Bandolier Bag

Label

Prior to the establishment of colonial trade networks, Indigenous women across North America ornamented clothing with highly valued goods such as paints, shell beads, elk teeth, porcupine quills, and other natural materials obtained - through wide-ranging intertribal trade networks. As new materials became available through colonial trade, Indigenous women innovated further, creating masterful works of great beauty and personal expression.

Curvilinear designs have long been central to Anishinaabe material culture, and the introduction of new ready-to-use materials such as wool and glass beads further enabled this aesthetic to flourish. At the same time, the growing effort to Christianize the Americas simultaneously prohibited Indigenous people of the region from the practice and expression of their spiritual beliefs. The evolution of bandolier bags from the functional shot-pouch to the elegant accessory, like the one from White Earth Nation seen here, provided a canvas to express such forbidden ideology.

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World,  curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

ANTH 3, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Sienna Craig, Summer 2013

NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2021

NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2021

NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2021

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

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.

Native American Designs of the Northern Woodlands, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 20, 1995-February 9, 1997.

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 3 –July 22, 2022.

Publication History

[Northern, Tamara]. "Native American Art". Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, page 47 . (Published in conjunctionwith Gutman Gallery opening exhibition)

George P. Horse Capture, Sr., Joe D. Horse Capture, Joseph M. Sanchez, et al., Native American Art at Dartmouth: Hightlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2011, ill. p. 31 and p. 172, no. 141.

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 134, ill. plate no. 65.

Provenance

Unknown Maker, White Earth Reservation, 1900; sold to Clara G. Corser Turner Churchill (1851-1945) and Frank Carroll Churchill (1850-1912), White Earth Reservation, Minnesota, 1906; bequeathed to present collection, 1946.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu

Subjects