On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

Interior of an Iroquois Longhouse at Crawford Lake Conservation Area, Ontario

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

Un air de vacances soufflera sur votre tenue avec cette sangle esprit navajo. Elle fera une parfaite ceinture ou sangle de sac!

Iroquois is a group of First Nations living on Turtle Island in northeastern North America. Click for more kids facts and information or download the worksheet collection.

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

Bell UH-1D Iroquois 72+94 GAM THR-30 ETHN Heeresflugplatz Niederstetten 15.04.2020

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

 This first group of images is of Haudenosaunee people. The common feature here is the large beaded bag that they are wearing. These bags are quite rare and were likely made for personal use and not to be sold as souvenirs. Circa 1870s CDV photograph of a young woman, possibly Haudenosaunee, with a beautifully beaded bandolier bag. This image was taken in England so she may have been travelling with a Wild West show or an entertainment group as both were popular during this period. The next image is of a different woman, possibly this woman's mother, who is wearing the same hat and bag. Circa 1870s CDV image of a family, possibly Haudenosaunee, wearing outstanding examples of Iroquois beadwork. Both wear Haudenosaunee bandolier bags. This image was taken in England. 1870s tintype of a Haudenosaunee wearing a large bandolier bag that is similar stylistically to the ones pictured above. 1870s albumen photograph of Solomon O'Bail (1814-1899), a Seneca and grandson of Cornplanter. He is also wearing a large, Haudenosaunee bandolier bag. A late 19th century beaded collar and a bandolier bag identified as Iroquois in the Rochester Museum and Science Center. The bandolier bag is stylistically similar to those worn by the subjects in the previous images. If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art.

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

In this blog posting we will examine some of the variations in historic 18th and 19th century Iroquois regalia through old paintings, photographs and examples of early material culture. Since first contact with Europeans, artists have depicted the Haudenosaunee wearing diverse attire; the images below are by no means a complete visual record of those that exist but should suffice in this brief review. The dictionary defines “traditional” as “existing in or as part of a tradition; long established, customary, time-honored, classic, accustomed, etc.” Today, what is generally considered “traditional” Haudenosaunee regalia can trace its origins to early examples from the 18th century, culminating with the work of Caroline Parker in the mid-19th century (figures 1 & 2). Fig 1 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in western New York. Private collection. Fig 2 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in western New York. Private collection. Caroline’s outfit has had a major influence on the design of Seneca regalia and it has also been adopted by other Six Nation peoples; it came about from a synthesis of European and Haudenosaunee attire. Deborah Holler, in writing about Caroline’s outfit, said “The navy blue skirt, with the striking ‘celestial tree’ design in the corner and luminous beaded border, incorporates the bold color aesthetic of the Iroquois in design motifs that are traditionally representative of the feminine forces associated with Skywoman, the first woman to inhabit earth in Iroquois culture. These two images of Caroline can be seen as a formal statement of cultural identity that became a prototype for the Seneca Women’s national costume. By incorporating the highest fashion styles of the times into a bold statement of Seneca womanhood, Caroline set a standard for fashion that has had lasting appeal for Haudenosaunee artisans. The combination of Victorian and Native elements shows her inventive adaptation of the Native aesthetic to European fashion goods, and is a demonstration of Caroline’s adaptability in both worlds” (Holler 2011:15-16) Some of the earliest depictions we have of American Indians are allegorical representations that served to symbolize concepts or ideas. That changed in 1710 when the Mohawks sent a delegation to England on a diplomatic audience with Queen Anne (figures 3 & 4). Fig 3 – Some of the earliest depictions we have of the Haudenosaunee are from a group of four paintings that were done by Jan Verelst, a Dutch artist working in London. This portrait of Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row (1660 – c. 1735) was made in 1710. He was a Mohawk chief who went to London to meet with Queen Anne and her court. Except for his belt, which is decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery, he is completely dressed in European style clothing, with buckled shoes, lace breeches and a fashionable coat. From the collection of the Library and Public Archives of Canada. Fig 4 – Portrait of Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, a Mohawk said to be the grandfather of Joseph Brant of Revolutionary War fame. It was painted by Jan Verelst in 1710 when Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow visited London. His clothing is made primarily from European fabrics although he wears bullnose moccasins that were decorated with porcupine quills, a belt decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery and a leather pouch over that belt. He also has some great tattoos, although their meaning is unknown. From the collection of the Library and Public Archives of Canada. Attacks on British settlements by both the French and their Indian allies demonstrated to the Crown that they needed to maintain the loyalty of their Iroquois allies. Stephanie Pratt has written that “in the same way as Queen Anne’s ministers needed to establish an appropriate settlement with the Iroquois, so those [artists] who sought to represent them [in their work] needed to establish an appropriate mode of depiction” (Pratt 2005:36). In the case of the Mohawk chiefs illustrated in figures 3 & 4, who, except for a few personal accoutrements, were not in traditional regalia but rather are dressed in a combination of European and Native elements in a manner designed to suit European dress standards. Their handlers were provided with funds to ensure that the sachems’ had “the correct clothing to wear before Her Majesty” (Pratt 2005:163). What the artist Verelst attempted to show was how “the supposed gentlemanly and noble status of the Indian ‘Emperor’ might be constructed using portrait conventions. This nobility is entailed in their stately poses and the relationship of the figure to landscape, indicating ‘ownership’ in European terms” (Pratt 2005:52-53). We see this Europeanizing of Native people in portrait depictions throughout the 18th century. Fig 5 – Oil on canvass painting titled The Indian Family, by Benjamin West. 1761. From a private collection in England. The artist Benjamin West was in Italy in 1761 where he took on a commission to produce a painting for John Murray, a British aristocrat living in Venice (figure 5). Although scholars consider this image to be a generic piece, and the historical accuracy of his paintings is disputed by others, the cultural artifacts depicted are accurate representations of Northeast Woodland material from the period. Some of the items depicted are illustrated in another of West’s paintings, notably General Johnson Saving a Wounded French Officer from the Tomahawk of a North American Indian, in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery in Derby, United Kingdom where the male subject’s bag, the moosehair decorated knife sheath that hangs from his neck and his tomahawk, are identical. Although the items themselves are authentic, the fact that they appear in more than one of West’s paintings suggests that they did not necessarily belong to the subjects portrayed but were rather used by West as studio props for his paintings. The decorations along the bottom of the woman’s dress in figure 5, which were likely done in a combination of ribbon work and moosehair or porcupine quill embroidery, as well as the style of her dress, are an incipient form of what would later emerge as the “traditional” Haudenosaunee woman’s outfit. Like the mid-19th century portraits of Caroline Parker, the woman in this image wears decorated leggings, a blue overdress, skirt, blanket and decorated moccasins in a dress style that is very similar to Caroline Parker’s outfit. During the 18th century, American Indians were often depicted with a blanket draped over their shoulder. This practice likely originated with the use of bear, moose or deer skins robes long before the introduction of the European blanket. The adoption of ready-made, European trade goods was a practical consideration for Native people because these items offered a perceived advantage over traditional items. Fig 6 – Portrait of Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, by George Romney, 1776 – the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Fig 7 – Portrait of Joseph Brant by Gilbert Stuart, 1786. From the collection of the Duke of Northumberland, London. Another Mohawk leader, Joseph Brant (figures 6 & 7) visited England in the late 18th century on two separate occasions, in part for securing the promise of restitution of Mohawk lands after the American Revolution. Like the Mohawks in figures 3 & 4, he is also depicted wearing a combination of European and Native elements. In figure 6, he is adorned in a pink shirt and what were likely wool breeches, in addition to his Native raiment. In describing the symbolism behind this portrait, Stephanie Pratt says that “Brant’s European garments combined with American Indian accoutrements… define his figure as a warrior, rather than a leading sachem. If he wanted to be seen as the latter, according to the colonial customs of the 1740s to 1760s, he would sport a tailored coat, and possibly lace collar and cuffs, in the manner of an English gentleman… [His outfit] in its combination of English and Woodlands elements, speaks of Brant’s own position between two worlds…. What distinguishes Romney’s picture is its cultural location within Mohawk attitudes to England. As with his predecessors in 1710, Brant’s figure combines items of European manufacture such as guns, hatchets, or pipes alongside the more American Indian accoutrements such as earrings and the headdresses, not as a costumier’s miscellany but as tokens of trade and good relations” (Pratt 2005:97-98). Native attire that combined trade items with Native made material made sense on the American frontier where dry goods were scarce but would have appeared exotic in England. Fig. 8 – A book engraving from 1774. The individual depicted could be an Iroquois as he is holding a wampum belt in his extended hand and his headdress appears to be an early version of the gustaweh. He is standing next to a large waterfall (possibly Niagara). Private collection. In another portrait of Brant (figure 7) he is similarly dressed in a combination of European and Native attire. Old images are also found in which individuals are wearing less formal (more traditional?) attire but the older symbolic and allegorical representations were never far from the surface (figure 8). In this book illustration the subject is holding a wampum belt in his extended hand and his plucked scalp and feather top knot of hair could be an early version of the gustaweh, an Iroquois man’s headdress. I’ve seen similar 18th century illustrations where the subject was identified as Iroquois. He is standing next to a large waterfall (possibly Niagara). His attire could be made from animal skins or it could be a European trade textile. Although the image may have been a fanciful depiction of an Iroquois warrior, it appears that the artist got some of the details right. He doesn't appear to be wearing leggings. Fig. 9 – 18th century leggings from the St. Lawrence Valley, possibly Iroquois. They are decorated with porcupine quills and moosehair on black dyed buckskin. Collection history unknown. Fig. 10 – 18th century Iroquois leggings on dyed deerskin, decorated with either porcupine quills or moosehair embroidery, trade beads and silk ribbon work. National Museum of the American Indian. Leggings have long been an integral part of traditional Iroquois regalia. Figure 9 is a pair of late 18th century leggings that are possibly Iroquois. Although they are simply decorated with porcupine quills and moosehair, they are an honest representation of a “traditional” clothing item from this period. In another pair of exceptionally decorated leggings we get a better look at some early “traditional” motifs (figure 10). Along the bottom of the leggings is the sinuous line representing the sky dome with the celestial tree above it and the earth tree below. The leggings are also decorated with extensive ribbon work and the square and diamond motifs appear to be done in either porcupine quills or moosehair. These geometric designs had deep cultural meaning as they are found on various items of early Iroquois material culture. Although not specifically part of someone’s regalia, other 18th century items that were made by Iroquois artisans, such as burden straps (figures 11 & 12), aptly demonstrate some of the bold and colorful geometric design motifs that were prevalent during this period. In an 18th century watercolor of a Mohawk woman and child, she is wearing a burden strap across her forehead that is holding her cradleboard (figure 13). She is dressed almost completely in European trade goods. The lower border of her dress appears to be decorated with silver brooches and silk ribbon appliqué. Fig. 11 – Four burden straps from the 18th century. (A) - Iroquois: from the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russia. (B) - Iroquois or Huron – Mid- to late 18th c. Made of hemp, dyed moosehair false embroidery and glass beads. (C) - Collected in the St. Lawrence River valley, c 1775, and possibly Iroquois. It’s edged with white imitation wampum. (D) - Iroquois, sometime before 1775. Colors are orange, blue, black and white. Dyed Moosehair in false embroidery. Fig. 12 – Three Iroquois burden straps . Circa 1780. Decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery. Most surviving burden straps are of Iroquois origin although they were also made by the Huron and neighboring Algonkians. Private collection. Fig. 13 – Mohawk woman with child – 18th century watercolor by an unknown artist. Her attire is almost completely made from European trade material. Collection history unknown. Another traditional item from the 18th century is the shoulder or bandoleer bag (figure 14). They seem to have been in vogue during that period and this tradition continued well into the 19th century. There are a number of examples of these in 19th century photographs (see my blog posting on these) but the example in figure 14 is earlier and is decorated with imitation or glass wampum beads. It’s another illustration of the use of geometric designs in pieces of material culture from this period. Fig. 14 – Iroquois shoulder bag – pre 1778 – a vogue for these bags, with fronts made of imitation glass wampum beads, existed at the end of the 18th century. The geometric designs they display resemble those on belts and ornaments made of shell wampum. From the collection of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, Germany. In 1778, Thomas Davies painted a scene near Quebec of an Indian encampment (figure 15). It is filled with details of encampment life. It also gives us a glimpse into the mode of dress that many of the inhabitants wore. Many of the adults are attired in garments that were made from European textiles and most also have a blanket draped over their shoulders. Of particular interest are two of the women in figure 15a who are wearing a peaked cap, not unlike those the Wabanaki made. Fig. 15 – A watercolor over graphite illustration titled: A View near Point Levy Opposite Quebec with an Indian Encampment by Thomas Davies, 1788. From the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Possibly Mohawks or Hurons from Lorette. Fig. 15a - detail view. Fig. 15b - detail view. In another painting by Tuscarora artist Denis Cusick that was executed in 1822, (figure 16), the seated woman is also wearing a peaked cap but this one appears to be decorated, possibly in beads. Fig. 16 – Tuscarora village, 1822. Watercolor signed “Dennis Cusick, son of the chief. Fecit.” Private collection. I am aware of at least one of these peaked caps/hoods that has survived (figure 17) and it does have similarities to the Wabanaki examples. These caps are quite rare but their appearance in both the Quebec painting and the one from Tuscarora suggests that they were made and used by more than one Haudenosaunee community and this was no doubt a piece of “traditional” attire during this period. Fig. 17 – Seneca headdress – late 18th early 19th century. From the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. The standing woman’s dress in figure 18 is also similar in style to the Caroline Parker example in figures 1 & 2, and the edge of the dress could be decorated with beadwork. Fig. 18 – Christening of the Tuscarora Asa Thompson – Watercolor attributed to Dennis Cusick, August 21, 1821. From the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC. As we get into the early 19th century, we find a number of realist paintings, done by Iroquois artists that give us a glimpse into the “traditional” dress styles from the period. In a watercolor painting by Denis Cusick (figure 18) we see examples of both men’s and women’s dress styles from the early 1820s. The bottom edge of the woman’s dress, which appears to be decorated in silk ribbon work, might also be edged in beadwork. Unlike the man who is wearing pants, she appears to be wearing leggings and both wear moccasins. The man has a frock coat that is held closed by a hand-woven sash. In a more defined image from this period (figure 19) we can see a lot more detail in the men’s outfits. It’s hard to say from the image if their leggings are beaded or simply decorated in ribbon work but it may well be a combination of the two. Fig. 19 – An undated photograph of a now-lost watercolor of four Tuscarora men wearing sashes, perhaps by Thomas Jacobs. Early-to mid-19th century. Titled: “The Intains [sic]. Tuscarora tribe.” The National Museum of the Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1833, the young Laura M. Sheldon of Barnet, Vermont, married the Reverend Asher Wright, a preacher to the Seneca at the Buffalo Creek Reservation, and she devoted the rest of her life to the Christian well-being of the Iroquois. Very clever in devising ways to get them to listen to her moralizing and religious instructions, she would invite them to what we might now call a “tea meeting.” They were at the liberty to bring their needlework, which consisted in ornamenting their deerskin moccasins with porcupine quills, or their broadcloth skirts and leggings with beads, or perhaps fastening a quantity of silver brooches upon their short gowns or hats. While thus occupied, she read and explained the gospel truths in their own language, sang hymns with them, and frequently encouraged them to tell her some story of old times. The simple repast, which had really brought them there and held them through the afternoon, was then served, and they went away to think of the “good words” that had been spoken to them about the “new way” (Caswell 1892:65). Two Seneca ladies are depicted wearing an ample amount of silver broaches on their collars in a circa 1860 tintype (figure 20). Fig. 20 – Circa 1860 tintype of two Seneca women in their traditional dress. Their collars are decorated with silver brooches. Private collection. Fig. 20a - detail view Fig. 20b - detail view Fig. 20c - detail view Caroline Parker’s outfit in figures 1 and 2 is also decorated in silver brooches. Although none of the brooches depicted in these images are in the shape of a heart, many 18th and early 19th century Iroquois brooches were. The heart shaped brooch has been called the national badge of the Iroquois because of its popularity among them. It is found in both single and double forms, often surmounted by a crown. The design is thought to have come to North America from Scotland, where it was a popular love token and betrothal symbol. The “Luckenbooth” brooch, as it was known in Scotland, may have been introduced by British-trained silversmiths such as Robert Cruickshank or James Hanna. Another possibility is that the Indians requested the brooch after seeing it worn by Scottish traders and settlers (Fredrickson and Gibb 1980:53). The earliest heart-shaped brooches were manufactured in Europe as early as the seventeenth century. “They were mostly used as luck tokens, or betrothal gifts, and the choice of the heart shape … is sufficiently obvious (Parker 1910:354).” Many were later made by Iroquois silversmiths who found their inspiration in European models, and historically, the Iroquois continued fabricating them until at least the 1860s. Any brooch pinned to the garment of a child was regarded by the Scotch as an efficient charm against witches.…When the Iroquois silversmiths copied the Scotch patterns they left off many things that were common in the original patterns and interpreted the design as their own education, environment, or customs dictated … (Parker 1911:285). The use of silver brooches as charms to ward off evil spirits was an early component of many Native peoples’ traditional beliefs. Silver was a gift from the underworld with a natural luminosity – a quality much revered by native people. They believed that the luminosity, especially in ornaments of personal adornment, constituted a power that reflected or blocked evil spirits and radiated the good powers of the sun and moon in the Upper World. Reflective silver ornaments were placed at strategic locations on the body by adults and children, the living, and the dead. Luminosity represented knowledge and wisdom and gave life to inanimate objects. Iroquois ceremonial masks have reflective surfaces at the eyes to give them life and the Naskapi word for mirror translates as “see soul metal” (Hamilton 1995:49). About the same time that Caroline Parker was photographed in the famous daguerreotypes of her (figures 1 & 2), the artist Thomas Jacobs produced a watercolor illustration of three Iroquois women in traditional attire (figure 21). Fig. 21 – Three Iroquois women in colorful attire – Watercolor signed “Thomas Jacobs 1852.” Jacobs is a Seneca name, and it may also be a Tuscarora name. The women’s apparel is typical of mid-19th century formal dress, with silver brooches and beadwork decoration. Their outfits appear to be embellished almost exclusively with silver brooches. In another watercolor from the same period (figure 22) the women’s outfits are also decorated with silver brooches and additionally their leggings and dress appear to be beaded. One of the unusual features of their outfits are the scarves/shawls they are wearing. Some early 19th century observers mention these scarves but to the best of my knowledge, none exist in either museum or private collections. Fig. 22 – Watercolor of four Iroquois women, artist and date unknown. Looks to be from the mid-nineteenth century. Private collection. Caroline Parker’s mid-19th century outfit in figures 1 and 2 is clearly decorated with curvilinear designs and floral motifs. None of the other outfits in the early images we have examined in this posting, as well as others I have seen, are decorated this way. By the mid-19th century, floral beadwork replaced the abstract and geometrical designs that had been the accepted art form among Iroquois traditionalist for centuries. Why this happened may have its origins in Euro/American reasoning. In the early nineteenth century non-Native girls were schooled to be pious, chaste, submissive, patient, and adept at “every variety of needlework,” and to “have a special affinity for flowers” (Welter 1966:165). During the same period, the Haudenosaunee incorporated symbolic and representational floral imagery in their work and this development came about rather suddenly. Although scholars have demonstrated eloquently that flowers were related to Victorian ideals of womanhood (Phillips 1998), the sudden emergence of this type of ornamentation is a fundamental question that has yet to be fully explained. Ted Brasser also points out that there is only scant evidence that representational floral motifs, in Iroquois decorative arts, were in use prior to the Revolutionary War. Aboriginal decorative designs were originally abstract and geometrical, but a curvilinear art style became popular in the 1750s. This new art style was adopted by all native peoples around French Quebec, suggesting that it was inspired by some form of French art (Brasser 2009:71). Others have argued that the complex foliate designs arrived in North America with the French missionaries and fur traders and that they originate in European decorative arts, introduced, in the French convents, by the Ursuline nuns to their Indian students. The course of instruction that was taught to young women in Europe and America that Welter described above was no doubt adopted in the French convents as part of the curriculum for their Indian students. These decorative ideas were subsequently dispersed across the region as their Native students returned to their scattered homes through the northeast (Barbeau 1930). Perhaps, as a partial concession to ministerial educational programs, some Indian artists modified their traditional iconography and adopted the floral imagery. The inspiration may have been European floral designs, but Native aesthetics and cultural meaning were incorporated into the final works of art. Ruth Phillips has suggested that “the Western and Victorian association of flowers with ideal ‘feminine’ qualities of fragility, beauty, and godliness converged with traditional Haudenosaunee associations of plants and the crops cultivated by women with the sustenance of human life to create a shared visual artistic language” (Phillips 1998). Flowers and plants did have a place in Iroquois ceremonial life, although not necessarily in the forms depicted on clothing. The fact that floral designs were adopted for ceremonial clothing indicates that there had to be more to their use than mere imitation and commercial motives. They had become an accepted part of the art style, and a source of group identity (Harding 1994:26). In summary, many believed that the shimmering patterns, fashioned by the beads, attracted the spirits that inhabited the woodlands of the Northeast. Richly decorated clothing was, after all, intended to please benevolent spirits and to protect the wearer against harm from malevolent ones. Clothing styles and fashion accessories change over time; this is true in most cultures. The reasons for the change are varied and sometimes complex. Jennifer Neptune, a contemporary Penobscot artist, aptly points out that the floral motifs that appear in Northeast Woodland beadwork were meant to convey a message about the individual or group identity of those who created them. I see medicine plants in the designs, and it’s obvious to me that people were beading designs of plants that were highly valued to themselves, their families, and their tribe. When I look at the floral designs I see plants that ease childbirth, break fevers, soothe coughs and colds, take away pain, heal cuts, burns, and bruises, and maintain general health.… A hundred years ago plants were the main source of medicine for Natives as well as non-Natives. With the knowledge and importance of these plants in our culture beadworkers needed to look no further than their own backyards for their own floral designs. A hundred years later these same plants are still in our backyards, are still being used for healing, and are still being used to inspire our beadwork designs (Faulkner, Prince & Neptune 1998:41). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. REFERENCES CITED Barbeau, C. Marius 1930 “The Origin of Floral and Other Designs Among the Canadian and Neighboring Indians.” Proceedings of the Twenty-third International Congress of Americanists, held at New York, September 17 – 22, 1928. Nendeln/Leichenstein. (Krans reprint, NY 1968). Brasser, Ted J. 2009 Native American Clothing – An Illustrated History. Firefly Books, Ltd. Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. Caswell, Harriet S. 1892 Our Life Among the Iroquois Indians. Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, Boston and Chicago. Faulkner, Gretchen Fearon, Prince, Nancy & Neptune, Jennifer Sapiel 1998 “Beautifully Beaded: Northeastern Native American Beadwork” in American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 24, Number 1, Winter edition. Fredrickson, N. Jaye and Gibb, Sandra 1980 The Covenant Chain – Indian Ceremonial and Trade Silver. A catalog to a travelling exhibition of the National Museum of Man. Published by the National Museum of Canada / Ottawa. Hamilton, Martha Wilson 1995 Silver in the Fur Trade 1689–1820. Published by the author. Privately printed. Harding, Deborah 1994 Bagging the Tourist Market: A Descriptive and Statistical Study of 19th Century Iroquois Beaded Bags. Unpublished Masters Thesis. Anthropology Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Holler, Deborah R. 2011 ‘The Remarkable Caroline G. Parker Mountpleasant, Seneca Wolf Clan.” Western New York Heritage, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring. Parker, Arthur C. 1910 “The Origin of Iroquois Silversmithing” in American Anthropologist, New Series, Vo. 12, No. 3, July-September. 1911 “Additional Notes on Iroquois Silversmithing” in American Anthropologist, New Series, Volume 13. Phillips, Ruth 1998 Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700 – 1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Pratt, Stephanie 2005 American Indians in British Art, 1700-1840. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Welter, Barbara 1966 “The Cult of True Womanhood 1820–1860.” American Quarterly 18(2), pt.I:151–174.

