Bandolier Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwe / Chippewa)
Western Great Lakes Area
Great Lakes Woodlands
Woodlands
1900-1906
Cotton Cloth, glass trade beads, wool yarn tassels, silk ribbon, button, leather thong, and thread
Overall: 41 1/8 × 12 3/16 in. (104.5 × 31 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Eleanor Clark French, Class of 1930W
989.41.27055
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Personal Gear: Bag
Research Area
Native American
Native American: Woodlands
Not on view
Label
Indigenous women of the Great Lakes region created wide-strapped shoulder bags, inspired by Euro-American bandolier bags used for carrying soldiers’ ammunition, by incorporating colorful glass beads and ribbons from Europe to create stunning accessories. Like others of its kind, this example features a plant on the central panel from which flowers and berries grow, repeating along the bandolier (strap).
Like the bandolier bag above, the moccasins below are not utilitarian, but they would have been worn for special events and occasions. While demonstrating the mastery of technique by the women who made them, both the bag and moccasin designs reference the natural environments upon which Anishinaabe depend.
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 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 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.
Provenance
Collected by Elizabeth Conway Clark, Fort Riley, Kansas, before 1907; to her daughter Mrs. John [Eleanor Clark] French; given to present collection, 1989.
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