Native American leather gloves with floral beadwork
Subject
Accessories
Title
Native American leather gloves with floral beadwork
Date
ca. 1969
Format
The gloves are ten inches (25.4 cm) long from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger, and approximately four inches (10.16 cm) across the widest part. Each finger is about one inch (2.54 cm) wide and around three-and-a-half inches (8.89 cm) long.
Description
This is a pair of twentieth-century Native-American gloves. URI's HTCC's donor record states that they are "circa 1969," and the donor, "'does not recall at which reservation [she] acquired them.'" They appear to be made of a light-tan buckskin material and are sewn together with natural thread and have a lighter colored trim at the seams. The gloves feature a beaded rose design on their tops, which is made out of translucent and opaque red, pink, orange, brown, and green glass seed beads.[1] The beadwork seems to be applied using either the overlay stitch or the Lakes Area technique.[2] There is a patch on the interior of the gloves covering the stitching from the bead-work. These gloves are in excellent condition aside from small signs of wear on the fingertips.
The gloves are made of a traditional Native American material called buckskin. This material is used for making many things from bags, laces, shirts, leggings, and even moccasins. Buckskin can be made from a variety of different animal hides. The most common material used is deer skin, most likely used to make these gloves. Other pelts include bear, buffalo, fox, moose, mountain goat, rabbit, seal, or otter.[3] The extensive tanning process begins with stretching and tacking the skin. After scraping the animal hair off, the hide is coated in either a mixture of the animal's brains and water, a process called brain-tanning, or rubbed with animal fats. The skin is then dried and used to make the desired garment.[4] Another step, called smoking, can be taken after this process to waterproof and color the buckskin. The buckskin is sewn into a conical shape and hung over a smoldering fire; the longer the hide is smoked, the more water-proof and darker it gets.[5] As European travelers traded more and more with Native Americans, native women would often buy premade leather or suede gloves and embellish them with their own traditional beading style. This was done in order to shorten the process while still obtaining similarly beautiful results.[6] However, the gloves displayed above appear to have been Native American-made, due to the natural fibers used on the seams and the quality of the buckskin.
These gloves are a beautiful example of Native American beadwork, which is a traditional form of adornment and decoration among almost all Native American tribes. "Glass beads were introduced to the New World in 1492. Spanish trade-beads were introduced in the southwest during explorations there and trappers from the Hudson Bay Company introduced beads from the north."[7] The style of beading here is similar to designs found on accessories made by Natives from the Plateau Region ( Washington, Oregon, and Idaho), which commonly showcase "flowers, [whether] real or imaginary."[8] The technique used to make the beaded rose embellishment on the tops of the gloves is called Two- Needle Applique, which is another name for the Overlay Stitch. The process uses "two needles, the first one stringing beads and the second one sewing down every two beads. This type of work can be used to achieve complex patterns in which bead placement is very exact," like that seen on this pair of gloves.[9]
Native American gloves, and gauntlets, are found prominently in the Plains and Great Basin tribal regions. This is because, "as horses became more widely available by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the people of the Plains, Great Basin, and Plateau became well known horsemen...and in addition to embellishing clothing, embroiderers also elaborately decorated horse gear."[10] By the twentieth century, these clothing items were probably intended to be sold to non-natives, which may explain how the donor obtained these gloves, and why they were so gently used.[11] The "form of the gloves and the materials with which they were decorated all were derived from European sources," but the desire to adorn and decorate them was a way to showcase tradition and creativity.[12] Gauntlets were traditionally large cuffed gloves intended to protect the hands and arms while performing hard labor or riding horses and working with livestock. They also served a decorative purpose for festivals and special occasions. Gauntlets also came in smaller, more delicate sizes with minimal adornment that made them appropriate daily wear for women, like this pair of gloves.[13]
Without a complete donor record it is difficult to say exactly where these gloves came from. They share beading styles similar to the areas where gauntlets are found. The closest example to these gloves are a pair from the Brooklyn Museum, which appear to have been manufactured the same way and made in the same size, though appearing to be a different color. This supports a premise that these gloves could also have been made by the Blackfoot tribe like the ones from Brooklyn Museum.[14] In the end, these gloves are still a mystery, as there is much more information about what they are not, rather than what they actually are or might be.