http://www.gerrybiron.com/ Here is another group of nineteenth century images of Mohawks who may have been involved in the Wild West shows. The beadwork on their clothing is distinctly different from that on my earlier post on this topic. That first group was likely from Akwesasne. Some of the images in this group are identified as coming from Caughnawaga (Kahnawake) and I suspect the beading style here is particular to the Mohawks from that Reserve. All the images below are late nineteenth century cabinet cards. An old, hand-written note on the back of this image identifies the subjects as Caughnawaga Mohawks. Identified as Running Antelope, a Caughnawaga Indian sharpshooter. These are the same individuals that are portrayed in the previous image. Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. A beautiful late nineteenth century image - the group is identified on the back as Mohawks. The young girl in the foreground in holding what was likely a favorite doll. One of the recurring features on their outfits is a prominent bird motif. Several of these images were taken by the same photographer; J. C. Patrick of Coalport, Pennsylvania. Interesting how this woman has both a rifle and a handgun. She may have been a sharpshooter like Annie Oakley. Identified on the back as Caughnawaga Mohawks, this group travelled as far as Detroit when they were photographed for this image. Wearing beautifully beaded collars and cuffs, this Mohawk group was photographed in Kansas. This is one of the better identified Mohawk images in this group. Her name was Mrs. Marquis and her daughter Kwanentawi. They were from the Kahnawake Reserve near Montreal. Circa 1890. Another image of Mrs. Marquis and her daughter. The individuals in this last image were photographed in Palmyra, New Jersey. Take notice of the dancing figures on the man's jacket (detail below). They are remarkable similar to two figures on a beaded Mohawk bag from the same period (see below). Below is a beaded bag in the collection of the Oneida Indian Nation from central New York. http://www.oneidaindiannation.com/ The figures on the bag are quite similar to those on the man's jacket above.

