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Post by Californian on Nov 13, 2018 21:50:24 GMT -5
Sitting Bull, being the celebrity he was, was very well aware that anything connected to him would represent value; in terms of prestige and/or monetarily. Some objects connected to him can be found in museums and private collections. It must be noted that Lakota people had their own value system when it came to giving gifts and not infrequently objects may have been re-gifted as quickly as originally received. There are several dozen pipes that have attributions to Sitting Bull - but he very unlikely would have parted with the pipe he actually prayed with. The Haus zum Dolder in Beromünster, Switzerland is said to hold several objects that Sitting Bull allegedly had given to Johann Dolder, a Swiss catholic missionary that was active at Standing Rock agency in the 1880's: Please see link: www.hauszumdolder.ch/exotica/
In Bern, Switzerland at the Historisches Museum are a pair of moccasins and a pipe that Sitting Bull gave to Fritz Schenk, a clerk at the sutler's store at Fort Randall in 1882/1883 - see attached brochure: Podium_BHM_3_2009.pdf (1.14 MB) In Toronto, Canada the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) holds among other objects a headdress attributed to Sitting Bull with the following caption and provenance information: Sitting Bull’s headdress and associated artifacts:
Dating to approximately 1875, the war bonnet of Sitting Bull, leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux and significant figure in North American and First Nations history, is made of immature golden eagle tail feathers attached to hide skull cap. Featuring a handsome beaded brow band and fringe of weasel skin, its storage case is beautifully made of painted buffalo hide. It is believed that Sitting Bull presented the headdress and case to his most trusted ally, North-West Mounted Police Superintendent, Major James Morrow Walsh. The set was donated to the ROM in 1915 by Canadian Pacific Railway President, Sir William Van Horne. To the Lakota, the war bonnet embodies sacred powers, while representing its owner’s war achievements. The feathers reference the eagle which carries prayers to the Creator, while the form of the headdress’ radiating feathers is a visual metaphor for the sun.
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Post by grahamew on Nov 14, 2018 3:44:45 GMT -5
There used to be stuff in the museum at Niagara Falls. Doesn't the ROM have a beaded shirt too?
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Post by allenc on Nov 14, 2018 9:15:03 GMT -5
The Smithsonian (NMNH) has the rifle that SB surrendered to Col. Brotherton at Ft Buford in July 1881. NMNH E384119
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Post by Californian on Nov 14, 2018 10:53:52 GMT -5
Hi GrahameW and AllenC thank you both for commenting. Graham, you are right, the ROM does have several more objects. Several years ago I communicated with Arni Brownstone of the ROM discussing the objects attributed to Sitting Bull and also the validity thereof (i.e. still potential of false attributions). I am adding a memo that he had sent me at the time - there is indeed a war shirt, bandolier bag, moccasins and also a gun case. I am not aware of the Niagara Falls Museum - I remember having been there some 40 years ago. The locality was and remains a tourist attraction on account of the falls. I remember seeing some weird stuff exhibited (side show variety). Allen - thank you for reminding me of Sitting Bull's winchester at the Smithsonian. I have somewhere a picture where Ernie LaPointe holds the gun in his hands. Here is the acquisitions memo from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM): War bonnet and storage case
915.36a,b Gift or Sir William Van Horne
Sitting Bull’s war bonnet and storage case were given to the ROM in 1915 by Sir William Van Horne, President of the Canadian Pacific Railway. However, any accompanying documentation appears to have been either lost or unrecorded. Evidently it went on display right away, without being catalogued. Its presence in the ROM as a gift from van Horne was recorded in 1916 in a newspaper article, cited below. This article was apparently the source for succeeding notes about the headdress in the literature, noted below. Supporting this information is van Horne’s name written in pencil on the storage case.
The article also states that the headdress and case were owned by Sitting Bull, who gave it to Major James Walsh of the North-West Mounted Police. In turn, he gave it to van Horne. It is generally accepted that Sitting Bull was beholding to Walsh, so it is believable that he gave him his headdress. There are very few headdresses in collections that are accompanied by their storage cases. Perhaps knowing that Walsh would be travelling, Sitting Bull presented the bonnet to Walsh in its case.
Van Horne was responsible for building the railroad across Canada. The Saskatchewan Herald (June 10, 1882) notes his presence in Qu’Appelle. I came across a published reference that describes how Walsh and van Horne liked to take the train for recreational rides in Saskatchewan in the 1880s, just the two of them. I’m not able to locate this source at the moment, but it seems clear that Walsh and van Horne were friends. Coupled with the fact that Van Horne was an avid collector, it seems likely that indeed Walsh gave the headdress and case to van Horne.
J. Addison Reid Toronto Star Weekly, 7 Oct. 1916:11 “Take it, my friend, and keep it. Not a feather there but marks some deed done in war while yet the Sioux were strong.” This is available at the Toronto Reference Library on microfilm.
Correspondence between McIlwraith and JP Turner, May 1940: Both note Sitting Bull’s headdress given to Walsh and donated by Van Horne in the ROM and accept this as fact. Indirectly Turner notes that he let Walsh’s daughter, Mrs McGannon, know of the headdress’ location and “she was comforted to learn that the articles were in their present situation.” I have a photocopy on file, but have not yet found the original.
J. P. Turner, “The North-west Mounted Police” 1950 Vol.1:520: “In saying farewell the disconsolate, erstwhile lord of the once mighty Sioux presented the superintendent with his war bonnet. ‘Take it, my friend,’ he said, ‘and keep it.’ I hope never to have use for it again. Not a feather there but marks some deed done in war while yet the Sioux were strong.’ (This historic headdress now reposes under glass in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.) ” Robarts Library, U of T.
“Portraits of the Plains” J.W. Grant MacKewan 1971:135 “Before leaving Canada Sitting Bull presented Walsh with his feathered war bonnet, worn during the Custer Battle and in scores of other engagements. Walsh gave the feathered headpiece to Sir William Van Horne and the latter, in turn, presented it in 1913 to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto where it remains today as one of the treasures of Canadian history.” Robarts Library, U of T.
Rarihokwats c.1972 Akwesasne Notes” “Tell them our story, he urged. Tell them the truth. He gave Walsh his finest garments, his ceremonial cloths. Meticulously decorated, carefully sewn, they were among his prized possessions. Since he could not go himself, perhaps Walsh could show these cloths, so that the President and Governor-General would know that it was the words of Sitting Bull himself that they were hearing.” The original should be available in the library system. I have a photocopy.
“Sitting Bull, The Years in Canada” J.W. Grant MacKewan 1973:178 notes that Van Horne gave the headdress to the museum in 1913. Referring to the headdress he also states that SB said, “I have something to I want to give you, something else that came through the war.” Robarts Library, U of T.
Across the Medicine Line” J. P. Turner 1973:216 “Take it, my friend, and keep it. Not a feather there but marks some deed done in war while yet the Sioux were strong.” Robarts Library, U of T.
“Sitting Bull Exile in Canada” Ian Anderson 1998 “Take this, my friend. I hope I never need it again. Every feather symbolizes a deed of courage when the Lakota were strong.” Find at www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=23272
Canadian Geographic, Vol.119, No.7 Grindle 1999:67 in Canadian Geographic Vol. 119, no.7: ”Take it my friend and keep it. I will never have to use it again. Every feather marks a deed done in war while the Sioux were strong.”
LaPointe 2009:79 notes that Sitting Bull gave his headdress when Walsh was leaving for his new posting. “’I want to give you this,’ he continued as he laid the headdress on the table. ‘Each feather represents an act of bravery by the warrior who donated it.”
Pers. Comm. LaPointe to Brownstone: LaPointe learned of the headdress given to Walsh through his mother, passed along orally.
War shirt
955.105 Given in memory of Albert Housley
Sitting Bull’s shirt came to the ROM in 1955 through the family of Constable Albert Housley, a North West Policeman stationed in Fort Walsh in June 1881and remained with the force in the west until 1886.. M. W. Sparling, Executive Director of the University of Toronto Alumni Association wrote to a ROM curator, George Spendlove, in 1950 that he had interviewed the then eighty-year-old Housley and tried to talk him into giving the shirt to the ROM. This was later followed up by a visit from a ROM curator. The historical section of the RCMP confirms that Housley had acquired Siting Bull’s shirt. Housley’s family still possess a note handwritten in June, 1881 from W. E. LeQuesne (also William Edward Archibald Lecain), the NWMP interpreter, certifying that he had bought the shirt directly from Sitting Bull at his camp on the White Mud River. His wife donated Indigenous material to the RCMP Museum, including a saddle and saddle blanket from Sitting Bull.
