National Anthropological Archives

Guide to MS 2002-27 Quitone Kiowa calendar, 1825-1921

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.MS2002-27
Dates:
1825-1921
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
171 Drawings (visual works)
25 leaves
graphite, watercolor, and ink on card stock
8.5 X 11 inches
Repository:
Container:
2002-27

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The collection consists of a Kiowa calendar consists on 25 sheet of heavy card stock. Each page contains two to four pictographs, arranged top to bottom and left to right. The calendar entries cover the period 1825-1921. A red diamond is used to signify winter and a green or yellow bar to signify summer. A depiction of the forked Medicine Lodge pole often accompanies the symbol for summer.
No information is known about the original production of this calendar. However, the pictures are a close match to a tracing that Wilbur S. Nye made in the 1920s of a calendar on cloth belonging to Jimmy Quitone. Although arranged in a different format, this may be considered a variant of the Quitone calendar. Nye recorded that while Quitone owned the calendar when he made the tracing, it had been produced by Johnny Anko and Hauvahte. Huvahte may be an alternate rendering of Habate, or Haba. Nye believed that the calendar was destroyed when the Quitone home burned in the 1930s.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Jimmy Quitone also known as Jimmy or James Quoetone, Gui-tone and Wolf Tail (1955-1956) was one of the elders from whom Wilbur S. Nye recorded much information about Kiowa history. According to Nye, he was the father of George Hunt and Guy Quitone.

Administration

Custodial History
Candace Greene donated the calendar to the National Anthropological Archives in 2002. She had received the calendar in 1984, as a gift from a former professor at the University of Oklahoma, William E. Bittle. Greene was a doctoral student at the university when Bittle retired in 1984. When he was departing, he left the calendar with another faculty member, asking him to pass it along to her because of her interest in Plains drawings. At the time she assumed that the calendar was a student project, probably a copy of a published calendar. However, as she became more familiar with Kiowa materials, she realized that the calendar did not follow any published works and should be considered an independent source of information. Greene contacted Dr. Bittle, but he recalled very little about its acquisition beyond the fact that someone in Oklahoma had given it to him many years before.
Processing Information
The collection record is based on information presented in:
Greene, Candace S. and Russell Thornton. The Years the Stars Fell: Lakota Winter Counts at the Smithsonian. University of Nebraska Press, 2007.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
MS 2002-27 Quitone Kiowa calendar, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
Contact the repository for terms of use.

Related Materials
Wilbur S. Nye's tracing of the Quitone calendar is in the collection of the Fort Sill Museum in Oklahoma together with his notes about the version that he examined (cat. no. D68.39.4).

More Information

Local Numbers

Local Numbers
NAA MS 2002-27


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Works of art Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Calendars Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pictographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kiowa Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
North America Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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