Please read the ADDENDUM at the end of the posting. Over the past few years, an intriguing group of images from the Sanitary Commission Fair in Albany, New York have surfaced that depict a group of non-Natives who are dressed in outfits incorporating Iroquois designs along with examples of their beadwork. One dress in particular, worn by a Mrs. Clinton Ten Eyck (figure 1a), appears to be the identical dress worn by Caroline Parker, a Seneca beadworker, in a famous daguerreotype of her (figure 2). Figure 1 – Large, albumen photograph of a group of enactors at the Sanitary Commission Fair, Albany, New York – February, 1864. No photographer indicated. Figure 2 – Daguerreotype of Caroline Parker, circa 1850. I reversed the image so that it can be viewed laterally correct. Daguerreotypes images are normally a reversed image, depicting the subject as if it were in a mirror. The only way the photographer could get a correct orientation was to copy the image with a second daguerreotype, or to make the original daguerreotype using a reversing prism or mirror system. Besides the complexity, another problem with a reversing mirror was if the image was taken outdoors it could be subject to movement by a breeze which would cause a blurred image. So typically people just lived with a flipped or inverted image. By reversing the orientation of this image Caroline is seen as she would have appeared to us in person and it’s easier to see how the design on her dress is identical to those on the dress in figure 1a. Wikipedia reports that the United States Sanitary Commission was created during the Civil War to improve conditions for Union soldiers. It was a private relief agency, created by federal legislation, to support sick and wounded soldiers. It operated across the North, enlisted thousands of volunteers, and raised its own funds. Union ladies did fund-raising fairs in cities across the north, where paintings, photographs, and a host of other donated items were auctioned or sold to support the war effort. Besides raising money and collecting donations, volunteers worked as nurses, ran kitchens in army camps, administered hospital ships, soldiers' homes, lodges, established places of rest for traveling or disabled soldiers, made uniforms, and organized Sanitary Fairs to support the Federal army with funds and supplies. It was hard work; many women had to travel great distances and at times found themselves in unpleasant situations. Some of the more prominent women involved in these fairs included Louisa May Alcott, Almira Fales, Eliza Emily Chappell Porter, Katherine Prescott Wormeley and others. The first Sanitary Fair occurred in Chicago, in the fall of 1863, and it included a six-mile-long parade of militiamen, bands, political leaders, delegations from various local organizations, and a contingent of farmers who donated carts full of their crops. The fairs generally involved large scale exhibitions, including displays of art, mechanical technology, and period rooms. Many of these displays were based on the history that local communities held in common. Different localities often competed with one another over their contribution to the national cause which brought a sense of pride to the community. Except for figure 2, the photographs in this posting originated from a Sanitary Fair that was held in Albany, New York in 1864. It was reported, in the Evening Journal of February 29, 1864, that over the duration of the Fair, the individual concession booths had raised an estimated $50,000 for the cause. There were thirty plus booths at the Albany event including the Yankee Booth, Shaker Booth, Oriental Booth, Spanish Booth, Russian Booth, Gipsy Booth, Saratoga Springs Booth, the Ice Cream Booth, and of particular interest to us, the Indian Wigwam. The image in figure 1 is of a group of enactors who were overseeing that booth. The Fulton County (NY) newspaper cited above had the following entry about it: THE INDIAN WIGWAM. The Wigwam is one of the chief lions of the Bazaar. It has, probably, attracted larger crowds than any other "Shop" in the building. Its budget of curious things is peculiarly rich. A mere enumeration of the articles makes one's head swim. Moccasins, of rich texture and exquisite workmanship; Bows and Arrows; Pipes; Stuffed Birds and Animals; belts of Wampum; Scarves and head ornaments; Baskets, Reticules, Purses, Portmonnies, stacks of other curious wares too numerous to mention. In a reference to the outfits that the enactors were wearing and the individual personalities they were representing, it went on to state: The personations are admirable. Costumes, ornaments, paint, war-whoop, are wonderfully Indianiah. So perfect is the ambulation and so life-like the acting, that one fancies, for the moment that a band of Aboriginals have actually encamped in the Bazaar. The characters of the chieftainnees, “Nokomas,” “Minnehaha,” “Wawatasa,” “Opechee,” “Pocahontas,” and “Metamora” are strikingly “done.” The names of the dramatis persona are as follows:—Mrs. J. L Johnson, Manneoka; Mrs. Clinton Ten Eyck, Miss Mount Pleasant [Caroline Parker took the surname Mountpleasant after her marriage to Tuscarora chief John Mountpleasant]; Mrs. Karalake, Hiawatha; Mr. C Thomas, Metamora; Miss Groot, Pocahontas; Miss Little, Wawatasa; Miss Swan, Owassa; Miss Netterville, Minnehaha; Miss Redfield, Winona; Miss Wilson, Opechee; Miss Steele, Nokoma; Miss Taylor, Tawashagunshee. The importance of the Fair in Albany was demonstrated by a publication called TheCanteen that was published specifically to advertise the Fair and cover events that transpired there. It contained a diagram of the floor plan of the building along with lists of advertisers, items donated, food menus available to patrons, a description of each of the booths, anecdotes from soldiers who were fighting in the war, etc. Regarding the Indian Wigwam, it had this to say: THE WIGWAM Is one of the best regulated and most attractive places in the Bazaar. It is a life picture of Indian life. The ladies who preside there have made a decided hit. The hut itself is a curiosity as a work of art; the decorations are such as become a forest home. The managers evince a keen appreciation of the character, habits of life, sources of amusement, listless inactivity, pride and fondness for dress and display of the tribes they personate. They present the Indian character to the life. The hut is hung with trophies of war and of the chase. The canoe is drawn up waiting the opening of the streams; the snow-shoes are near the door and ready for any emergency. Bows and arrows, baskets, bead work, in all the varied forms, are here and well displayed. The wanderers from the St. Regis tribe who visit us and encamp on the island over the river annually [Starbuck Island?], never display a greater variety of their handiwork than do the fair denizens of the Wigwam, who have made their home with us for a few days. We give below the names of those who occupy the Wigwam, together with their Indian names: Mrs. J. I. Johnson, Manneoka; Mrs. Clinton Ten Eyck, Miss Mount Pleasant: Mr. S. Karslake, Hiawatha; Mr. C. Thomas, Metamora; Miss Groot, Pocahontas j Miss Little, Wawatasa; Miss Swan, Owassa; Miss Netterville, Minnehaha ; Miss Redfield, Winona; Miss Wilson, Opechee ; Miss Steele, Nokoma; Miss Taylor, Tawashagunshee. Figure 3 – An illustration of a very similar dress that was made by Caroline Parker’s and illustrated in one of Lewis Henry Morgan’s regent’s reports to the state of New York in the mid-19th century. It’s interesting to note that the text above was reporting that Akwesasne [St. Regis] Mohawk were selling in Albany, around this time, and possibly on Starbuck Island. Upon examination, the dress that Ten Eyck is wearing in figure 1a appears to be the same one that Caroline Parker is wearing in figure 2. Around 1850, Lewis Henry Morgan acquired a substantial number of beaded pieces from Caroline for the New York State Cabinet of Natural History (predecessor to the New York State Museum in Albany). So it’s possible they lent the dress to Ten Eyck for the fund raiser (figure 3). Figure 4 – Carte-de-visite (CDV) of a group of enactors at the Sanitary Commission Fair, Albany, New York, February, 1864. Photographer: J.H. Abbott, Albany, New York. Another photograph of this same group of enactors (figure 4) was likely taken at the same time figure 1 was taken as the images are nearly identical. A detail view of one of the bags in these images is illustrated in figure 5. Two similarly styled Iroquois bags are illustrated in figure 6. These bags, as well as the one in the image, are earlier than the date of the photograph (1864). Stylistically, the bags date to the 1830s. So the enactors are wearing a variety of items from different time periods such as bags from the 1830s, Caroline Parker’s dress from around 1850, and the hat of the subject in figure 1d from the 1860s. Figure 5 – Detail view of the beaded bag in figure 1b. This same bag can also be seen in figure 4. Figure 6 – Two beaded bags in the same style as the one in figure 5. Both of these bags date to the 1830s. In another image from the same year, and taken by the same photographer, J. H. Abbott, of Albany, New York, has a different group of enactors from this same Fair. Two of the women (fig. 7a & 7c) have beaded bags. The young boy (fig. 7b) is wearing a multi-panel hat that has floral decorations in the Niagara style. Figure 8 is a detail view of the bag in figure 7a. A similarly styled bag is illustrated in figure 9. This style of bag is contemporary to the image. The bag in figure 7c is in the Niagara floral style. Figure 7 – CDV of a different group of enactors at the Sanitary Commission Fair, Albany, New York, February, 1864. Photographer: J.H. Abbott, Albany, New York. Figure 8 – Detail of the beaded bag in figure 7a. Figure 9 – A similar beaded bag to the one in figure 8. This bag is totally embellished in crystal beads and two strings of white beads and the one in figure 8 may have been as well. Bags in this style that were decorated with crystal beads and occasionally in a combination of both crystal band white beads were popular from the 1850s through the 1880s. Another interesting image from this group is figure 10. These same three individuals are also part of the group in figure 7. This image affords us a better view of the boy’s Niagara style hat and beaded bag. Some of the elements in the woman’s outfit, such as the large flower on her headband and the one on her dress, above her bust line, appear to be beaded and this may be a Mohawk diagnostic (See: A Cherished Curiosity for more info on this).Yet the designs on her dress, although unusual, look Seneca. High magnification reveals that most of the decorations on her outfit are done in fabric appliqué and are not beaded. The wide band on her dress, with the diamond motifs, is bordered with a twisted cord. Even the large diamond with double-curves and semi-floral motif to the right of it appears to be made up from some kind of braided band. This could have been done for efficiency as her outfit may have been made specifically for the Sanitary Fair. Figure 10 – A cabinet card of what might be a mother and her children. The same boy is depicted in both figures 11 and 12 although he is wearing a different bag in those images. This same group is also depicted in figure 7. No photographer or location indicated but likely taken in February, 1864 at the time of the Sanitary Commission Fair in Albany, New York. Figure 11 is of the same young boy in figure 10; figure 12 depicts the same man pictured on the far left in figure 7. In figure 12, we have a much better view of his bandolier bag. Figure 11 – CDV of the young boy depicted in figures 7, 10 and 12. He has a late Niagara floral style beaded bag attached to his belt and a multi-panel Iroquois beaded hat, also in the Niagara floral style. Photographer: S. J. Thompson, Albany, New York. Figure 12 – CDV of the same young boy depicted in figure 11 and what is presumably his father. The father is wearing a large bandolier bag at his side (a better view of his bag can be seen in figure 7). Both the father and son are wearing Haudenosaunee moccasins decorated in the Niagara floral style. It’s especially of interest that Caroline Parker, the Seneca beadworker, was included in the list of historical characters that these enactors were representing. The year of the Fair is the same year that she was married to Tuscarora chief John Mountpleasant. During this period, her celebrated brother, General Eli Parker, was an officer on then General Grant’s Civil War staff. Deborah Holler writes that …historians and scholars of the Iroquois have speculated on her role in the political upheavals surrounding the Seneca land battles of the 19th century and wondered about her friendship with the renowned ethnographer Lewis Henry Morgan. In addition, a recent revival of interest in Iroquois beadwork by connoisseurs and art historians has shed new light on Caroline Parker’s artistry in clothing and textiles, widely acknowledged to be pivotal in the 19th century cultural exchange between the Native aesthetic and European influences. This developing aesthetic in clothing and textiles became an inspiration for generation of Iroquois artists, as well as the prototype for Seneca women’s “traditional” clothing styles. Thus Carrie Parker, it can be argued, became an arbiter of change who walked in two worlds; that of her traditional Tonawanda Seneca and Tuscarora communities, and that of the highest social and political realms of white society (Holler 2011:9). She was certainly a well know and a recognized figure in Albany society, not a small undertaking for an Indian woman in that day and age. References Cited Biron, Gerry 2012 A Cherished Curiosity: The Souvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art. Published by the author. Holler, Deborah 2011 The Remarkable Caroline G. Parker Mountpleasant, Seneca Wolf Clan in Western New York Heritage magazine. Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 2011. Addendum In looking over the photographs, after posting them online of course, I noticed a small detail that I overlooked and as small as it is, it changes everything. The floral motif on Ten Eyck’s dress (figure 4), (she is the lady standing in profile on the far right), should have five round flowers but it has only four and one stem can be seen ending abruptly, with the flower missing. That same floral arrangement on the dress in figures 1 through 3 has five flowers. So the dress that Ten Eyck is wearing might be a reproduction. The question is: was the beadwork on the dress under construction at the time the photo was taken, (likely using the original dress as their model) or, was she wearing the actual dress but by the time this image was taken, it had become damaged and somehow the flower fell off or was removed. Any thoughts?

The Iroquois (c. 1142- ), who call themselves the Haudenosaunee (“People of the Longhouse”), were American Indians who lived in upstate New York. They lived beyond the mountains north-w…

Students from the University of Montreal will be spending the month of August in St-Anicet, Que., digging for artifacts left behind by an Iroquois tribe back in the 1400s.

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

Iroquois Confederacy PART I. Because of the length of study on this topic, we have devoted two pages on our site to this topic. This page is about the Iroquois Confederacy. Click here for PART

Iroquois / Haudenosaunee / Native American This packet contains 15 pages of information on the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) culture including history, shelter, food, roles, sports, and more. I've used this text (along with the short-response questions and SMARTboard lesson referenced below) with 4th a...