Moccasins
925.96a-b
Said to have been collected from Sitting Bull by Inspector William D. Antrobus, of the North-West Mounted Police. RCMP records show that he had met Sitting Bull. Donated by Professor Alfred W. Reyner, through Miss Helen Reyner, in 1925. Not known how the moccasins passed from Antrobus to Reynar.
Gun case
HD8088
Received in 1924. Said to be collected from Sitting Bull by a person attached to Major Walsh’s force and who presented it to Mr. Thilbut of Brockville. Walsh died in Brockville, June 25, 1905, at 62.
Beaded hide shirt
Attributed to Sitting Bull, from the collection of William Armstrong, artist and engineer. Donated to the museum in 1916.
Bandolier bag
Said to have belonged to Sitting Bull. Donated in 1912 by Sir Edmund Walker, founding Chairman of the Board of the ROM.
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Post by Californian on Nov 14, 2018 11:02:29 GMT -5
here are some more objects: Cowan's Auctions - ex Colonel Alfred Burton Welch collection, price realized $118000 (2005) Skinner Auctions - sold for $1778 (2012) Pair of Cheyenne Beaded Hide Moccasins with Sitting Bull Attribution, c. 1870s, partially beaded with geometric designs and with parfleche soles, lg. 9 3/4 in. Note: Includes a framed card that reads, "Big Horn City-Montana, Dec. 21st, 1881, from the red man to his white brother-Christmas greetings, I send you by mail today my old moccasins to please white brother-accept as a Christmas present and place among your antiquities. Sitting Bull." my personal take ... almost certainly a hoax !Cowans Auctions - 3 pieces, smoking end carved with a crane head, center with concentric circles, and bowl of typical T-shape with beveled anterior projection, total length 26.5 in. late 19th century Included is a typed affidavit dated December 8, 1933, which states: I hereby certify that this pipe is the genuine Sitting Bull peace pipe. And was obtained by Hospital Steward James D. Sadler, U.S.A., who served for 30 years in the United States Army from July 14th, 1864 until November 29th, 1892. When he retired from actual service, and at his death on May 5th, 1913 he left the said pipe to me. - Signed Charles E. Nickles in Tama-Cooper, South Dakota Cowan's Auctions - Sioux Otter Skin Bag Purportedly Used by Sitting Bull at the Battle of Little Bighorn, With Provenance - price realized in 2010 $ 8813 Sinew-sewn otter skin, 40 in. overall (including tail), max. width 6.5 in. Accompanied by three letters of provenance. The first two are both dated 30 Aug. 1930 from Daniel and Ellen Lone Chief. The first is approx. 5 x 8 in., Heart Butte, MT to T.M. Hannah in Great Falls, MT. Enclose we have sign the paper. In regards XXXX farther history of the Sitting Bulls Belt. We could not give any farther then what we have already told you. But than of course we could give more. Only we have to be together to tell it better. i.e. better then writing....Mr. & Mrs. Lone Chief. Second is on 8 x 10 in. lined paper with stamp of Thomas Hannah, Jeweler, Watchmaker and Engraver, Indian Work and Curios...121 Central Ave., Great Falls, Mont. at top. This is to certify that one Otter Belt that I sold to XXXX is the original and genuine War [belt of] Sitting Bull and worn by him in his last war with whites worn by him in his fight with General custer at battle of "Little Big Horn," has been in my family since death of Sitting bull up to time I let you have it. Signed (in different hand in pencil) Mr. Dan Lone Chief, Mrs. Ellen E. D. Lone Chief. Below is Sold Belt as per above to date Aug. 8, 1930 to Mr. P. Barbour. Nearly two decades later the otter was transferred to the Kanipe family [see Cowan's sale of June 11, 2010 for Kanipe archival material]. In a typed letter to Mr. J.E. Kanipe, Asheville North Carolina, 26 May 1949, Barbour writes: It gives me great pleasure to give to you the otter skin war belt that is alleged to have belonged to Sitting Bull of the XXXX. So far XXXX have been able to find out this belt is authentic...Lone Chief is well and favorably known as a very reliable Indian. I believe it to be the belt that Sitting Bull owned and wore. His "medicine" was the otter. It gives particular pleasure to me to give it to the son of Sergeant Daniel Kanipe of the old Seventh Cavalry who was at the fight on the Greasy Grass [Little Big Horn] in 1876. This lot previously sold at Brunk Auctions, Asheville, NC, September 24, 2005, Lot 342. Condition: Otter skin stiff, but not wearing or shedding. All three letters have holes and missing words. The gist is still there. Lastly there is an obscure small museum in Beromünster, Switzerland named "Haus zum Dolder". It belonged to locally prominent Dolder family and became a museum when the last member died. I was there in the 1970's, when Dr Müller was still alive and was shown a couple of objects attributed to Sitting Bull. Dr. Müller's maternal grandfather's brother was a catholic priest that was apparently posted as a missionary at Standing Rock Reservation in the 1880's - his name was Father Johann Dolder. That Swiss catholic priests were active in these particular parts is well documented (see link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Marty_(bishop) which leads to some credence to the authenticity of the objects. Haus zum Dolder - Sitting Bull, medicine pouch Haus zum Dolder - Sitting Bull, pipe pag
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Post by grahamew on Nov 14, 2018 12:48:10 GMT -5
I remember the Niagara Falls museum as being somewhat eclectic, to put it mildly (calf with six legs, kind of thing). I'm sure the stuff was rehoused somewhere over the last 10-15 years. I seem to recall Sitting Bull's wife leggings and a pair of moccasins and a lot of dust over the objects INSIDE the cabinet itself. However, it has been a while since I was there.
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Post by Californian on Nov 14, 2018 17:16:41 GMT -5
hi Graham - maybe worth to look into it - but am still greatly skeptical - there's a lot of weird stuff out there - on the notion "anything to make a buck!". I am going a bit far here - but given the great fame of Sitting Bull at the time and same continuing to this day, I cannot avoid but to think of the relics pertaining to Christianity - i.e. "splinters of the true cross" type thing that if added together worldwide it likely would amount to a hundred foot tall pile. The side-show type museum locality makes me particularly skeptical. But then one never knows, right? I would think that most likely the items at the ROM are authentic, so are the leggings that formerly were in the Smithsonian and are now with Ernie LaPointe. The items I detailed in my previous posts that were sold at auction (Cowan's, Skinner etc.) I am very skeptical. Some of the provenance they list, albeit old still date from 40-50 years after Sitting Bull's death. Strangely fanatic collectors pay literally thousands of dollars at the faintest notion that something is connected to the person of Sitting Bull as you can see in the achieved auction results that I included with the earlier posting.
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Post by allenc on Nov 15, 2018 8:59:20 GMT -5
If you consult the NMNH (Smithsonian) search page and search for "Sitting Bull" it returns 50 or so objects. The SB attribution for most of them seems to derive solely from the donor's assertion. One or two have some thread of probability. And there are a number of other items that take more digging that have good associations with Sitting Bull's followers who surrendered at about the same tie he did in 1881. There is a NW trade gun that has long had an association with SB's people. Decades ago Dr. Ewers published a paper "when Sitting Bull Surrendered His Winchester" in which he concludes that the trade gun could not have belonged to SB because he owned the famous Winchester, and because such an obsolete weapon (which has a lock date of 1875 as I recall) was basically below SB's status. None of which convinces me. fwiw
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Post by Californian on Jul 20, 2019 23:34:26 GMT -5
Extremely Rare Buffalo Robe Painted by Sitting Bull Returns to Saskatchewan. It’s the only such known robe in existence—and for 10 months, it will be in Regina at the MacKenzie Art Gallery
by Leah Sandals The only known buffalo robe painted by Sitting Bull has returned to Saskatchewan after decades in the United States.