Footnotes
The gloves are made of a traditional Native American material called buckskin. This material is used for making many things from bags, laces, shirts, leggings, and even moccasins. Buckskin can be made from a variety of different animal hides. The most common material used is deer skin, most likely used to make these gloves. Other pelts include bear, buffalo, fox, moose, mountain goat, rabbit, seal, or otter.[3] The extensive tanning process begins with stretching and tacking the skin. After scraping the animal hair off, the hide is coated in either a mixture of the animal's brains and water, a process called brain-tanning, or rubbed with animal fats. The skin is then dried and used to make the desired garment.[4] Another step, called smoking, can be taken after this process to waterproof and color the buckskin. The buckskin is sewn into a conical shape and hung over a smoldering fire; the longer the hide is smoked, the more water-proof and darker it gets.[5] As European travelers traded more and more with Native Americans, native women would often buy premade leather or suede gloves and embellish them with their own traditional beading style. This was done in order to shorten the process while still obtaining similarly beautiful results.[6] However, the gloves displayed above appear to have been Native American-made, due to the natural fibers used on the seams and the quality of the buckskin.
These gloves are a beautiful example of Native American beadwork, which is a traditional form of adornment and decoration among almost all Native American tribes. "Glass beads were introduced to the New World in 1492. Spanish trade-beads were introduced in the southwest during explorations there and trappers from the Hudson Bay Company introduced beads from the north."[7] The style of beading here is similar to designs found on accessories made by Natives from the Plateau Region ( Washington, Oregon, and Idaho), which commonly showcase "flowers, [whether] real or imaginary."[8] The technique used to make the beaded rose embellishment on the tops of the gloves is called Two- Needle Applique, which is another name for the Overlay Stitch. The process uses "two needles, the first one stringing beads and the second one sewing down every two beads. This type of work can be used to achieve complex patterns in which bead placement is very exact," like that seen on this pair of gloves.[9]
Native American gloves, and gauntlets, are found prominently in the Plains and Great Basin tribal regions. This is because, "as horses became more widely available by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the people of the Plains, Great Basin, and Plateau became well known horsemen...and in addition to embellishing clothing, embroiderers also elaborately decorated horse gear."[10] By the twentieth century, these clothing items were probably intended to be sold to non-natives, which may explain how the donor obtained these gloves, and why they were so gently used.[11] The "form of the gloves and the materials with which they were decorated all were derived from European sources," but the desire to adorn and decorate them was a way to showcase tradition and creativity.[12] Gauntlets were traditionally large cuffed gloves intended to protect the hands and arms while performing hard labor or riding horses and working with livestock. They also served a decorative purpose for festivals and special occasions. Gauntlets also came in smaller, more delicate sizes with minimal adornment that made them appropriate daily wear for women, like this pair of gloves.[13]
Without a complete donor record it is difficult to say exactly where these gloves came from. They share beading styles similar to the areas where gauntlets are found. The closest example to these gloves are a pair from the Brooklyn Museum, which appear to have been manufactured the same way and made in the same size, though appearing to be a different color. This supports a premise that these gloves could also have been made by the Blackfoot tribe like the ones from Brooklyn Museum.[14] In the end, these gloves are still a mystery, as there is much more information about what they are not, rather than what they actually are or might be.
Footnotes
- Szabo, Joyce M. “Real Western Wear: Beaded Gauntlets From the William Healey Collection.” Ornament31, no. 2 (2007): 36-37
- Montogomery, David R. Crafts and Skillsof the Native Americans: Tipis, Canoes, Jewelry, Moccasins, and More. (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2009),181,183.
- Havelin, Kate. Dressing a Nation: The History of U. S. Fashion. (Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2012), 5.
- Havelin, Dressing a Nation, 8.
- Montgomery, Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans, 70.
- Fair, Susan W. Alaska Native Art: Tradition, Innovation, Continuity. (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2006), 98.
- Montgomery, Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans, 174.
- Harless, Susan E. Native Arts of the Columbia Plateau: The Doris Swayze Bounds Collection. (Bend: High Desert Museum, 1998), 99.
- Dean, David. Beading in the Native American Tradition. (Loveland: Interweave Press, 2002), 18.
- Szabo, “Real Western Wear,” 36.
- Szabo, "Real Western Wear," 36.
- Szabo, "Real Western Wear," 37.
- Szabo, "Real Western Wear," 37.
Source
Donor: Eleanore Nelson
Identifier
URI 2008.10.02
Contributor
Molly Gallagher
Citation
“Native American leather gloves with floral beadwork,” Historic Textile and Costume Collection, accessed April 19, 2024, https://uritextilecollection.omeka.net/items/show/523.