On September 30, 2013 I did a major revision to both the text and images in this blog posting to correspond with an article I wrote for Whispering Wind Magazine on the same topic (volume 42, #1, 2013). This posting also has additional images that space constraints would not allow in the published article. Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Participation in 19th Century Medicine Shows On the back of a recently discovered image, the subjects are identified as “Running Antelope and family, Warm Spring Indians, from Galion, Ohio” (figure 1) (the Warm Spring Indian Reservation is located in Oregon). In at least one other image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 2), they are identified as Mohawks from Caughnawaga, (today called Kahnawake) near Montreal. Their clothing, which is idendical in both images, and the motifs depicted in their beadwork would also suggest that they are Mohawks. The inked note on the back of figure 1 is faded and it appears to be from the period; so why was this Iroquois family identified as Warm Spring Indians? The answer to this intriguing question is veiled in the history of patent medicines. Figure 1 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Identified on the front as Running Antelobe (sp) and Family. Period note on the back reads: “The Warm Spring Indians, Galion, Ohio. Running Antelope and family.” Both sides shown. Private collection. Figure 2 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back, in a period note, as Running Antelope, Caughnawaga [Kahnawake] Indian Sharpshooter. Photographer: E.J. Potten, Mansfield, Ohio. Both sides shown. Private collection. The story of patent medicines begins in seventeenth century England with the Crowns’ issue of a patent for Anderson’s Scots Pills. The inventor, a Scottish doctor named Patrick Anderson, claimed he got the recipe in Vienna. He subsequently relinquished the formula to his daughter who later conveyed it to a Dr. Thomas Weir, in 1686, who produced and sold the tonic as a laxative (Dary 2008:244). English patent medicines found their way to the New World with the first colonists, but these early settlers soon discovered it was cheaper to make them here, rather than import them from Europe, so a home-spun, American patent medicine industry was born. This was facilitated by the fact that few Americans trusted doctors, many of whom still used implausible treatment methods such as purging and bloodletting. In a new country, with few trained doctors, self-medication for practically every illness known to man was a way of life that few questioned. In 1715, a patent for distilling corn was issued to Thomas and Sybilla Masters. In addition to purifying the corn, their petition indicated that “…the said Corn so refined is also an Excellent Medicine in Consumptions & other Distempers” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:159). They received a license for the first “patent” or over-the-counter medicine in America and it had the distinction of being called Tuscarora Rice. By the mid-nineteenth century most drug stores, many of which were owned and operated by doctors with questionable credentials, had generous supplies of elixirs on hand that claimed to cure ailments such as dysentery, malaria, small pox, yellow fever and consumption (tuberculosis of the lungs). This was the heyday for patent medicines in America and the countryside was replete with peddlers hawking remedies that claimed to cure virtually every ailment known to man. Between 1865 and 1900, hundreds of traveling salesmen were touring the country selling patent medicines. In an effort to attract crowds and spur interest in the sale of their products, they began providing entertainment with their offerings and the “medicine show” was born (figure 3 and 3a). They were a garish fusion of carnival-like entertainment and sales pitch. The pitchman was often surrounded by performers drawn from the circus, traveling theater troupes and minstrel shows. Before radio, movies and television, these medicine shows were a leading form of entertainment in both urban areas and remote towns across America. Alarmingly, they were also the foremost providers of health care. Figure 3 – Oversized cabinet card of an Indian Medicine Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5 inches high by 8 inches wide. Late nineteenth century. The stage was for the firm’s pitchman, who extolled the virtues of their products. The second man from the left is holding a small, rectangular box, as is the young boy seated in the foreground. This was likely the Indian remedy or tonic they were hawking. The dress style of the lady on the far right helps us to date this image. The skirt is draped in pleats, asymmetrically to one side, in a style that was popular for a short time between 1887 and 1888. Photographer: C.M. Fowler & Co., Albany, New York. Private collection. Figure 3a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Displayed is the main tent of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. No location indicated. Private collection. Through most of their history, patent medicines enjoyed a free-flowing existence. No government agency required that medicine makers prove their tonics were effective or even safe. No law stopped them from listing on the labels or in advertisements whatever “cures” happened to be in fashion at the time, or required a list of ingredients or warnings on the labels (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:160). These shows were fueled by advertisements that contained unproven claims and the use of scare-tactics was common. One particular ad for Ka-ton-ka, a blood, kidney, liver and stomach medicine, included a long checklist of symptoms for kidney disease such as: “an unusual desire to urinate at night; appetite alternately ravenous and meager; acid, bitter taste, with furred tongue in the morning; intense pain, upon sudden excitement, in the small of the back; indescribable crawling feeling up and down the back with extreme nervous irritability; annoying and perplexing loss of memory, even of common things,” were among the twenty-two manifestations included in the advertisement. It went on to state that “any number of the above symptoms, which too long neglected, will certainly terminate in Bright’s disease… (described by modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis). Delay, therefore, in removing the above symptoms is exceedingly dangerous. They are the commonest order, and their very commonness encourages fatal neglect” (Edwards 1884:32). Figure 4 – Trade Card for Kickapoo Indian Remedies, 2.75 inches wide by 4 inches long. Both sides shown. 1880s-1890s. Many of the Indian trade cards from the late nineteenth century depicted scenes of Indian life, battles, etc. suggesting their products came from a healthful and vigorous people. Private collection. Every print medium was used to promote the company’s products such as trade cards (figure 4), handbills, posters, newspapers, magazines, etc. A late nineteenth century handbill for Dr. S. P. Townshend’s extract of Sarsaparilla reinforced the notion that no embellishment or distortion of the facts was too farfetched; no statements about benefits or cures too outrageous. It claimed that his tonic was “The wonder blessing of the age and the most extraordinary medicine in the world!” It unabashedly went on to describe how The great beauty of the superiority of this Sarsaparilla over all other medicines is, that while it eradicates the disease, it invigorates the body… It not only purifies the whole system and strengthens the person, but creates new, pure and rich blood; a power possessed by no other medicine, it has performed within the last three years, more than 150,000 cures of severe cases of disease; at least 20,000 were considered incurable (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:166). Americans wholeheartedly believed that Indians had a deep knowledge of natural medicine and were skilled in its use. One facet of the infatuation with the Romantic West reflected that Indian life illustrated by Longfellow in “Hiawatha.” As a Child of Nature, the American Indian was Learned in Nature’s Secrets, fathoming mysterious herbs and roots, capable, through Nature’s Direction, of controlling disease and thereby leading a ridiculously healthy existence (Clark and Clark 1971:vii). Populations in the East in particular, believed in the efficacy of Indian medicines and unscrupulous promoters capitalized on this. Firms that incorporated an Indian theme in their medicine shows had the most success. Company representatives had to present at least the perception of authenticity in merchandising their products, especially if they were hawking purported “Indian Medicines.” Non-Indian enactors who performed in these events had to look and dress like Indians as many popular products had indigenous or Native American sounding names. Products such as Allen’s Indian Blood Corrector, Dr. Seneca’s Gall Remedy, Dr. Roger’s Indian Fever Cure, Aztec Pile Cure and Dr. Kilmer’s Indian Cough Cure Consumption Oil claimed to ameliorate cancer, syphilis, kidney disease and a host of other ailments. These were just a few of the thousands of remedies that were offered for sale with names that implied they were an indigenous cure for practically any illness known to man. The medicine shows were the forerunners of the Wild West shows and The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company were two of the largest. They chose a different approach to selling and took the medicine shows to another level by including actual Native performers who were paid, on average, $30 a month for their services (figure 5). Native people were employed by these outfits to demonstrate Indian life which gave the company’s patent medicines an air of authenticity. Many product advertisements claimed that their “medicines” were “MADE BY INDIANS; USED BY INDIANS, AND SOLD BY INDIANS.” Figure 5 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. A group of Iroquois medicine show entertainers. Period inscription on the back of the card reads: Caughnawaga [Mohawk] Indians with the Kickapoo Medicine Company. Season 1891. R.W. Telford, Manager. Private collection. One of the founders of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Texas Jack Bigelow, claimed to have been nursed back to health, from a deadly prairie fever, by a medicine prepared by the Native family that found him. He alleged that they shared the formula with him for a remedy that was made from rare ingredients that were difficult to acquire and hard to prepare. In reality, Bigelow’s Segwa tonic was simply a mixture of mundane herbs, roots, aloe, baking soda, sugar and of course alcohol (a primary ingredient in many patent medicines), all purchased from a pharmaceutical firm. It wasn’t the ingredients that made this tonic famous; it was the promotion and the patent medicine companies were very good at this. Figure 6 – Small pamphlet advertising the products of the Kickapoo Medicine company. An illustration of the fictional “Bright Eyes” appears on the cover. Private collection. The Kickapoo’s founders even created a brand for themselves in the form of an Indian princess by the name of Bright Eyes (figure 6). Healy and Bigelow were masters of image and promotion. As devotees of the great Barnum, they followed many of his practices, such as decorating every inch of the building and adopting a mascot. Unlike Jumbo [Barnum’s elephant], the Kickapoo mascot required no upkeep – she was fictional. Her name was Little Bright Eyes, an Indian princess who appeared in the company’s literature. Healy and Bigelow played the exotica card for all it was worth, publishing countless ads, pamphlets, and magazines built around the romantic Indian who was in perfect harmony with the environment, never got an illness he couldn’t cure, and was the physical and spiritual superior of the white man (Anderson 2000:63). The fictional Bright Eyes no doubt spurred real life counterparts (figure 7). In this image of a group of Mohawks, both women have the name Bright Eyes beaded along the bottom of their dresses. In a circa 1894 image from the Library of Congress collection and illustrated in Trading Identities, by art historian Ruth Phillips, a similarly dressed woman is posing with a troupe of Mohawk entertainers from the St. Regis [Mohawk] Indian Show Company. Phillips writes that the photograph documents the semiotic complexity characteristic of clothing worn in touristic performances. While the crown-like headdress worn by the woman refers to the standard Indian princess image, the prominent tree of life on the skirt pictures and preserves a key symbol of Iroquois cosmology and oral traditions (Phillips 1998:15). In both photographs, the women are wearing comparable dresses that have a variation of the “tree of life” motif, and in at least one other photograph of the Bright Eyes troupe, they are identified as Mohawks. Figure 7 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Possibly a group of Akwesasne Mohawk entertainers from the Saint Regis Indian Show Company. Both women have “Bright Eyes” beaded along the bottom of their dresses. Private collection. Healy and Bigelow were accomplished promoters and they got the greatest showman of their day, Buffalo Bill, to endorse their most famous product. He was quoted in advertisements claiming “Kickapoo Indian Sagwa... is the only remedy the Indians ever use, and has been known to them for ages. An Indian would as soon be without his horse, his gun or blanket as without Sagwa,” The Bigelow Society indicates that the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company claimed over eight hundred employees by the late 1880's. Alas, the actual Indians were never Kickapoos but primarily Eastern tribes like the Iroquois and tribes from the West like the Sioux, Blackfoot, and Cherokee. A few were hired from reservations, as was done by Cody, and some were enticed away from Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Company representatives traveled ahead of the show to a target city, with advance publicity, to stir up interest in an upcoming event. Rallies were held in front of drug stores to promote the company’s products and special displays were set up in store windows with posters and a sampling of the company’s remedies. There were usually Indians on hand at these events to ensure the authenticity of the company’s products (figure 8). In this image, a young Indian family is standing before Hurds Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. Behind them is a display of Indian beadwork, suspended across the storefront window, perhaps offered for sale as a way for them to earn extra income? There is also a poster for the Kickapoo tonic, Segwa in the lower right hand corner of the window. Figure 8 – Real Photo Post Card, 3.5 x 5.5 inches. Circa 1910. A young Indian family standing in front of Hurd’s Pharmacy in Fairfield, Maine. On another postcard of this same family group and in front of this same store, they are identified as Chief Big Thunder and Princess Talikeno and daughter, Lightning Talikeno. Talikeno was possibly Iroquois. Text on the back of the card indicates that they “had entertainments and advertised Kickapoo remedies.” A poster for Kickapoos’ Indian Segwa, a blood, liver, stomach and kidney renovator, is seen in the lower right hand corner of the store window. Private collection. Once a show came to town, a typical performance ran for about two hours and it didn’t follow any particular format (figure 9). On the bill could be displays of marksmanship, broad ethnic comedy steeped in rough stereotypes, magic, stunts and acrobatics, dancing, or perhaps a strongman. Entertainments would make up about two thirds of the show. The performers worked on a stage with a runway into the crowd and a canvas backdrop with painted scenes of nature and life among the Native Americans. On the lip of the stage might be glass jars with repulsive-looking tapeworms suspended in clear liquid. The huge worms, said to be removed from prominent local citizens, were actually purchased from stockyards. Tapeworm expellers–need it be said?–were big sellers (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:177). In another cabinet card that depicts Iroquois performers in these medicine shows, the seated child on the right is holding a box containing a bottle of Kickapoo Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine (figure 9a). It’s hard to see in the image but the box has the word SEGWA across the top. I’ve often wondered if these old photos were done as advertisement for the Wild West and Medicine show promoters because images like these gave them at least an air of authenticity since they had real Indians working for them. This also suggested to their patrons that their patent medicines were authentic as well and made by the Indians, a totally fabricated notion of course. Figure 9 - Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group standing before a stage display for the Kickapoo Indian Medicine company. Based on the clothing and beadwork style, the three individuals on the far left may be Iroquois. No photographer or location indicated. Private collection. Figure 9a – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. A group of Iroquois performers, possibly Akwesasne Mohawks, working for the Kickapoo Medicine Company. The child seated at the right is holding a package containing a bottle of Segwa, the company’s most popular patent medicine. Photographer: Dorge, Minneapolis, MN. There were star performers on the Medicine Show circuit. One such individual was Nevada Ned Oliver. As the manager and head scout of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company he was usually seen wearing buckskins, a fancy, wide-brimmed hat and long hair. During a typical performance he would introduce the company’s troupe of Indians to the crowd, and it was reported that they would acknowledge him with nothing more than a grunt. When the final Indian appeared on stage, he delivered an oration, in his Native language, which Nevada Ned interpreted. Typically, Ned’s translation described how the Indian medicine they were offering to the crowd had saved the lives of untold numbers of Native people. After the sales pitch was delivered, the Indians would move about the crowd to sell the company’s remedy. Nevada Ned Oliver once admitted that he had never been within 2000 miles of Nevada. In addition to his job as show manager, he was also a trick shot and in his spare time he wrote crime novels. Oliver was also honest enough to laugh at himself. As the manager (Indian agent) of the Kickapoo show, Oliver was supposed to translate the speeches, given in various Native American languages… But, as he later wrote, “what the brave actually said, I never knew, but I had reason to fear that it was not the noble discourse of my translation…” (Armstrong and Armstrong 1991:180). Quite a few nineteenth century photographs have survived that depict Native people who were involved in these medicine shows and in many of them the subjects are Iroquois (figures 10 and 11). Figure 10 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Mohawks. Photographer: A. B. Comstock, Waverly, New York. Private collection. Figure 11 – Cabinet card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The subjects are identified on the back as Seneca. Photographer: Chas. Latham, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford was located just a few miles from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. Private collection. The 1892 New York State census indicated that the use of traditional medicine practices among the Iroquois had almost disappeared by this date and that many were now involved in the medicine shows. The days of the old “medicine man” have passed away. Young men from each of the reservations including Chief Philip T. Johnson, of Tuscarora, are “travelling men” for so-called Indian medicines, and make themselves welcomed and successful through the prestige of their Indian character and good address (Donaldson 1892:50). This same statistical study also listed 20 Mohawks from Akwesasne as traveling show men and no doubt there were many more from Kahnawake, in Canada, who were not included in the New York census. Not only were the Iroquois performing in the medicine shows, but some of them were involved in the direct sales of these medicines. The Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, Canada, reported that the Mohawk from Kahnawake were “engaged in the extensive manufacture of beadwork … [and] in 1903 several residents of Caughnawaga were making good profit by selling patent medicines in Canada and the United States” (Department of Indian Affairs 1967:19). Figure 12 – Circa 1890 advertising photograph for the patent medicine Ka-Ton-ka. 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Portrait of Chi-la-kaw, Wounded Wolf, an Iroquois working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Both sides shown. Private collection. Another interesting image from the same period (figure 12) holds the key to the significance of many of these old images. The subject, identified as Chi-la-Kaw, is wearing an Iroquois style yoke or collar and his headpiece has Mohawk elements to it yet he is posing for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company which was located just a short distance from Seneca Reservation in Salamanca, New York. The Oregon Indian Medicine Company was founded by Colonel Thomas Augustus Edwards who was born in 1832 in Saugerties, New York. By his twenty-third birthday, he was already on a career in the entertainment business when he became the manager for the Spaulding and Roger's Circus. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was hired by the government to track down blockade runners. He was captured and held prisoner for a time and carried out a daring escape. Towards the end of the war, he became a government scout and in 1866, during the Snake War, he travelled to Oregon. It was on this campaign that he met the Cayuse scout, Donald McKay (figure 13). It was in Oregon that Edwards learned about Indian medicine through Dr. William C. McKay, one of four sons of Alexander McKay… McKay was a physician to the Indians. His brother, Donald McKay was a prominent scout and Indian fighter. Both men had Indian wives. Both McKays returned east with Colonel Edwards about 1874, taking with them a party of Warm Spring Indians. Edwards and the Indians toured Europe and then New England demonstrating Indian skills and customs. In 1876 he took the Indian show to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was there that he began selling Indian medicines (Dary 2008:259). In a circa 1888 advertising booklet for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company (OIMC) titled Luk-Cay-Oti – Spotted Wolf, one page is devoted to their celebrated manager, along with a general description of the origins of his company and the preparation of its products. Figure 13 - Stereoview (circa 1873) of Donald McKay, captain of the Warm Spring Indian scouts during the Modoc War (1872-1873). Photographer: Louis Heller, Yreka, California. Private collection. Warm Spring Indian Show Col. Edwards has seen much of frontier life, and is perhaps the best posted man on Indian life, Indian customs and habits in this country. He has been the Manager of the Lava Bed Heroes since 1876; and their great success in selling their Medicines is largely due to his skilful and energetic management…The Warm Spring Indians never employ white performers to give their exhibitions. By this one feature alone the public can know the imitators. The standing figure of Donald McKay is on every bottle of Ka-Ton-Ka, printed in colors on a white wrapper. The ingredients of Ka-Ton-Ka are all gathered by the Warm Spring Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory. They prepare them in their own peculiar manner; and no druggist can duplicate that simple Indian preparation from his extensive stock of drugs, and all his experience and knowledge combined. If the white people could only enjoy the splendid heath of the Indian, what a happy race they would be; what money they could save in doctor’s bills, and what misery they would avoid (Edwards c1888:5). The OIMC was originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their principal cure-all was a tonic called Ka-ton-ka. In 1882, the company moved to Corry, Pennsylvania and was in full operation by 1885. Edwards claimed his business partners in this venture were the McKays from the Warm Spring Reservation, in Oregon. Donald McKay worked for both the US Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the captain of the Warm Spring scouts during the Modoc War (1872-73). His success in this endeavor earned him a good deal of publicity and fame with the public. He eventually left his life as a government scout and embarked on a career in both the Medicine shows and Wild West shows. McKay’s step-mother, Isabelle Montour, was Iroquois and during the 1880s, he and his wife (Susan) and daughter (Minnie) toured the country promoting products for Edwards and the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Edwards took advantage of McKay’s notoriety and used the old Indian scout’s likeness in many of the company’s advertisements. Although their operation was not as extensive as that of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, they did have several shows touring the country at the same time. Around 1888, Edwards published a list of the Indians that toured with him in his medicine shows. Names of the Indians Comprising this Troupe. Donald McKay’s Heroes of the Lava Beds. Indian Warriors, Indian Squaws, Indian Papooses, Indian Braves, Indian Interpreters, Indian Children, Indian Trailers [Trackers], Indian Scouts. Chief American Horse, Tribal Chief. Ae-Le-Ta or Dove Wing and Papoose. Scar-Face Bear, Great War Chief. Spotted Wolf, Pawnee Athlete. Ka-Kos-Ka, Medicine Man. Swift Runner, over 80 years old. Oc-A-La, Good Woman. Kaw-Sha-Gans, Red Wild Cat. Red Leaves, Half Breed Interpreter. Fluttering Willow, the Mother Squaw. Sul-Te-Wan, Bright Sun. Wi-Ne-Mah, Mountain Bird. These Indians have been traveling twelve years, two years of which they spent in Europe. Their Entertainments consists of the Manners, Habits, Customs, and Ceremonies of a Race of People once powerful, now nearly extinct (Edwards c1888:7). Many of the same names appeared in a late-nineteenth century advertisement that was posted in the Altoona Tribune, an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper (figure 14). The ad was taken out by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company to advertise the upcoming appearance of the Warm Spring Indians in Altoona. The announcement indicated that the Indians would perform at the Opera House and their Indian medicine men would be curing patrons, free of charge. The Indian’s were presumably doing this with the company’s patent medicines. A number of the Indians listed in the Altoona advertisements were Iroquois as I will point out below. Figure 14 – Replica of an advertisement that appeared in the Altoona Tribune around 1885-1890. This was an Altoona, Pennsylvania newspaper that was advertising an appearance of the Warm Spring Indians at the Opera House. Original from the collection of John Odell. In 1886, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show played on Staten Island, in New York and the Oglala chief American Horse (figure 15) had replaced Sitting Bull as the Indian star of the show. That winter Buffalo Bill’s troupe also performed at Madison Square Garden (Scarangella McNenly 2012:25). The Altoona Opera House advertisement indicates that American Horse would be appearing in Altoona and the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet mentions that he was a member of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. Did Colonel Edwards somehow entice American Horse to leave Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show to perform in his medicine show? It’s not likely. As the Oregon Indian Medicine Company grew, Edwards hired more Native entertainers and his company’s proximity to the Seneca Reservation, in Salamanca, New York may have provided a ready resource of Iroquois representatives or a gateway to other Iroquois reservations. Figure 15 – Studio portrait, 7 x 9 inches. 1898. This is the American Horse who toured with Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show. Photographed at the U.S. Indian Congress of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, 1898. Photographer: Frank A. Rinehart (ca. 1862-1928) or his assistant Adolph F. Muhr (ca. 1858-1913). Private collection. During this period, the entertainment business played an important role in the lives of many Native people as it provided them with another means to earn a living. It was also important for another reason; the Wild West and Medicine shows were a way for Native people to maintain many of their traditions. The Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) together with Indian schools such as Carlisle (as well as the church run residential schools in Canada), discouraged Indian participation in these events because they believed the shows were counterproductive to their assimilation efforts. Show promoters on the other hand encouraged these performances as they were good for business. For the Indians, it was a way to openly engage in their traditional dances and ceremonies, thereby overtly circumventing the work of the churches and the OIA. Kahnawake Mohawks in particular had a good deal of experience in the entertainment business and show recruiters sought them out because “people there were well suited to the industry and participated willingly” (Scarangella McNenly 2012:104-105). Chi-la-Kaw, pictured on the advertising card in figure 12, is listed on the Opera House advertisement. Dove Wing, a sharpshooter from Kahnawake, is also slated to appear. In the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet she is described as …one of the prominent features of this show… Her voice is a marvel. She produces those sweet, plaintive, melodious cadences, so peculiar to her race. When the troupe are singing their – wild and weird songs – the voice of Dove Wing can be heard like the rippling of water, soothing and modifying the wild tones into musical harmony (Edwards c1888:13). Dove Wing is pictured in several nineteenth century cabinet cards and in at least two of them she is depicted with American Horse and Scar Face Bear (figure 16 and 17). Figure 16 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. Depicted from left to right: Scar Face Bear, American Horse and Dove Wing, Mohawks from Kahnawake. Photographer: Smith and Hodson, St. Mary’s, Ohio. Private collection. Figure 17 – Cabinet Card, 4.5 x 6.5 inches. Circa 1890. The individuals depicted are Angus Montour (1851-1928), aka American Horse and his wife Dove Wing. Although American Horse was christened Angus, his Mohawk name was Twanietanekan, meaning the Two Snow Hills. He was a notable Mohawk chief who took part in several European tours with a Wild West Show. Several years after the death of Dove Wing he was at The Hague, in the Netherlands, with a troupe of Indian entertainers, where he met Johanna Elisabeth van Dommelen. They fell in love and before long they were married. Afterwards he moved back to Kahnawake with his new bride (Altena 2009). Seated beside him in this image is his first wife, Charlotte “Sara” Beauvias, aka Dove Wing. She died in 1902. Photographer: Keethler, from Cynthiana, Kentucky. Private collection. She was American Horse’s wife (Edwards c1888:1) and in both images she is wearing the same under dress with the identical border design along the bottom and her facial features are identical. The American Horse she is depicted with clearly not the same chief who participated in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (figure 15). The American Horse that Dove Wing is depicted with is the Mohawk deer clan chief Angus Montour. Other identified images of him confirm this. Considering his promotional skills, it’s quite possible that Col. Edwards gave Angus Montour the name American Horse so that he could take advantage of the Oglala chief’s notoriety. Scar Face Bear, who is wearing a wide-brimmed hat in figure 16, is also depicted in figure 18 wearing the same hat. The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet describes him as a Warm Spring Indian. Scar Faced Bear, hero of the Lava Beds, [his exploits in the Modoc War are described in the Luk-cay-oti booklet although they are not presently verifiable ] is a Warm Spring Indian. While he is ignorant of the lore learned from books, he has learned much from the great teacher, Nature, and in plain forest and mountain craft he is unexcelled. He is an unerring shot, a splendid trailer [tracker], a good horseman, and possessed of an abundance of that cool courage so essential to an Indian. In the course of his career he has passed through adventures of the most startling and hazardous description, though he rarely speaks about himself, and what we have learned of his history was gleaned by dint of much questioning in conversations around the camp-fire. Physically he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His body is covered with scars received in battle; he is tall, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and as strong as a mountain lion (Edwards c1888:18). Even though he is described as a Warm Spring Indian on the back of figure 18, in reality, Scar Face Bear was also a Mohawk entertainer from Kahnawake and he has descendents that are living there today. Figure 18 – Carte-de-visite, 2.5 x 4 inches of Scar Face Bear (both sides shown). A period note on the back reads: “Scar-Faced-Bear. Accurate rifleman and celebrated war-chief. Ashland, Ky. July 1886. Of the Warm Spring Tribe.” This suggests that he was working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. His name can also be seen beaded onto his yoke. Private collection. Along with American Horse, Chi-la-Kaw and Dove Wing, the Altoona Opera House advertisement also list’s Kaw-shaw-gan, (the Red Wild Cat). The Luk-Cay-Oti booklet has a fanciful and perhaps somewhat apocryphal characterization of him. Kaw-Shaw-Gance or Red Wild Cat. Kaw-Shaw-Gance, or Red Wild Cat, is a full blooded Indian of the Warm Spring tribe of Indians, whose reservation is located in Crook County, Oregon. He was one of the seventy-one who were employed by the Government to conquer the Modocs in 1873. He distinguished himself as a warrior, brave, fearless and persevering. The conquering of Capt. Jack and his hostile band was due to the courage, cunning and subtlety of Warm Spring Indian scouts. Red Wild Cat was foremost in his zeal and ambition to show the soldiers what stuff he was made of, and he received personal recognition from Gen. Davis, to whom he turned over some of the prisoners that he had captured. He has been traveling with the Indians, introducing their Indian Ka-Ton-Ka for several years. He is a valuable exponent of the rights of the Indians, and represents manners, habits and customs of his race. He exhibits in his appearance on the stage the characteristics that distinguished him during the Modoc war – bravery, dash and courage (Edwards c1888:10). The following narrative describes the birth of the character Red Wild Cat and reveals that he was not a Warm Spring Indian as Edwards claimed but rather an Iroquois. In an 1889 account of the exploits of William Glazier, John Owens writes that: At one time he [Glazier] joined another eccentric character named Tom Lolar, an Indian of the Seneca tribe, whose lands in the long ago of Indian history bordered the blue waters of Lake Seneca in central New York. This peculiar pair proceeded to electrify certain rural communities in their immediate neighborhood with huge posters, announcing that on a given night: Kaw-shaw-gan-ce, or The Red Wild Cat, The Great Chief of the Walaitipu Indians, now traveling for the benefit of his tribe, proposes to exhibit to an enlightened public the trophies won by his braves, in their battles with other ferocious tribes beyond the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Chief will likewise give an exhibition of the WAR DANCES OF HIS NATION. Accordingly, upon the night in question, Tom Lolar, as “Kaw-shaw-gan-ce,” and Henry Glazier as ticket agent, reaped such an excellent harvest that the latter concluded to start a “live Indian” upon his own account (Owens 1889:51). Tom Lolar no doubt invented Kaw-Shaw-Gance for the purpose of entertaining audiences and the financial remuneration that ensued. Col. Edwards alleged that he participated in the Modoc War and the capture of Captain Jack but that is presently unverifiable. He was most likely the individual described as the Warm Spring Kaw-Shaw-Gance on the Altoona Opera House advertisement and in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet. Edwards did this no doubt to bolster his case that all of his entertainers were from out west and therefore more exotic than if he claimed they were from a local tribe. In an engraving of Kaw-Shaw-Gance in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet, his attire has many Iroquois elements to it, including a jacket that is quite similar to the one on the man in figure 11, complete with beaded collar and cuffs in the Iroquois style (Edwards c1888:10). Figure 19 – Cabinet card, 4 x 5.8 inches. 1880-1890. Louisa Stump was born on May 5, 1868 of Iroquois parents from Kahnawake. She was an expert shot and traveled with the Kiowa Medicine Company for a time. She also worked with several other shows during that period. She was known to her friends as Rosy Gordon. Buffalo Bill Cody called her "The Prairie Flower" when she worked for him. She also awed the crowds with her trick shooting under the name "Texas Lillie". Her picture appeared in the National Police Gazette on July 26, 1890, where she challenged all "wing shots" in the world (wing shots were experts at shooting birds in flight). Louisa died in the 1940s. Posed in this image with her husband, Louis Belmont Newell. Private collection. Prairie Flower, (figure 19) is not listed in the Luk-Cay-Oti booklet but she is featured in the Altoona Opera House advertisement. Louisa Stump (born in 1868; died in the 1940s), aka Prairie Flower, aka Texas Lillie, was a Mohawk from Kahnawake. She was a sharpshooter who worked with several Wild West and Medicine Shows during her entertainment career, among them Buffalo Bill’s and the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company of Steamburg, New York, which was located just a short distance from the Seneca Reservation in Salamanca. She was married to Louis Belmont Newell, aka Rolling Thunder, that at least one source identifies as Wabanaki. The photographic and written record indicates that entire Indian families worked and travelled together in both the Medicine Shows and Wild West shows. Native performers, photographed in their best regalia, were making statements of their identity, even if these images were taken to promote the company and convey an air of authenticity on the medicine shows and their patent medicines. So this brings us back to the original Mohawk image of Running Antelope and his family (figure 1). Why were they identified as Warm Spring Indians? It’s clear that they, along with many other Iroquois, were working for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company. It’s not likely the general public had a personal interest in the specific tribal origin of the company’s representatives; their interest was in the company’s patent medicines and the entertainment value of their shows. Since the company’s advertisements always claimed their representatives were Warm Spring Indians, the public more than likely regarded all the Indians that worked for them as such, hence the note on the back. In a letter by Donald McKay to his half-brother Dr. William McKay in Oregon, he admits that whenever he encountered people asking about the veracity and efficacy of the company’s Indian medicines that I tel them that you git the old wemen to gather the ruts [roots] and dry it and you send it to me and they all think it so (Clark 1971:xiv). Perhaps the most revealing comment about the efficacy of patent medicines comes from the founder of the Oregon Indian Medicine Company himself. In his later years, Col. Edwards, “with creaking joints, maneuvered himself in a barber chair,” when a local resident of Corry, Pennsylvania asked: “Why not take some of your own medicine?” The old colonel replied: “That ain’t made to take. It’s made to sell” (Clark 1971:xix). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. References Cited: Altena, Marga 2009 “The Lady and the Indian: Representing an Inter-ethnic Marriage in Dutch and Canadian News Media (1906-1928).” Published in the International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue international d’ètudes canadiennes 38. Anderson, Ann 2000 Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones – The American Medicine Show. McFarland & Company, Publishers. Jefferson, NC. Armstrong, David and Armstrong, Elizabeth 1991 The Great American Medicine Show, Being an Illustrated History of Hucksters, Healers, Health Evangelists and Heroes from Plymouth Rock to the Present. Prentice Hall, New York. Clark, Keith and Donna 1971 Daring Donald McKay or The Last War Trail of the Modocs. Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Oregon. Dary, David 2008 Frontier Medicine from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Department of Indian Affairs (DIA) 1967 Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development – Indians of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces (An Historical Review). DIA, Indian Affairs Branch, Ottawa, Canada. Donaldson, Thomas 1892 The Six Nations of New York – Cayugas, Mohawks (Saint Regis), Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras. Eleventh Census of the United States. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent. Extra Census Bulletin. Indians. Washington, D.C. United States Census Printing Office. Edwards, Col. T.A. 1884 Daring Donald McKay, or the Last War-Trail of the Modocs. The romance of the life of Donald McKay, government scout, and chief of the Warm Spring Indians. Third Edition. An advertising booklet published by The Herald Printing and Publishing Company, Ltd. Erie, PA. c1888 Luk-Cay-Oti - Spotted Wolf. An advertising booklet published by the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, Corry, PA. Odell, John 1997 Indian Bottles and Brands. Published by the author. Owens, John Algernon 1889 Sword and Pen; or Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier (the Soldier-Author) in War and Literature: Comprising Incidences and Reminiscences of his Childhood; his Checkered Life as a Student and Teacher; and his Remarkable Career as a Soldier and Author; Embracing also the Story of his Unprecedented Journey from Ocean to Ocean on Horseback; and an Account of his Discovery of the True Source of the Mississippi River, and Canoe Voyage Thence to the Gulf of Mexico. P.W. Ziegler & Company, Publishers. Philadelphia. Phillips, Ruth B. 1998 Trading Identities – The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Scarangella McNelly, Linda 2012 Native Performers in Wild West Shows from Buffalo Bill to Euro Disney. University of Oklahoma Press.

