Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

KNIFE SHEATH

Date Range From

1860

Date Range To

1870

Materials

RAWHIDE, IRON, GLASS BEADS

No. Pieces

1

Length

21.0 (SHEATH)

Width

6.4

Description

60.3 CM SLING. RAWHIDE SHEATH WITH OUTSIDE FACE COMPLETELY DECORATED WITH GLASS SEED BEADS -GREEN, BLUE, BROWN, PIN, WHITE, LIME (IN GEOMETRIC PATTERNS OF TRIANGLES & CROSSES) SOME BEADS MISSING NEAR THE TIP OF THE SHEATH. A ROW OF IRON TINKLER CONES TRAVERSE THE BEADED FACE. 2 CONES MISSING. BUCKSKIN LACE - SLING IS ATTACHED AT THE PROXIMAL AND DISTAL CORNERS OF THE SHEATH. SLING IS DECORATED WITH WRAPPED STRANDS OF GLASS SEED BEADS IN ALTERNATING BANDS OF BLUE, LIGHT BLUE, GREEN. SEVERAL WRAPPINGS OR BANDS OF BEADS ARE MISSING.

Subjects

INDIGENOUS

ARMAMENT-ACCESSORY

Historical Association

ETHNOGRAPHIC

History

PURCHASED, OR RECEIVED AS A GIFT, BY DONOR FROM INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WORKING OR STOPPING AT THE RANCH. POSSIBLY A WOMAN'S KNIFE SHEATH, DUE TO SLING-STYLE OPPOSED TO BELT-STYLE? DONOR CLAIMED THE SHEATH WAS VERY OLD AND WAS FROM THE SIOUX IN THE UNITED STATES. *UPDATE* IN 2014 LOUISE-MARIE CROP EARED WOLF, A MEMBER OF THE KAINAI NATION, AND A FOURTH YEAR NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES MAJOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE COMPLETED AN APPLIED STUDIES PROJECT WITH THE COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT AT THE GALT MUSEUM. SHE PHOTOGRAPHED ETHNOGRAPHIC ARTIFACTS ASSOCIATED WITH FIRST NATIONS CULTURES IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND WROTE THE FOLLOWING TEXT TO PRESENT HER FOCUSED RESEARCH ON FOUR SPECIFIC ARTIFACTS (P19641186000, P19780209000, P19780208000, AND P19790235000): “I WANT TO DISPLAY THE KAINAI WOMEN BEADED ITEMS FROM THE GALT MUSEUM COLLECTIONS FOR THEIR ARTISTIC MERIT AND NOT JUST FOR THEIR ETHNOLOGICAL VALUE. THE FOUR ARTIFACTS SELECTED ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF FOUR GENERATIONS OF BEADERS: GRANDMOTHERS, MOTHERS, SISTER, AND DAUGHTERS. THE COLOURS ARE MEANINGFUL AND THE TRADITIONAL SYMBOLS ARE USED THROUGHOUT. THE ADHERENCE TO THE TRADITION, HOWEVER, DOES NOT SUPPRESS ARTISTIC EXPRESSION; THE BEADERS USE A FAIR DEGREE OF CREATIVITY IN THEIR CHOICE OF MATERIALS, SYMBOLS AND COLORS. THE ART OF BEADING IS NOT A “DYING ART” – IT IS THE ARTISTS, ARTISTIC EXPRESSION AND IT IS A “LIVING ART”. FOR GENERATIONS, KAINAI WOMEN BEADERS AND CLOTHING DESIGNERS HAVE BEEN MAKING CLOTHING FOR THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY. THE BEADED CLOTHING HONOURS THE FAMILY FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT IN A CONTINUOUS CIRCLE OF HONOURING. THE BEADED CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES SUCH AS MOCCASINS, LEGGINGS, AND BELTS, COMMUNICATE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FAMILY AND ILLUSTRATE HOW TRADITIONS ARE PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS. THE BEADED WORK CONNECTS A BEADING ARTIST TO HER ANCESTORS. EVERY MOTIF, DESIGN, COLOUR OF SEED BEADS, STANDS FOR SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO THE ARTIST’S FAMILY, REFLECTING THE ARTIST’S SURROUNDINGS AND REINFORCING HER CULTURAL VALUES. LEARNING BY OBSERVATION, AN ARTIST PAYS RESPECT TO THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE KAINAI WOMEN BEADERS. THE SHEATH IS MADE FROM ELK OR DEER HIDE. THE GEOMETRIC DESIGN IS APPLIED TO THE SURFACE AND FRINGES WITH CONE-SHAPED TIN “JINGLES” ATTACHED AT THE TOP. THE WHOLE LENGTH OF SHEATH HAS A BEADED RIM EXECUTED IN THE SAME COLOURS. CENTURIES AGO, THE BEADWORK WAS DONE WITH NATURALLY DYED SEEDS; LATER THE SEED BEADS – OBTAINED FROM EUROPEANS THROUGH TRADE – BECAME THE PREVALENT CHOICE OF KAINAI BEADERS. DESPITE THE SWITCH, THE CREATIVE PROCESS CONTINUED TO BE GROUNDED IN TRADITIONAL CULTURE AND SYMBOLS. THIS SHEATH WAS ONCE ATTACHED TO A RAWHIDE BEADED BELT WITH THE SAME DESIGN AND COLOUR SCHEME." *UPDATE* IN 2015 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, INCLUDING A DRUM DONATED BY DOROTHY BLADES, ALSO THE DONOR OF THIS OBJECT. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE DONOR AND HER FAMILY'S RANCH, THE ROCKING P, WAS FOUND IN LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES FROM 1931 AND 1953, THE BOOK 'COWBOYS, RANCHERS AND THE CATTLE BUSINESS: CROSS-BORDER PERSPECTIVES ON RANCHING HISTORY' BY SIMON M. EVANS, AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON AMERICASHORSEDAILY.COM, AND THE GLENBOW ARCHIVES. RODERICK RIDDLE MACLEAY WAS BORN IN 1878 IN DANVILLE, QUEBEC. IN 1898 HE CAME TO ALBERTA AND BEGAN RANCING A SMALL HERD OF CATTLE ON LAND WEST OF HIGH RIVER. IN 1904, MACLEAY PURCHASED THE 40,000 ACRE BROOKS RANCH, AND THE FOLLOWING YEAR MARRIED LAURA STURTEVANT. THEY HAD TWO DAUGHTERS, DOROTHY AND MAXINE. DURING THE SEVERE WINTER OF 1906/07, MACLEAY LOST 90% OF HIS HERD , AND A FLAGGING CATTLE MARKET DEVASTATED HIS PROFITS. ONLY TWO YEARS LATER HOWEVER, MACLEAY ENTERED INTO A PARTNERSHIP WITH ROCKING P RANCH OWNER GEORGE EMERSON, AND IN 1914 MACLEAY BOUGHT OUT EMERSON WITH THE AGREEMENT TO MAINTAIN THE ROCKING P BRAND. OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS MACLEAY EXAPANDED Y ACQUIRING THE ADJACENT WILLOW CREEK, BAR S, AND LIVINGSTONE RANCHES. IN THE 1930S, MACLEAY HIRED ERNEST BLADES AS A COWBOY, AND BLADES MARRIED DOROTHY MACLEAY IN 1940. ROD MACLEAY DIED IN OCTOBER 1953, AND HIS LAND WAS LEFT TO HIS DAUGHTERS. DOROTHY AND ERNEST BLADES ASSUMED OPERATION OF THE ROCKING P, MANAGING IT ALONG WITH THEIR OWN RANCH, THE 3VS. THEIR SON, MAC BLADES, BEGAN WORKING FULL TIME ON THE RANCHES IN 1965 WHEN HE FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL, AND BY 1973 WAS RANCH MANAGER. IN 1996 THE PROPERTY WAS DIVIDED AMONG DOROTHY AND ERNEST'S FIVE CHILDREN, AND AT THE TIME OF THIS SURVEY, MAC BLADES OWNS AND OPERATES THE ROCKING P RANCH. OF PARTICULAR NOTE TO THE FIRST NATIONS ARTIFACTS DONATED BY DOROTHY BLADES TO THE GALT MUSEUM IS THIS SHORT EXCERPT FROM ROD MACLEAY'S LETHBRIDGE HERALD OBITUARY FROM OCTOBER 30, 1953: "[AN] INTEREST WHICH ENGROSSED [MACLEAY] WAS THE CAUSE OF THE STONEY INDIANS LIVING A NOMADIC LIFE AWAY FROM THE MORLEY RESERVATION. HE HAD MUCH TO DO WITH IMPRESSING SUCCESSFULLY ON THE GOVERNMENT THE NEED FOR A SUB-RESERVE." THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE NAKODA (FORMERLY CALLED STONEY) FIRST NATION AND THE EDEN VALLEY RESERVE WAS SOURCED FROM ROCKYMOUNTAINNAKODA.COM. THE NAKODA "MOUNTAIN PEOPLE" HISTORICALLY TRAVERSED THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS IN SMALL, NOMADIC GROUPS, WITH EACH GROUP BEING LED BY A HEAD CHIEF. IN 1877 AT THE SIGNING OF TREATY 7, THE NAKODA WERE REPRESENTED BY THREE HEAD CHIEFS, WHO WERE ASSURED THAT THE NAKODA WOULD RETAIN THREE LARGE TRACTS OF TRADITIONAL HOMELAND, ONE FOR EACH NOMADIC GROUP. HOWEVER, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ALLOTED THE NAKODA ONLY ONE LAND ENTITLEMENT, NOW KNOWN AS THE MORLEY RESERVE, LOCATED WEST OF CALGARY. THE LAND ALLOTMENT WAS FENCED IN BARBED WIRE, PREVENTING THE NAKODA FROM THEIR NOMADIC MOVEMENTS. DURING THE 20TH CENTURY, TWO SMALLER SATELLITE RESERVES WERE ESTABLISHED FOR THE NAKODA FIRST NATION: THE BIG HORN RESERVE (KISKA WAPTADN "BIG HORN RIVER"), 265KM NORTHWEST OF MORLEY, AND THE EDEN VALLEY RESERVE (GA-HNA "ALONG THE FOOTHILLS"), 120KM SOUTH OF MORLEY. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR HARDCOPIES OF SOURCE MATERIALS.

Catalogue Number

P19790235000

Acquisition Date

1974-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail