Jacket

Inscriptions

Marks: "151715" in ink. Paper tag "1035" (this is the RED #)

Label

This smoked-hide jacket ornamented with red wool fringes and multicolored beadwork blends Nez Perce and Euro-American modes of design and production. The maker, likely a woman, traded for the beads and hand-stitched much of the decoration, although some areas suggest that she might have used a sewing machine. The style is reminiscent of American or British military uniforms more often used in ceremony than in battle.

This jacket might have been owned by Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph, who fought against the United States and its illegal and violent removal of the Nez Perce from their lands. Chief Joseph continued to advocate for a return of Nez Perce lands, but his plea for sovereignty remained unacknowledged.

From the 2026 exhibition Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, curated by Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow), Michael Hartman (former Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), and Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collections)

Course History

NAS 38, HIST 38, American Odysseys: Lewis and Clark, American Indians, and the New Nation, Colin Calloway, Winter 2013

NAS 38, HIST 38, American Odysseys: Lewis and Clark, American Indians, and the New Nation, Colin Calloway, Winter 2013

NAS 38, HIST 38, American Odysseys: Lewis and Clark, American Indians, and the New Nation, Colin Calloway, Winter 2014

NAS 38, HIST 38, American Odysseys: Lewis and Clark, American Indians, and the New Nation, Colin Calloway, Winter 2014

NAS 15, HIST 15, American Indians and American Expansion: 1800 to 1924, Colin Calloway, Spring 2014

NAS 38/HIST 38.02, Lewis and Clark in Indian Country, Colin Calloway, Summer 2021

NAS 38/HIST 38.02, Lewis and Clark in Indian Country, Colin Calloway 1, Summer 2021

NAS 38.01, Lewis & Clark in Indian Country, Colin Calloway, Summer 2021

NAS 38.01, Lewis & Clark in Indian Country, Colin Calloway, Summer 2021

NAS 38.01, Lewis & Clark in Indian Country, Colin Calloway, Summer 2021

NAS 15.01/HIST 15.01, American Indian and Expansion: 1800-1924, Colin Calloway, Spring 2022

NAIS 38.01/HIST 38.02, Lewis & Clark in Indian Country, Colin Calloway, Summer 2022

Native American and Indigenous Studies 38.02, History 38.02, Lewis and Clark in Indian Country, Collin Calloway, Winter 2025

Exhibition History

Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 8, 2011-March 12, 2012.

Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; February 7-August 29, 2026.

Survival/Art/History: American Indian Collections from the Hood Museum of Art, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 18, 2000-April 7, 2002.

Provenance

Probably acquired by William M. Leeds (1829-1886) during his time working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, about 1876-1879; to his wife, Catharine G. Lockwood Leeds (1825-1913), New York; given to present collection, about 1879-1888; catalogued, 1913.

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