This listing is for THREE Pieces of Ben Sieblel Manufacturer: IROQUOIS Name of Pattern: PYRAMIDS Date of Manufacture: 1957 - 1970 Designer: Ben Siebel This listing includes THREE Pieces there are: 1 Large 15" Platter The platter 15 1/4 inches long. The platter is 10 1/2 inches wide. There are no chips, cracks or crazing, but there are a couple of scratches to the design, pls see the 3rd photo The Gravy Boat and Underplate The underplate is 11 1/2 inches long. The boat is 9 1/2 inches long. There are no chips, cracks or crazing, but there are a couple of scratches to the design on the underplate, pls see the 6th photo At the moment this is all I have in this pattern by Iroquois. Check my shop, which is mostly vintage kitchen kind of things. https://www.etsy.com/shop/AlioopsTreasures?ref=hdr_shop_menu Is this a gift? I can send it directly to the recipient, and include a gift card. If you are in Hawaii or Alaska or Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands or an APO, please send me a message for a shipping price. I do not ship Internationally. I pack everything extremely well. I use recycled packing materials whenever possible. If you would like postal insurance, please ask for that to be included before you purchase, otherwise I typically ship by standard ground transportation via usps. Just a little FYI, I almost always ship within 24 hours of purchase, but I say it might take 3-5 days, that is just in case there is a weekend involved, as I do not go to the post office on weekends. So if you make a purchase on a Friday , yes, it will be Monday before I ship it. Thank you for understanding.

Beautiful vintage Iroquois Intaglio Woodale pattern oval platter by Ben Seibel. This platter is in good vintage condition with no chips or cracks. The platter does have utensil scratches from years of use and one area of wear to the design. This piece measures 15-1/2" long by 11-1/4" wide. Please refer to the photos for more details and email with any questions. Due to differences in screen settings, colors may differ slightly between photos and the physical product.

