Publications

A Cherished Curiosity:
The Souvenir Beaded Bag
In Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art

Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
8.5 x 11 inch, 196 pages
In the continental USA only: $34.95 with free shipping = $34.95

If outside the continental United States, contact me for a quote on shipping.

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Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers.  A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women.

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In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art.

I’ve tried to give the reader a flavor of the period during which these bags were made by including historical quotes from people who lived through it; but what to title this book became a complicated process. It’s difficult if not impossible to know how nineteenth-century Iroquois artists referred to their beadwork, but in a circa 1915 photograph, in the archives of the McCord Museum of Canadian History (#8079-View), Stanislaus Francis, a Maliseet craft vendor, is seated in front of his shop where he sold Indian made commodities. A large sign above the door reads “STOP! – COME IN – SEE OUR GENUINE INDIAN GOODS. THE ONLY INDIAN IS HERE.” Another sign by the door reads “INDIAN CURIOSITIES.” This may have been a way to appeal to his customers, who would already be familiar with this characterization, as travel guides and other source material from that period almost always use terms like “curios,” “curiosities,” “exotic curiosities,” or “Indian curiosities” when describing the products of American Indians.  

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the term “curiosity” was not a pejorative term.  Aristocrats and other well-to-do individuals who had the passion and resources to travel amassed large collections which they kept in what were called “cabinets of curiosities.” These usually contained natural history specimens that included examples from geology, ethnography, archeology, antiquities, as well as works of art and religious or historical relics. The term “cabinet” originally described a room and not a piece of furniture and these rooms were the forerunners of our museums.

In the nineteenth century, the term “curiosity” referred to a curious, rare or novel object that had interesting qualities and it was a reference to an item of great interest. These beaded bags are rare pieces of art with interesting qualities and they have long been of great interest to me; hence the title.

 

In the early 1800s, Native women of northeastern North America created a new art form: delicate, intricately beaded hats, purses and other whimsical objects. Sometimes referred to as “tourist" or "souvenir" beadwork, it played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. Native beadworkers came from diverse cultures and regions – the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) of New York State and Canada and the Wabanaki from northern New England and the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada. Gifted with a refined sense of design, and sharing a passion for beadworking, they executed a profusion of bright, bold mosaics that included floral, figural, geometric, double-curve and sun symbol motifs. In addition to exploring the historical development of beadwork as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women, the “Made of Thunder” exhibit looked at beadworking within the context of art, fashion and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century.

The first Europeans to set their sights on the New World were confronted with a people whose traditions and way of life were so different that, in retrospect, it was almost inevitable that their cultures would clash. From the time of first contact, and largely through the work of well meaning missionaries, a slow process of acculturation began to undermine the spiritual foundations of the Northeast woodland people. Conflicts from King Philip's War to the American Revolution facilitated the work of the missions, destroying not only the Indians' ancestral ties to the land, but their economic base as well, forever altering the lives and arts of these indigenous people.

The end of the Revolutionary War saw the beginning of two other revolutions that would also impact the lives and arts of the tribes from the Northeast. The first, tourism, was taking root as early as the 18th century. Americans, Canadians and Europeans too, intrigued by reports of picturesque spots such as Niagara Falls, the natural springs of Saratoga, the beauty and natural setting of Lake George and the coastal resort areas from Nova Scotia to New Jersey, were traveling to see these sights firsthand. Meanwhile, a second revolution was taking place in the fashion world of Paris. The preceding era's voluminous skirts evolved into a new thin and sheer style of women's dress. The revealing styles of the early nineteenth century made it more difficult to conceal pockets under a dress so this gave rise to the handbag as a major fashion accessory.  A new bag had come into vogue, the stylish beaded reticule. It could be worn outside the skirt, and quickly became an essential article of women's attire.

Indian women, wisely assessing the needs and ideas of the encroaching white population, found subsistence in increasingly difficult times by adapting their traditional skills, and by selling and trading their arts and crafts to suit the emerging tourist markets. This early material has a spiritual quality about it that is akin to fine art. On the surface, these pieces were the canvas upon which an Indian artist displayed her technical skills and artistic vision. But below the surface, the power inherent in a beautiful object was a central feature of life. Festive dress was a language through which many an artist expressed her deepest beliefs about the universe. We may never know the full extent of their meanings, but imbedded within the designs are stories of a people told in symbols and motifs that spoke of a sacred relationship to the natural world. Many such stories are lost now, but the art survives as a legacy testifying to the inventiveness and sense of beauty of a marginalized people.

Feature Articles

Gerry has written three feature articles about historic Northeast Woodland beadwork:

Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows
In: Whispering Wind magazine – American Indian: Past and Present Vol. 42, No. 1, 2013

A Cherished Curiosity: The Niagara Floral-style Beaded Bag in the Victorian Era
In: American Indian Art Magazine – Fall, 2010

Made of Thunder, Made of Glass: Niagara Falls and its Influence on the Production of American Indian Beadwork in the Northeast.
In: Whispering Wind Magazine – American Indian: Past and Present Vol. 36. No. 4, 2007

Gerry Biron • Saxtons River, Vermont 05154 • 802-869-2077 •