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National Anthropological Archives
Flying Out drawings of Cheyenne battles and Silver Horn drawing of Kiowa medicine lodge ceremony
Summary
- Collection ID:
- NAA.MS233124
- Creators:
-
Silver Horn, 1860-1940Flying Out.
- Dates:
-
circa 1904
- Languages:
-
Undetermined.
- Physical Description:
-
4 Linear feet8 drawings : graphite, colored pencil, and ink ; 26 x 37 cm.-62 x 102 cm
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
Drawings on large sheets of paper, now laminated. Seven are of Cheyenne battles and one of preparations for a Kiowa ceremony. The sheets are inscribed with various notations in the hand of James Mooney, identifying some individuals depicted and naming the place and date of the fight. The Kiowa drawing (08600900) has been attributed to Silver Horn (Haungooah) on the basis of style. The authorship of the Cheyenne drawings is not certain, but they appear to be by one hand. One drawing (08600300) is inscribed "Flying Out del March 1906," which may be the name of the artist. The date is confusing, as the materials were entered into the Anthropology catalog book in May 1905.
The Cheyenne images were preliminary drawings made in planning production of a painted hide tipi liner in the collection of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, cat. No. 96,808. Other drawings relating to the tipi liner are in Ms. 2538. The drawing of preparations for the Kiowa Medicine Lodge ceremony was a preliminary sketch for the hide painting now in the artifact collection, cat. No. E229,894.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
James Mooney (1861-1921) was a self-taught ethnologist. He was employed by the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1885 until his death. In this capacity, he worked extensively among the Cherokee, Kiowa and Cheyenne. Among the Kiowa and Cheyenne, his studies focused on pictorial calendars, the peyote religion, and heraldry, the term he used to refer to the designs on shields and painted tipis. In the course of his study of Kiowa and Cheyenne heraldry, he commissioned many illustrations by native artists.
For additional biographic information on James Mooney see: Christopher Winters, General Editor, International Dictionary of Anthropologists, Garland Publishing, 1991; Neil M. Judd, The Bureau of American Ethnology - A Partial History, University of Oklahoma Press, 1967; L.G. Moses, The Indian Man - A Biography of James Mooney, University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
Administration
Custodial History
These drawings were commissioned by James Mooney, an employee of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE), who regularly employed Native artists and craftspeople to create materials for the museum's collections, particularly for display. Silver Horn was his regular artist among the Kiowa. The Cheyenne material was created as part of a collaborative project with the Field Museum, which supported Monney's fieldwork in exchange for collections from the Southern Cheyenne (Greene 2001).
This group of drawings was transferred from the BAE to the Anthropology collection in late 1904 together with artifacts that Mooney had collected for the museum, accession 43,633. The drawings were originally cataloged in the artifact collection under numbers 233,124 through 233,130, with two items recorded as 233,125. They were transferred to the National Anthropological Archives in the 1970s.
Sources cited: Greene, Candace >Silver Horn: Master Illustrator of the Kiowa. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.
Using the Collection
Preferred Citation
Manuscript 233,124-130, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
More Information
Local Note
Local Note
Mooney's caption and Numbers appear on the originals. The significance of "Cheyenne Curtin" and "Elk River" prefaced to the Numbers is not yet determined. Notations on the originals that depict "Republican River" encounter refer to "Stone," probably source giving account of battle; not located. Possibly drawings were made later, from material that Mooney brought into the USNM in 1904. Or drawings possibly copied from Mooney's Cheyenne specimen collection at Field Columbian Museum, Chicago.
Local Numbers
Local Numbers
NAA MS 233,124-130
Keywords
| Keyword Terms | Keyword Types | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mooney, James, 1861-1921 | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
Repository Contact
National Anthropological Archives
Museum Support Center
4210 Silver Hill Road
Suitland, Maryland 20746
naa@si.edu