Revised January 17, 2014 In the collection of the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) in Rochester, New York is a table cover (figures 1a and 1b) that was made by Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in Western New York. Although it is undated, stylistic comparison to other similarly beaded items suggests it is from the mid-nineteenth century (figure 2). The most prominent feature on the piece in figure 1 is the large, central floral motif that distinguishes it stylistically from other floral work that was done during the mid-nineteenth century. I believe this motif, and its variations are diagnostic of a style of floral beadwork that was done on the Tonawanda Reservation in western New York primarily by beadworkers in the Parker family; notably Caroline Parker, her mother Elizabeth, and Mariah, the wife of Caroline’s brother Levi. There may also have been others in their immediate circle of beadworkers involved in the production of this style. Figure 1a – The center section of a table cover in the Rochester Museum and Science Center collected by Lewis Henry Morgan and created by Caroline Parker. The cover measures 4 feet by 5.5 feet. Photo by Deborah Holler. Figure 1b – Detail of the flower in figure 1. Photo by Deborah Holler. Deborah Holler has written that a recent revival of interest in Iroquois beadwork by connoisseurs and art historians has shed new light on Caroline Parker’s artistry in clothing and textiles, widely acknowledged to be pivotal in the 19th century cultural exchange between the Native aesthetic and European influences. This developing aesthetic in clothing and textiles became an inspiration for generations of Iroquois artists, as well as the prototype for Seneca women’s “traditional” clothing styles. Thus Carrie Parker, it can be argued, became an arbiter of change who walked in two worlds; that of her traditional Tonawanda Seneca and Tuscarora communities, and that of the highest social and political realms of white society (Holler 2011:9). [You can read two excellent articles about Caroline Parker by Deborah Holler in Western New York Heritage Magazine, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring, 2011 and in American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 37, Number 4, Autumn, 2012.] Figure 2 – Tonawanda Seneca. A beaded bag with a diagnostic flower on the back. An old newspaper used as a stiffener during the construction of the flap is dated February, 1848. During the classic period of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) souvenir beadwork (1800–1840s) bags, hats, moccasins and other fanciful items featured curvilinear and geometric designs and organic motifs. During the dawn of the Victorian era however, (the Victorian era began in June of 1837 with the reign of Queen Victoria and ended with her death in January, 1901) a major design transformation – the rise of the Niagara floral style – took place in Haudenosaunee beadwork (figure 3). The origin of this floral style has long been a topic of discussion among scholars and researchers and evidence suggests it emerged during the late 1830s, in the waning years of the classic period of Haudenosaunee beadwork. (See Chapter 4 in A Cherished Curiosity: The Souvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee(Iroquois) Art for more on this transition.) Figure 3 – An assortment of mid-19th century beaded bags in the Niagara Floral style. These were made in most Iroquois beading communities and often sold at Niagara Falls. Scholars such as Ruth Phillips have indicated that the rapid shift from curvilinear and geometric designs to floral motifs in mid-nineteenth century Iroquois work has been linked to Victorian fashion trends and women’s domestic sphere (Phillips 1998). During this period, floral beadwork became the predominate style that would be made and sold by the Haudenosaunee. The overwhelming evidence suggests that the floral motifs illustrated in figure 3 were produced in most Haudenosaunee beading communities, but the floral style illustrated in figures 1a & b appears to be unique to the mid-nineteenth century Seneca on the Tonawanda Reservation. [F]loral imagery can also be linked to Haudenosaunee cosmology, beginning with Skywoman, who is also called Mature Flower, and is the model for the image of Haudenosaunee femininity. Once on Turtle Island, Skywoman initiates the cycle of growth of the Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash), as well as the use of powerful plant medicines, all of which may be included in the symbolic representation of floral imagery (Holler 2012:62). Caroline’s mother Elizabeth is believed to have lived on the Cattaraugus Reservation before her move to Tonawanda and she may have developed her commercial sewing and beadwork skills under the tutelage of Laura Wright, the wife of the Rev. Asher Wright, a missionary to the Seneca at Cattaraugus. Wright held classes and set up an industrial shop on the reservation. [Wright’s] next step in the plan for the [Seneca] women was to teach them to make garments for sale, and with the money thus obtained buy more material… The women… had become thoroughly interested and imbued with the healthful fascination of earning something, and were clamorous for more work (Caswell 1892:205-206). Mrs. Wright was also clever in devising ways to get Seneca women to listen to her moralizing and religious instructions. Often, she would invite them to what we might today call a “tea meeting.” They were at the liberty to bring their needlework, which consisted in ornamenting their deerskin moccasins with porcupine quills, or their broadcloth skirts and leggings with beads, or perhaps fastening a quantity of silver brooches upon their short gowns or hats. While thus occupied, she read and explained the gospel truths in their own language, sang hymns with them, and frequently encouraged them to tell her some story of old times. The simple repast, which had really brought them there and held them through the afternoon, was then served, and they went away to think of the “good words” that had been spoken to them about the “new way” (Caswell 1892:65). Because her so called “tea meetings” were accompanied by the teaching of the gospel, they were opposed by many Seneca traditionalists. Elizabeth Parker’s daughter Caroline was born sometime before 1828 and she was known to her family as “Ga-ho-na, meaning the Blue Bell” (Parker 1919:58). By 1855, when many white settlers around her were illiterate in English, and most American Indians did not speak English with fluency, Caroline was teaching the “3 R’s” to Indian children on the Tonawanda Reservation. Although the laws at the time dictated that women could not own property, and very few of the emerging middle class worked outside their homes, Caroline earned a living teaching and occupied a cabin of her own on the reservation. She also worked on her parents’ farm. As her brothers left home to serve in the U. S. military and advance their careers, she managed the family business accounts, represented her parents to public officials and corresponded with her brothers on all aspects of family and community life. Caroline sometimes acted as a translator of official business for the Tonawanda Chiefs and seems to have been something of a political operative in times of crisis (Holler 2011:12). In 1864, she married Tuscarora Chief John Mt. Pleasant and moved to the Tuscarora Reservation. Figure 4 – Engraving of Lewis Henry Morgan, from the 1901 edition of his League of the Hodenosaunee or Iroquois. Lewis Henry Morgan (figure 4), an attorney from Rochester, New York, had an inquisitive mind and a curiosity about the Haudenosaunee. He was also loosely affiliated with New York State Cabinet of Natural History (NYSCNH). By chance, he met Caroline’s younger brother Ely in a bookstore and a friendship ensued. Through Morgan’s influence, the Parkers were retained to produce examples of Seneca material culture for the NYSCNH, the predecessor to the New York State Museum in Albany. Although many of these items were destroyed in a devastating 1911 fire, Morgan had illustrations made of the beaded items, in full color, which were published in two reports for the State of New York (Morgan 1850, 1852) as well as in a 1901 reprint of his classic work on the Iroquois (Morgan 1901). Morgan also kept examples of Caroline’s beadwork for himself, some of which were later returned to the New York State Museum and others to the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Regarding Caroline’s dress (figures 5 & 6), that was collected for the state, Morgan wrote: This is without question the finest specimen of Indian beadwork ever exhibited. Next to the article itself the plate will furnish the best description. It was made by Miss Caroline G. Parker (Ga-Ha-No), a Seneca Indian girl, now being educated in the State Normal School, to whose finished taste, and patient industry the State is indebted for most of the many beautiful specimens of beadwork embroidery now in the Indian collection. (Morgan 1852:110–111). During the approximately three month period between November 1849 and the end of January 1850, the Parkers provided Morgan with over 200 items, of which about 16 pieces were beadwork. These were collected by Morgan for the Third Regents Report. Morgan’s correspondence with the Parkers indicates that Caroline made many of the items that were supplied to the Cabinet of Natural History in Albany although some scholars dispute this point as Caroline was attending school in Albany at the time and wrote that she was overwhelmed with school work and other obligations. More than likely, the beadwork that was provided to the state was from an existing inventory and it’s impossible to determine at this point how much of it was made by Caroline or by other members of her family. One of Caroline’s relations wrote that there was a “what-not” or curio cabinet that her mother Elizabeth kept at the family farm. One shelf contained a display of “fancy Indian beadwork,” presumably made by Elizabeth, but there is no description of it (Parker 1919:194). Elizabeth also “made very fine bead-work too and Aunt Carrie [Caroline] learned from her” (Parker 1919:235). Figure 5a – Illustration of a dress made by Caroline Parker and featured in the Fifth Regents Report to the State of New York, 1852. Figure 5b – An illustration of Caroline wearing the same dress. From the front plate in Morgan’s 1901 edition of his League of the Hodenosaunee or Iroquois. Figure 6 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of Caroline wearing that dress. Figure 7 – Image on left is a detail of the bag in figure 6. The bag on the right is the one illustrated in Morgan’s report to the Regents of the State of New York. They appear to be the same bag. The beaded bag that Caroline is holding in figure 6 is virtually identical to the colored illustration in figure 7. Beaded bags in this style are seen in both museum and private collections. They usually have a scalloped flap and a scalloped lower edge, as well as several strings of beads sewn in a tight band along the perimeter (figure 8). The scalloping along the edge of these bags may have originated in response to the Victorians’ love for scalloped borders as it’s rare to find a Haudenosaunee bag with scalloped edges that predates the Victorian era. The Schedule of Articles that Morgan donated to the State of New York in 1849 included five varieties of Ga-ya-ah [work bags] and six varieties of Got-gwen-da [pocket books] (Tooker 1994:277) so it would seem that Morgan collected a range of bag styles from the Tonawanda Seneca. The floral design in figure 1 is a documented example of Caroline’s work and there are numerous objects that have survived that incorporate a virtually identical floral motif in the design (see figures 11, 12 & 22). Except for the example in figure 1, there are no records that assure us Caroline made any of the other items but the bead colors, delicacy and refinement of the designs and their stylistic similarity to the design in figure 1 suggests to me that there is a good possibility that she did; they represent the highest level of Haudenosaunee beadwork. Art historian Ruth Phillips has written that Caroline Parker’s work is characterized by its flatness, great delicacy, relatively high degree of naturalism, and its use of small, pastel, white, and translucent beads (Phillips 1998:224). Figure 8 – A group of mid-19th century bags that are stylistically similar to the one in figure 7. Each has a scalloped lower edge and several strings of beads sewn in a tight band along the perimeter. In Morgan’s Fifth Regents Report to the State of New York, he illustrates a pincushion that he collected from the Parkers (figure 9) which is very similar to one that was collected at Niagara Falls in 1850 (figure 10). They both have similarities to the large floral design described above and likely represent a Tonawanda Seneca style, though not necessarily one that was made by the Parkers. Beadworkers seldom worked in isolation so there might have been some borrowing of ideas and designs among mid-nineteenth century Tonawanda beadworkers which would account for the similarities in their work. Figure 9 – Pincushion collected from the Parkers and illustrated in Morgan’s Fifth Regents Report to the State of New York January 22, 1851, Plate 19. Figure 10 – Tonawanda Seneca pincushion, 6 inches wide. An inked inscription on the back reads: “Bought at the Bath House on Bath Island, Falls of Niagara, Sept. 27, 1850.” There is also a name after the date but it’s barely legible, although it possibly says Peterman. Bath Island was one of several islands in the Goat Island complex. Access to Goat Island was from Bath Island where a visitor would first have to pay a toll. There was a concession at the Bath Island Toll House that sold so called “Indian curiosities.” The close similarity of this pincushion to the one illustrated Morgan’s Fifth Regents Report suggests that it could have been made by the Parkers or someone in their immediate beading circle. Figure 11 – From the collection of Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield, Massachusetts. The similarity of the flower to the one in figure 1 is striking. The bags in figures 12 through 17 also have a variation of that large, central floral motif. Other distinguishing features on these bags include a tight band of beads along a scalloped perimeter. Additionally, like the table cover in figure 1, they incorporate some variation of the dendrite or spray work along the perimeter of the flower that might symbolizes the world tree from the Iroquois creation story (Parker 1912:616-620). The large flower could be a stylized representation of the sun depicted atop the celestial or world tree also from the creation story. Although the Parkers adapted their lifestyle to co-exist with Europeans and presented their work to Victorian consumers in a way that was acceptable to them, they could still covertly incorporate symbols in their work that had cultural significance to them. Figure 12 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 13 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 14 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 15 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 16 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 17 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. “The art of flowering” – as the Parkers termed it – is what they were noted for: In doing this work, the eye and the taste are the chief reliances, as they use no patterns except as they may have seen them in the works of others. In combining colors certain general rules, the result of experience and observation, are followed, but beyond them each one pursued her own fancy. They never seek for strong contrasts, but break the force of it by interposing white, that the colors may blend harmoniously. Thus light blue and pink beads, with white beads between them, is a favorable combination; dark blue and yellow, with white between, is another; red and light blue, with white between, is another; and light purple and dark purple, with white between, is a fourth. Others might be added were it necessary. If this beadwork is critically examined it will be found that these general rules are strictly observed; and in so far as beadwork embroidery may be called a systematic art. The art of flowering, as they term it, is the most difficult part of the beadwork, as it requires an accurate knowledge of the appearance of the flower, and the structure and condition of the plant at the stage in which it is represented (Morgan 1852:111). Figure 18 – Beaded Glengarry hat on red wool Stroud with a green silk ribbon edging. Mid-19th century. The top panel incorporates the large diagnostic flower. Other flowers are depicted in various stages of blossoming, a characteristic found on work by the Parkers. Figure 19 – Large beaded pillow in the Tonawanda Seneca style. We are not limited to examples of beaded bags in our search for items with this characteristic flower. Figures 18 – 20 highlight other examples of souvenir art with this diagnostic element. The Glengarry hat in figure 18, although missing the dendrite or spray work along the perimeter of the flower, incorporates other elements that point to a Tonawanda origin and possibly to Caroline Parker. In many of the objects that can be stylistically attributed to the Parkers, flowers are often represented in different stages of blossoming and that feature is most apparent on the side panels of the hat. The large flower on the top could also be a stylistic representation of the sun mounted atop the world tree. Figure 19 is a large pillow which again shows the characteristic central floral element with the dendrite or spray work. This is surrounded by many strings of beads in a scalloped perimeter very much like the beaded bags. Other features are the flowers that are represented in different stages of blossoming. The piece in figure 20 is a lovely tri-fold, calling card wallet shown opened. There are also numerous pieces that don’t have the large central flower but incorporate other elements that are seen in examples that do (figure 21). Figure 20 – Tri-fold calling card wallet with the diagnostic flower. Figure 21 – A group of beaded items without the large diagnostic flower yet still incorporating other elements found on examples that do. Figure 22 – Beaded bag/satchel, Tonawanda Seneca type (both sides shown), dark blue velvet, glass beads, silk ribbon edge binding; circa 1850. The cord strap is wrapped with silk ribbon, in a similar fashion as the one in figure 24. 12 inches high by 12 inches wide. The similarity of the large central flower to the one in figure 1 suggests to me that it could be the work of Caroline Parker. The beading technique and the floral patterns on the side with the flap are nearly identical to those on a skirt in the Rochester Museum and Science Center, number 70.89.61 that is attributed to Caroline Parker (See: Phillips 1998:225, fig. 6.23). Perhaps two of the most striking pieces that incorporate floral elements attributable to the Parkers are the large bags/satchels in figures 22 and 23. Figure 23 – Beaded bag/satchel, Seneca type (both sides shown). Glass beads, red velvet, green silk ribbon edge binding. Mid-19th century. 11.3 inches high x 14 inches wide. Originally from the estate of William Waldegrave Palmer (1859–1942), the Second Earl of Selborne and the son of Roundell Palmer (1812–1895), the first Earl of Selborne. Remarkably similar to an example attributed to the Parkers and illustrated in the Fifth Regents Report to the State of New York; see figure 24. The example in figure 22 is from a remarkable collection that was illustrated in the publication titled: Pleasing the Spirits by Douglas C. Ewing in 1982, figure 252 although there is no known record linking it directly to Caroline. The bag in figure 23 is from the estate of William Waldegrave Palmer, the Second Earl of Selborne (1859 – 1942). Palmer served for a time as High Commissioner to South Africa and before that was Under Secretary to the British Colonies. This bag could have belonged to his father Roundell Palmer (1812 – 1895), the First Earl of Selborne, who may have been one of the many foreign dignitaries that were frequent visitors to the Parker/Mt. Pleasant homestead near Niagara Falls. What is remarkable about this example is its similarity to a satchel illustrated in Morgan (figure 24). Figure 24 – Beaded satchel attributed to the Parker's and illustrated in the Report on the Fabrics, Inventions, Implements and Utensils of the Iroquois, Made to the Regents of the University, Jan. 22, 1851, by Lewis Henry Morgan, plate 18. Morgan described the satchel in his 1850 Tonawanda field notes as a beautiful example of Seneca beadwork. Upon one side of the lower figure is designed to represent a rosebush, with its flowers at different stages of maturity from those [which] are just opening to those [which] are in full bloom. The success of the imitation although not perfect by any means is yet quite striking. It is quite easy to detect the opening rose in the bud at the left. The same thing is attempted on the rose at the top. On the reverse side are two stars, which as specimens of fancywork, are certainly very tastefully and ingeniously made. It is an imitation of the ordinary travelling bag of the whites, and not an Indian article. [As quoted in: (Tooker 1994:152–153)]. The beading technique used for the floral decorations on both Palmer’s bag and Morgan’s satchel appears identical, and each depicts flowers that are in various stages of blossoming. Even the method used to create the stems is distinctive, comprised of adjacent and repeated bead segments which create the illusion that the beads are twisted together. Morgan indicated in his notes that the Parkers sent him five of these sizable bags in 1849. Both these bags were conceivably made by the same hand, and possibly by one of the Tonawanda Parkers. Figure 25 – Late 19th century cabinet card of Caroline Parker wearing a dress with beaded decorations, possibly by her own hand. Caroline (figure 25) died in 1892 and her obituary appeared in the New York Times. A Noted Indian Woman Dead. The Widow of the Chief of the Six Nations. Lockport, N.Y., March 20. – The death of Caroline Mountpleasant, wife of the late chief of the Six Nations, John Mountpleasant, yesterday, aged sixty years, removes one of the most prominent Indian women of the time. Mrs. Mountpleasant was a sister of the celebrated Indian General Parker, now of New York, who served so gallantly in the civil war, earning his title of brigadier General. The deceased had received an academic education and was well read in literature, particularly regarding Indian matters. She proved of great help to her husband in his efforts to elevate and educate the various tribes of the Six Nations. Mrs. Mountpleasant, after his death, retained her home with the Tuscaroras, on the reservation, where her influence in religious, educational, and commercial matters was strongly felt. Her home was a large finely appointed house in the midst of the reservation, very picturesquely situated. It was one of the most complete museums of Indian relics and curiosities, and was visited by thousands of prominent American and noted English and foreign tourists. The other appointments of the place, such as barns and out-dwellings, were on a mammoth scale. The funeral of the dead Indian woman will be held to-morrow (New York Times, March 21, 1892, page 4). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. REFERENCES CITED Biron, Gerry 2012 A Cherished Curiosity: The Souvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art. Published by the author. Saxtons River, Vermont. Caswell, Harriet S. 1892 Our Life Among the Iroquois Indians. Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, Boston and Chicago. Holler, Deborah 2011 “The Remarkable Caroline G. Parker Mountplasant, Seneca Wolf Clan.” Western New York Heritage Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 1, Spring. 2012 “Fashion, Nationhood and Identity: The Textile Artistry of Caroline G. Parker.” American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 37, Number 4, Autumn. Morgan, Lewis Henry 1901 League of the Hodenosaunee or Iroquois, A New Edition, with Additional Matter. Edited and Annotated by Herbert M. Lloyd. Volume I & II. Dodd, Mead and Company, New York. 1850 “Report to the Regents of the University, upon the Articles Furnished to the Indian Collection.” In The Third Annual Report of the Regents of the University on the Condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History and Antiquarian Collection, Annexed Thereto pp. 63 – 93. Revised Edition: Printed by Weed, Parsons and Company, Albany. 1852 “Report on the Fabrics, Inventions, Implements and Utensils of the Iroquois, Made to the Regents of the University, Jan. 22, 1851; Illustrative of the Collection Annexed to the State Cabinet of Natural History, with Illustrations.” In The Fifth Annual Report of the Regents of the University on the Condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History and the Historical and Antiquarian Collection, Annexed Thereto, pp 68 – 117. Printed by Richard H. Pease, Albany. Parker, Arthur C. 1912 “Certain Iroquois Tree Myths and Symbols” in the American Anthropologist, Vol. 14. 1919 The Life of General Ely S. Parker, Last Grand Sachem of the Iroquois and General Grant’s Military Secretary. The Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo, New York. Phillips, Ruth 1998 Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700 – 1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Tooker, Elizabeth 1994 Lewis H. Morgan on Iroquois Material Culture. The University of Arizona Press.