The only known buffalo robe painted by Sitting Bull has returned to Saskatchewan after decades in the United States. On June 20, after at least 75 years away, the robe went on view for its first-ever public display in Canada at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina. There, it’s part of the exhibition “Walking with Saskatchewan,” which will be up until April 2020. “It’s the only known robe that he painted that’s [still] in existence,” says John Hampton, director of programs at the MacKenzie. “There was word of another one, and he gifted it to the pope—but the Vatican lost it.” The legendary Hunkpapa Lakota chief and artist painted the robe between 1877 and 1881. At that time, Sitting Bull was seeking asylum from the United States government in the territory now known as Saskatchewan. While in Canada, he traded with local Gus Hedderich, and later gave Hedderich the robe. After Hedderich and his wife passed away, the robe was donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota. “This era of Sitting Bull’s life is very much about borders and border crossing,” Hampton notes. “The Sioux people, which include the Hunkpapa Lakota, of which Sitting Bull was a chief, were people of the Great Plains. That territory encompassed all of the Dakotas, some of the Canadian Prairies, as well as a lot of the midwest and central United States. Sioux and other Plains Indians would have travelled very freely at that time—that border was relatively new when Sitting Bull crossed it.” And while Sitting Bull sought asylum in Canada at the time, it’s key to understand that what he actually found here was quite different. “He came up to Canada to have safety and distance [from persecution by the US government],” says Hampton of Sitting Bull. “But that was the time period of John A. Macdonald and the starvation of the plains. They were trying to flush out the Indigenous peoples in what is now Saskatchewan through forced starvation. They did the same thing to Sitting Bull…. It wasn’t a real sanctuary.” In 2019, bringing the robe back to Saskatchewan as a loan from the State Historical Society of of North Dakota involved considerable effort. That return project began in November 2018, when “Walking with Saskatchewan” guest curator Bruce Hugh Russell requested the robe be in the exhibition. (He had originally seen the robe on the cover of a Winter 2014 issue of American Indian Art Magazine.) An exchange of more than 100 emails with US and Canadian customs officials ensued to make sure they had all the information they needed to clear the border crossing at Portal, North Dakota, and North Portal, Saskatchewan. After it became clear a private shipping company would be too costly, the curator and registrar at the State Historical Society of North Dakota offered to drive it up themselves, as well as drive it back in at the close of the exhibition next spring. When the robe arrived at the MacKenzie, Lakota artist and knowledge keeper Wayne Goodwill was there. Goodwill is one of few people in Saskatchewan highly skilled in hide-painting traditions. Some of his own work is on view in “Walking with Saskatchewan.” Goodwill is also related to Sitting Bull by way of his great-great-grandfather. “We invited Wayne in to welcome the robe on behalf of the Lakota people in Saskatchewan,” Hampton explains. “So he smudged the robe, and we put out a bowl for offerings—for people who wanted to make offerings to Sitting Bull.” At the exhibition’s opening event, Wayne Goodwill and some of his family also “provided some key teachings about Sitting Bull and hide paintings, and interpretations of symbols on the hide,” says Hampton. The image on the robe is presumed to be a “self-portrait of Sitting Bull wearing his strong heart bonnet below a feathered sun that is flanked by two pipes on either side,” says a release. “We’ve requested [Wayne Goodwill] do these teachings in Lakota and that we then translate them into English,” says Hampton. There are also plans to incorporate stories from the robe into the gallery’s educational courses this fall, including ones around video games. Hampton emphasizes the importance of reflecting on the many dimensions of this robe, the life of the person who made it and the biases that person was facing. “The regulations around the movement of cultural objects and the movement of bodies,” Hampton observes, “are somewhat intertwined.” About the author:
Leah Sandals is a writer and editor of white settler Canadian (Irish and Ashkenazi) descent. She is also news and special sections editor at Canadian Art and has written for the Toronto Star, National Post and Globe and Mail, among other publications. Sandals welcomes tips, corrections and comments anytime at leah@canadianart.ca.
see attachment: Extremely Rare Buffalo Robe Painted by Sitt....pdf (473.34 KB)Extremely Rare Buffalo Robe Painted by Sitt....pdf (473.34 KB)
click onto link to enlarge
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Post by gregor on Jul 21, 2019 2:56:52 GMT -5
There is a lot more "Sitting Bull" stuff out there, surely 😉 It was a sales argument. But the robe is really interesting. We should research on it. Gregor
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