla Indians of Southern California, Lowell Bean and Harry Lawton … Continued
One gallery in the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, is dedicated to The Secret Life of an Artifact. This display provides a behind-the-scenes at the museum collect and the science and creativity that goes in to preserving and interpreting artifacts. Textile arts, ranging from quilts to rugs, often dazzle the eye. … Continued
The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 and ended on July 27, 1953. As with other twentieth century wars, American Indian men did not hesitate to enlist. Many men came from Native cultures which had traditionally emphasized a warrior tradition. For many young men the Korean War provided them with the opportunity to count … Continued
In 1884, the Ktunaxa (Kootenay, Kootenai, Kutenai) Indians in British Columbia were to receive a reserve on the St. Mary’s River. However, as the area’s ranching potential became known, investors pre-empted meadows traditional used by the Indians. Tensions between the Indians and the new settlers increased in 1886 when two Indians—Kapula and his unnamed partner—were … Continued
The High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon, has a replica of Doris Bounds’ Peace Pipe Museum in Hermiston, Oregon. This museum exhibited her collection from 1962 to 1968. When some of the artifacts suffered serious damage from water leaks and overheating, she closed the museum and transferred most of the collection to the vault in … Continued
Subsistence refers to how people obtained the calories which are needed to sustain life. Subsistence patterns are determined, in part, by the environment and the resources within that environment. In general, Southern California Indians have been classified as hunters and gatherers, meaning that they tended to obtain food from hunting and from gathering wild plants. … Continued
The Underwood family of Underwood, Washington, is descended from the marriage of the daughter of Cascade chief Chenowuth with a U.S. Army officer. At an annual event, known as the Underwood Fair, the family would display their extensive collection of Indian art. Mary Underwood Lane gave many of the Underwood artifacts to the Maryhill Museum. … Continued
A treaty is simply an agreement between two or more sovereign nations. Following the Constitution, the United States recognized Indian nations as sovereign entities and thus negotiated treaties with them. In negotiating treaties with Indian nations, the Americans viewed the treaties, and the Indians themselves, as being temporary. Convinced that Indians were destined to vanish, … Continued
David Cyrus, 8, of the Crow Nation poses for a portrait prior to the Grand Entry during the Denver March Powwow on March 24, 2017, in Denver, Colorado. Conditioning parole and probation on the ability to pay fines and fees is bad policy, period. Just as cash bail and disproportionate fees and fines discriminate against … Continued
In providing a broad overview of the hundreds of distinct American Indian cultures found in North America, it is common for museums, historians, archaeologists, and ethnologists to use a culture area model. This model is based on the observation that different groups of people living in the same geographic area often share many cultural features. … Continued