How to Make a 5 Arrows Craft | Iroquois Confederacy Facts. There were originally five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy who united to create one peaceful nation.

Enjoy the diverse beauty of South Dakota! South Dakota Magazine gets great photos from readers and regular contributors like Chad Coppess, Greg Latza, Christian Begeman and others that we thought we'd share an extra one each week with you.

 This first group of images is of Haudenosaunee people. The common feature here is the large beaded bag that they are wearing. These bags are quite rare and were likely made for personal use and not to be sold as souvenirs. Circa 1870s CDV photograph of a young woman, possibly Haudenosaunee, with a beautifully beaded bandolier bag. This image was taken in England so she may have been travelling with a Wild West show or an entertainment group as both were popular during this period. The next image is of a different woman, possibly this woman's mother, who is wearing the same hat and bag. Circa 1870s CDV image of a family, possibly Haudenosaunee, wearing outstanding examples of Iroquois beadwork. Both wear Haudenosaunee bandolier bags. This image was taken in England. 1870s tintype of a Haudenosaunee wearing a large bandolier bag that is similar stylistically to the ones pictured above. 1870s albumen photograph of Solomon O'Bail (1814-1899), a Seneca and grandson of Cornplanter. He is also wearing a large, Haudenosaunee bandolier bag. A late 19th century beaded collar and a bandolier bag identified as Iroquois in the Rochester Museum and Science Center. The bandolier bag is stylistically similar to those worn by the subjects in the previous images. If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art.

In this blog posting we will examine some of the variations in historic 18th and 19th century Iroquois regalia through old paintings, photographs and examples of early material culture. Since first contact with Europeans, artists have depicted the Haudenosaunee wearing diverse attire; the images below are by no means a complete visual record of those that exist but should suffice in this brief review. The dictionary defines “traditional” as “existing in or as part of a tradition; long established, customary, time-honored, classic, accustomed, etc.” Today, what is generally considered “traditional” Haudenosaunee regalia can trace its origins to early examples from the 18th century, culminating with the work of Caroline Parker in the mid-19th century (figures 1 & 2). Fig 1 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in western New York. Private collection. Fig 2 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in western New York. Private collection. Caroline’s outfit has had a major influence on the design of Seneca regalia and it has also been adopted by other Six Nation peoples; it came about from a synthesis of European and Haudenosaunee attire. Deborah Holler, in writing about Caroline’s outfit, said “The navy blue skirt, with the striking ‘celestial tree’ design in the corner and luminous beaded border, incorporates the bold color aesthetic of the Iroquois in design motifs that are traditionally representative of the feminine forces associated with Skywoman, the first woman to inhabit earth in Iroquois culture. These two images of Caroline can be seen as a formal statement of cultural identity that became a prototype for the Seneca Women’s national costume. By incorporating the highest fashion styles of the times into a bold statement of Seneca womanhood, Caroline set a standard for fashion that has had lasting appeal for Haudenosaunee artisans. The combination of Victorian and Native elements shows her inventive adaptation of the Native aesthetic to European fashion goods, and is a demonstration of Caroline’s adaptability in both worlds” (Holler 2011:15-16) Some of the earliest depictions we have of American Indians are allegorical representations that served to symbolize concepts or ideas. That changed in 1710 when the Mohawks sent a delegation to England on a diplomatic audience with Queen Anne (figures 3 & 4). Fig 3 – Some of the earliest depictions we have of the Haudenosaunee are from a group of four paintings that were done by Jan Verelst, a Dutch artist working in London. This portrait of Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row (1660 – c. 1735) was made in 1710. He was a Mohawk chief who went to London to meet with Queen Anne and her court. Except for his belt, which is decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery, he is completely dressed in European style clothing, with buckled shoes, lace breeches and a fashionable coat. From the collection of the Library and Public Archives of Canada. Fig 4 – Portrait of Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, a Mohawk said to be the grandfather of Joseph Brant of Revolutionary War fame. It was painted by Jan Verelst in 1710 when Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow visited London. His clothing is made primarily from European fabrics although he wears bullnose moccasins that were decorated with porcupine quills, a belt decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery and a leather pouch over that belt. He also has some great tattoos, although their meaning is unknown. From the collection of the Library and Public Archives of Canada. Attacks on British settlements by both the French and their Indian allies demonstrated to the Crown that they needed to maintain the loyalty of their Iroquois allies. Stephanie Pratt has written that “in the same way as Queen Anne’s ministers needed to establish an appropriate settlement with the Iroquois, so those [artists] who sought to represent them [in their work] needed to establish an appropriate mode of depiction” (Pratt 2005:36). In the case of the Mohawk chiefs illustrated in figures 3 & 4, who, except for a few personal accoutrements, were not in traditional regalia but rather are dressed in a combination of European and Native elements in a manner designed to suit European dress standards. Their handlers were provided with funds to ensure that the sachems’ had “the correct clothing to wear before Her Majesty” (Pratt 2005:163). What the artist Verelst attempted to show was how “the supposed gentlemanly and noble status of the Indian ‘Emperor’ might be constructed using portrait conventions. This nobility is entailed in their stately poses and the relationship of the figure to landscape, indicating ‘ownership’ in European terms” (Pratt 2005:52-53). We see this Europeanizing of Native people in portrait depictions throughout the 18th century. Fig 5 – Oil on canvass painting titled The Indian Family, by Benjamin West. 1761. From a private collection in England. The artist Benjamin West was in Italy in 1761 where he took on a commission to produce a painting for John Murray, a British aristocrat living in Venice (figure 5). Although scholars consider this image to be a generic piece, and the historical accuracy of his paintings is disputed by others, the cultural artifacts depicted are accurate representations of Northeast Woodland material from the period. Some of the items depicted are illustrated in another of West’s paintings, notably General Johnson Saving a Wounded French Officer from the Tomahawk of a North American Indian, in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery in Derby, United Kingdom where the male subject’s bag, the moosehair decorated knife sheath that hangs from his neck and his tomahawk, are identical. Although the items themselves are authentic, the fact that they appear in more than one of West’s paintings suggests that they did not necessarily belong to the subjects portrayed but were rather used by West as studio props for his paintings. The decorations along the bottom of the woman’s dress in figure 5, which were likely done in a combination of ribbon work and moosehair or porcupine quill embroidery, as well as the style of her dress, are an incipient form of what would later emerge as the “traditional” Haudenosaunee woman’s outfit. Like the mid-19th century portraits of Caroline Parker, the woman in this image wears decorated leggings, a blue overdress, skirt, blanket and decorated moccasins in a dress style that is very similar to Caroline Parker’s outfit. During the 18th century, American Indians were often depicted with a blanket draped over their shoulder. This practice likely originated with the use of bear, moose or deer skins robes long before the introduction of the European blanket. The adoption of ready-made, European trade goods was a practical consideration for Native people because these items offered a perceived advantage over traditional items. Fig 6 – Portrait of Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, by George Romney, 1776 – the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Fig 7 – Portrait of Joseph Brant by Gilbert Stuart, 1786. From the collection of the Duke of Northumberland, London. Another Mohawk leader, Joseph Brant (figures 6 & 7) visited England in the late 18th century on two separate occasions, in part for securing the promise of restitution of Mohawk lands after the American Revolution. Like the Mohawks in figures 3 & 4, he is also depicted wearing a combination of European and Native elements. In figure 6, he is adorned in a pink shirt and what were likely wool breeches, in addition to his Native raiment. In describing the symbolism behind this portrait, Stephanie Pratt says that “Brant’s European garments combined with American Indian accoutrements… define his figure as a warrior, rather than a leading sachem. If he wanted to be seen as the latter, according to the colonial customs of the 1740s to 1760s, he would sport a tailored coat, and possibly lace collar and cuffs, in the manner of an English gentleman… [His outfit] in its combination of English and Woodlands elements, speaks of Brant’s own position between two worlds…. What distinguishes Romney’s picture is its cultural location within Mohawk attitudes to England. As with his predecessors in 1710, Brant’s figure combines items of European manufacture such as guns, hatchets, or pipes alongside the more American Indian accoutrements such as earrings and the headdresses, not as a costumier’s miscellany but as tokens of trade and good relations” (Pratt 2005:97-98). Native attire that combined trade items with Native made material made sense on the American frontier where dry goods were scarce but would have appeared exotic in England. Fig. 8 – A book engraving from 1774. The individual depicted could be an Iroquois as he is holding a wampum belt in his extended hand and his headdress appears to be an early version of the gustaweh. He is standing next to a large waterfall (possibly Niagara). Private collection. In another portrait of Brant (figure 7) he is similarly dressed in a combination of European and Native attire. Old images are also found in which individuals are wearing less formal (more traditional?) attire but the older symbolic and allegorical representations were never far from the surface (figure 8). In this book illustration the subject is holding a wampum belt in his extended hand and his plucked scalp and feather top knot of hair could be an early version of the gustaweh, an Iroquois man’s headdress. I’ve seen similar 18th century illustrations where the subject was identified as Iroquois. He is standing next to a large waterfall (possibly Niagara). His attire could be made from animal skins or it could be a European trade textile. Although the image may have been a fanciful depiction of an Iroquois warrior, it appears that the artist got some of the details right. He doesn't appear to be wearing leggings. Fig. 9 – 18th century leggings from the St. Lawrence Valley, possibly Iroquois. They are decorated with porcupine quills and moosehair on black dyed buckskin. Collection history unknown. Fig. 10 – 18th century Iroquois leggings on dyed deerskin, decorated with either porcupine quills or moosehair embroidery, trade beads and silk ribbon work. National Museum of the American Indian. Leggings have long been an integral part of traditional Iroquois regalia. Figure 9 is a pair of late 18th century leggings that are possibly Iroquois. Although they are simply decorated with porcupine quills and moosehair, they are an honest representation of a “traditional” clothing item from this period. In another pair of exceptionally decorated leggings we get a better look at some early “traditional” motifs (figure 10). Along the bottom of the leggings is the sinuous line representing the sky dome with the celestial tree above it and the earth tree below. The leggings are also decorated with extensive ribbon work and the square and diamond motifs appear to be done in either porcupine quills or moosehair. These geometric designs had deep cultural meaning as they are found on various items of early Iroquois material culture. Although not specifically part of someone’s regalia, other 18th century items that were made by Iroquois artisans, such as burden straps (figures 11 & 12), aptly demonstrate some of the bold and colorful geometric design motifs that were prevalent during this period. In an 18th century watercolor of a Mohawk woman and child, she is wearing a burden strap across her forehead that is holding her cradleboard (figure 13). She is dressed almost completely in European trade goods. The lower border of her dress appears to be decorated with silver brooches and silk ribbon appliqué. Fig. 11 – Four burden straps from the 18th century. (A) - Iroquois: from the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russia. (B) - Iroquois or Huron – Mid- to late 18th c. Made of hemp, dyed moosehair false embroidery and glass beads. (C) - Collected in the St. Lawrence River valley, c 1775, and possibly Iroquois. It’s edged with white imitation wampum. (D) - Iroquois, sometime before 1775. Colors are orange, blue, black and white. Dyed Moosehair in false embroidery. Fig. 12 – Three Iroquois burden straps . Circa 1780. Decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery. Most surviving burden straps are of Iroquois origin although they were also made by the Huron and neighboring Algonkians. Private collection. Fig. 13 – Mohawk woman with child – 18th century watercolor by an unknown artist. Her attire is almost completely made from European trade material. Collection history unknown. Another traditional item from the 18th century is the shoulder or bandoleer bag (figure 14). They seem to have been in vogue during that period and this tradition continued well into the 19th century. There are a number of examples of these in 19th century photographs (see my blog posting on these) but the example in figure 14 is earlier and is decorated with imitation or glass wampum beads. It’s another illustration of the use of geometric designs in pieces of material culture from this period. Fig. 14 – Iroquois shoulder bag – pre 1778 – a vogue for these bags, with fronts made of imitation glass wampum beads, existed at the end of the 18th century. The geometric designs they display resemble those on belts and ornaments made of shell wampum. From the collection of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, Germany. In 1778, Thomas Davies painted a scene near Quebec of an Indian encampment (figure 15). It is filled with details of encampment life. It also gives us a glimpse into the mode of dress that many of the inhabitants wore. Many of the adults are attired in garments that were made from European textiles and most also have a blanket draped over their shoulders. Of particular interest are two of the women in figure 15a who are wearing a peaked cap, not unlike those the Wabanaki made. Fig. 15 – A watercolor over graphite illustration titled: A View near Point Levy Opposite Quebec with an Indian Encampment by Thomas Davies, 1788. From the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Possibly Mohawks or Hurons from Lorette. Fig. 15a - detail view. Fig. 15b - detail view. In another painting by Tuscarora artist Denis Cusick that was executed in 1822, (figure 16), the seated woman is also wearing a peaked cap but this one appears to be decorated, possibly in beads. Fig. 16 – Tuscarora village, 1822. Watercolor signed “Dennis Cusick, son of the chief. Fecit.” Private collection. I am aware of at least one of these peaked caps/hoods that has survived (figure 17) and it does have similarities to the Wabanaki examples. These caps are quite rare but their appearance in both the Quebec painting and the one from Tuscarora suggests that they were made and used by more than one Haudenosaunee community and this was no doubt a piece of “traditional” attire during this period. Fig. 17 – Seneca headdress – late 18th early 19th century. From the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. The standing woman’s dress in figure 18 is also similar in style to the Caroline Parker example in figures 1 & 2, and the edge of the dress could be decorated with beadwork. Fig. 18 – Christening of the Tuscarora Asa Thompson – Watercolor attributed to Dennis Cusick, August 21, 1821. From the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC. As we get into the early 19th century, we find a number of realist paintings, done by Iroquois artists that give us a glimpse into the “traditional” dress styles from the period. In a watercolor painting by Denis Cusick (figure 18) we see examples of both men’s and women’s dress styles from the early 1820s. The bottom edge of the woman’s dress, which appears to be decorated in silk ribbon work, might also be edged in beadwork. Unlike the man who is wearing pants, she appears to be wearing leggings and both wear moccasins. The man has a frock coat that is held closed by a hand-woven sash. In a more defined image from this period (figure 19) we can see a lot more detail in the men’s outfits. It’s hard to say from the image if their leggings are beaded or simply decorated in ribbon work but it may well be a combination of the two. Fig. 19 – An undated photograph of a now-lost watercolor of four Tuscarora men wearing sashes, perhaps by Thomas Jacobs. Early-to mid-19th century. Titled: “The Intains [sic]. Tuscarora tribe.” The National Museum of the Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1833, the young Laura M. Sheldon of Barnet, Vermont, married the Reverend Asher Wright, a preacher to the Seneca at the Buffalo Creek Reservation, and she devoted the rest of her life to the Christian well-being of the Iroquois. Very clever in devising ways to get them to listen to her moralizing and religious instructions, she would invite them to what we might now call a “tea meeting.” They were at the liberty to bring their needlework, which consisted in ornamenting their deerskin moccasins with porcupine quills, or their broadcloth skirts and leggings with beads, or perhaps fastening a quantity of silver brooches upon their short gowns or hats. While thus occupied, she read and explained the gospel truths in their own language, sang hymns with them, and frequently encouraged them to tell her some story of old times. The simple repast, which had really brought them there and held them through the afternoon, was then served, and they went away to think of the “good words” that had been spoken to them about the “new way” (Caswell 1892:65). Two Seneca ladies are depicted wearing an ample amount of silver broaches on their collars in a circa 1860 tintype (figure 20). Fig. 20 – Circa 1860 tintype of two Seneca women in their traditional dress. Their collars are decorated with silver brooches. Private collection. Fig. 20a - detail view Fig. 20b - detail view Fig. 20c - detail view Caroline Parker’s outfit in figures 1 and 2 is also decorated in silver brooches. Although none of the brooches depicted in these images are in the shape of a heart, many 18th and early 19th century Iroquois brooches were. The heart shaped brooch has been called the national badge of the Iroquois because of its popularity among them. It is found in both single and double forms, often surmounted by a crown. The design is thought to have come to North America from Scotland, where it was a popular love token and betrothal symbol. The “Luckenbooth” brooch, as it was known in Scotland, may have been introduced by British-trained silversmiths such as Robert Cruickshank or James Hanna. Another possibility is that the Indians requested the brooch after seeing it worn by Scottish traders and settlers (Fredrickson and Gibb 1980:53). The earliest heart-shaped brooches were manufactured in Europe as early as the seventeenth century. “They were mostly used as luck tokens, or betrothal gifts, and the choice of the heart shape … is sufficiently obvious (Parker 1910:354).” Many were later made by Iroquois silversmiths who found their inspiration in European models, and historically, the Iroquois continued fabricating them until at least the 1860s. Any brooch pinned to the garment of a child was regarded by the Scotch as an efficient charm against witches.…When the Iroquois silversmiths copied the Scotch patterns they left off many things that were common in the original patterns and interpreted the design as their own education, environment, or customs dictated … (Parker 1911:285). The use of silver brooches as charms to ward off evil spirits was an early component of many Native peoples’ traditional beliefs. Silver was a gift from the underworld with a natural luminosity – a quality much revered by native people. They believed that the luminosity, especially in ornaments of personal adornment, constituted a power that reflected or blocked evil spirits and radiated the good powers of the sun and moon in the Upper World. Reflective silver ornaments were placed at strategic locations on the body by adults and children, the living, and the dead. Luminosity represented knowledge and wisdom and gave life to inanimate objects. Iroquois ceremonial masks have reflective surfaces at the eyes to give them life and the Naskapi word for mirror translates as “see soul metal” (Hamilton 1995:49). About the same time that Caroline Parker was photographed in the famous daguerreotypes of her (figures 1 & 2), the artist Thomas Jacobs produced a watercolor illustration of three Iroquois women in traditional attire (figure 21). Fig. 21 – Three Iroquois women in colorful attire – Watercolor signed “Thomas Jacobs 1852.” Jacobs is a Seneca name, and it may also be a Tuscarora name. The women’s apparel is typical of mid-19th century formal dress, with silver brooches and beadwork decoration. Their outfits appear to be embellished almost exclusively with silver brooches. In another watercolor from the same period (figure 22) the women’s outfits are also decorated with silver brooches and additionally their leggings and dress appear to be beaded. One of the unusual features of their outfits are the scarves/shawls they are wearing. Some early 19th century observers mention these scarves but to the best of my knowledge, none exist in either museum or private collections. Fig. 22 – Watercolor of four Iroquois women, artist and date unknown. Looks to be from the mid-nineteenth century. Private collection. Caroline Parker’s mid-19th century outfit in figures 1 and 2 is clearly decorated with curvilinear designs and floral motifs. None of the other outfits in the early images we have examined in this posting, as well as others I have seen, are decorated this way. By the mid-19th century, floral beadwork replaced the abstract and geometrical designs that had been the accepted art form among Iroquois traditionalist for centuries. Why this happened may have its origins in Euro/American reasoning. In the early nineteenth century non-Native girls were schooled to be pious, chaste, submissive, patient, and adept at “every variety of needlework,” and to “have a special affinity for flowers” (Welter 1966:165). During the same period, the Haudenosaunee incorporated symbolic and representational floral imagery in their work and this development came about rather suddenly. Although scholars have demonstrated eloquently that flowers were related to Victorian ideals of womanhood (Phillips 1998), the sudden emergence of this type of ornamentation is a fundamental question that has yet to be fully explained. Ted Brasser also points out that there is only scant evidence that representational floral motifs, in Iroquois decorative arts, were in use prior to the Revolutionary War. Aboriginal decorative designs were originally abstract and geometrical, but a curvilinear art style became popular in the 1750s. This new art style was adopted by all native peoples around French Quebec, suggesting that it was inspired by some form of French art (Brasser 2009:71). Others have argued that the complex foliate designs arrived in North America with the French missionaries and fur traders and that they originate in European decorative arts, introduced, in the French convents, by the Ursuline nuns to their Indian students. The course of instruction that was taught to young women in Europe and America that Welter described above was no doubt adopted in the French convents as part of the curriculum for their Indian students. These decorative ideas were subsequently dispersed across the region as their Native students returned to their scattered homes through the northeast (Barbeau 1930). Perhaps, as a partial concession to ministerial educational programs, some Indian artists modified their traditional iconography and adopted the floral imagery. The inspiration may have been European floral designs, but Native aesthetics and cultural meaning were incorporated into the final works of art. Ruth Phillips has suggested that “the Western and Victorian association of flowers with ideal ‘feminine’ qualities of fragility, beauty, and godliness converged with traditional Haudenosaunee associations of plants and the crops cultivated by women with the sustenance of human life to create a shared visual artistic language” (Phillips 1998). Flowers and plants did have a place in Iroquois ceremonial life, although not necessarily in the forms depicted on clothing. The fact that floral designs were adopted for ceremonial clothing indicates that there had to be more to their use than mere imitation and commercial motives. They had become an accepted part of the art style, and a source of group identity (Harding 1994:26). In summary, many believed that the shimmering patterns, fashioned by the beads, attracted the spirits that inhabited the woodlands of the Northeast. Richly decorated clothing was, after all, intended to please benevolent spirits and to protect the wearer against harm from malevolent ones. Clothing styles and fashion accessories change over time; this is true in most cultures. The reasons for the change are varied and sometimes complex. Jennifer Neptune, a contemporary Penobscot artist, aptly points out that the floral motifs that appear in Northeast Woodland beadwork were meant to convey a message about the individual or group identity of those who created them. I see medicine plants in the designs, and it’s obvious to me that people were beading designs of plants that were highly valued to themselves, their families, and their tribe. When I look at the floral designs I see plants that ease childbirth, break fevers, soothe coughs and colds, take away pain, heal cuts, burns, and bruises, and maintain general health.… A hundred years ago plants were the main source of medicine for Natives as well as non-Natives. With the knowledge and importance of these plants in our culture beadworkers needed to look no further than their own backyards for their own floral designs. A hundred years later these same plants are still in our backyards, are still being used for healing, and are still being used to inspire our beadwork designs (Faulkner, Prince & Neptune 1998:41). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. REFERENCES CITED Barbeau, C. Marius 1930 “The Origin of Floral and Other Designs Among the Canadian and Neighboring Indians.” Proceedings of the Twenty-third International Congress of Americanists, held at New York, September 17 – 22, 1928. Nendeln/Leichenstein. (Krans reprint, NY 1968). Brasser, Ted J. 2009 Native American Clothing – An Illustrated History. Firefly Books, Ltd. Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. Caswell, Harriet S. 1892 Our Life Among the Iroquois Indians. Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, Boston and Chicago. Faulkner, Gretchen Fearon, Prince, Nancy & Neptune, Jennifer Sapiel 1998 “Beautifully Beaded: Northeastern Native American Beadwork” in American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 24, Number 1, Winter edition. Fredrickson, N. Jaye and Gibb, Sandra 1980 The Covenant Chain – Indian Ceremonial and Trade Silver. A catalog to a travelling exhibition of the National Museum of Man. Published by the National Museum of Canada / Ottawa. Hamilton, Martha Wilson 1995 Silver in the Fur Trade 1689–1820. Published by the author. Privately printed. Harding, Deborah 1994 Bagging the Tourist Market: A Descriptive and Statistical Study of 19th Century Iroquois Beaded Bags. Unpublished Masters Thesis. Anthropology Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Holler, Deborah R. 2011 ‘The Remarkable Caroline G. Parker Mountpleasant, Seneca Wolf Clan.” Western New York Heritage, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring. Parker, Arthur C. 1910 “The Origin of Iroquois Silversmithing” in American Anthropologist, New Series, Vo. 12, No. 3, July-September. 1911 “Additional Notes on Iroquois Silversmithing” in American Anthropologist, New Series, Volume 13. Phillips, Ruth 1998 Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700 – 1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Pratt, Stephanie 2005 American Indians in British Art, 1700-1840. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Welter, Barbara 1966 “The Cult of True Womanhood 1820–1860.” American Quarterly 18(2), pt.I:151–174.

In this blog posting we will examine some of the variations in historic 18th and 19th century Iroquois regalia through old paintings, photographs and examples of early material culture. Since first contact with Europeans, artists have depicted the Haudenosaunee wearing diverse attire; the images below are by no means a complete visual record of those that exist but should suffice in this brief review. The dictionary defines “traditional” as “existing in or as part of a tradition; long established, customary, time-honored, classic, accustomed, etc.” Today, what is generally considered “traditional” Haudenosaunee regalia can trace its origins to early examples from the 18th century, culminating with the work of Caroline Parker in the mid-19th century (figures 1 & 2). Fig 1 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in western New York. Private collection. Fig 2 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in western New York. Private collection. Caroline’s outfit has had a major influence on the design of Seneca regalia and it has also been adopted by other Six Nation peoples; it came about from a synthesis of European and Haudenosaunee attire. Deborah Holler, in writing about Caroline’s outfit, said “The navy blue skirt, with the striking ‘celestial tree’ design in the corner and luminous beaded border, incorporates the bold color aesthetic of the Iroquois in design motifs that are traditionally representative of the feminine forces associated with Skywoman, the first woman to inhabit earth in Iroquois culture. These two images of Caroline can be seen as a formal statement of cultural identity that became a prototype for the Seneca Women’s national costume. By incorporating the highest fashion styles of the times into a bold statement of Seneca womanhood, Caroline set a standard for fashion that has had lasting appeal for Haudenosaunee artisans. The combination of Victorian and Native elements shows her inventive adaptation of the Native aesthetic to European fashion goods, and is a demonstration of Caroline’s adaptability in both worlds” (Holler 2011:15-16) Some of the earliest depictions we have of American Indians are allegorical representations that served to symbolize concepts or ideas. That changed in 1710 when the Mohawks sent a delegation to England on a diplomatic audience with Queen Anne (figures 3 & 4). Fig 3 – Some of the earliest depictions we have of the Haudenosaunee are from a group of four paintings that were done by Jan Verelst, a Dutch artist working in London. This portrait of Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row (1660 – c. 1735) was made in 1710. He was a Mohawk chief who went to London to meet with Queen Anne and her court. Except for his belt, which is decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery, he is completely dressed in European style clothing, with buckled shoes, lace breeches and a fashionable coat. From the collection of the Library and Public Archives of Canada. Fig 4 – Portrait of Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, a Mohawk said to be the grandfather of Joseph Brant of Revolutionary War fame. It was painted by Jan Verelst in 1710 when Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow visited London. His clothing is made primarily from European fabrics although he wears bullnose moccasins that were decorated with porcupine quills, a belt decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery and a leather pouch over that belt. He also has some great tattoos, although their meaning is unknown. From the collection of the Library and Public Archives of Canada. Attacks on British settlements by both the French and their Indian allies demonstrated to the Crown that they needed to maintain the loyalty of their Iroquois allies. Stephanie Pratt has written that “in the same way as Queen Anne’s ministers needed to establish an appropriate settlement with the Iroquois, so those [artists] who sought to represent them [in their work] needed to establish an appropriate mode of depiction” (Pratt 2005:36). In the case of the Mohawk chiefs illustrated in figures 3 & 4, who, except for a few personal accoutrements, were not in traditional regalia but rather are dressed in a combination of European and Native elements in a manner designed to suit European dress standards. Their handlers were provided with funds to ensure that the sachems’ had “the correct clothing to wear before Her Majesty” (Pratt 2005:163). What the artist Verelst attempted to show was how “the supposed gentlemanly and noble status of the Indian ‘Emperor’ might be constructed using portrait conventions. This nobility is entailed in their stately poses and the relationship of the figure to landscape, indicating ‘ownership’ in European terms” (Pratt 2005:52-53). We see this Europeanizing of Native people in portrait depictions throughout the 18th century. Fig 5 – Oil on canvass painting titled The Indian Family, by Benjamin West. 1761. From a private collection in England. The artist Benjamin West was in Italy in 1761 where he took on a commission to produce a painting for John Murray, a British aristocrat living in Venice (figure 5). Although scholars consider this image to be a generic piece, and the historical accuracy of his paintings is disputed by others, the cultural artifacts depicted are accurate representations of Northeast Woodland material from the period. Some of the items depicted are illustrated in another of West’s paintings, notably General Johnson Saving a Wounded French Officer from the Tomahawk of a North American Indian, in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery in Derby, United Kingdom where the male subject’s bag, the moosehair decorated knife sheath that hangs from his neck and his tomahawk, are identical. Although the items themselves are authentic, the fact that they appear in more than one of West’s paintings suggests that they did not necessarily belong to the subjects portrayed but were rather used by West as studio props for his paintings. The decorations along the bottom of the woman’s dress in figure 5, which were likely done in a combination of ribbon work and moosehair or porcupine quill embroidery, as well as the style of her dress, are an incipient form of what would later emerge as the “traditional” Haudenosaunee woman’s outfit. Like the mid-19th century portraits of Caroline Parker, the woman in this image wears decorated leggings, a blue overdress, skirt, blanket and decorated moccasins in a dress style that is very similar to Caroline Parker’s outfit. During the 18th century, American Indians were often depicted with a blanket draped over their shoulder. This practice likely originated with the use of bear, moose or deer skins robes long before the introduction of the European blanket. The adoption of ready-made, European trade goods was a practical consideration for Native people because these items offered a perceived advantage over traditional items. Fig 6 – Portrait of Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, by George Romney, 1776 – the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Fig 7 – Portrait of Joseph Brant by Gilbert Stuart, 1786. From the collection of the Duke of Northumberland, London. Another Mohawk leader, Joseph Brant (figures 6 & 7) visited England in the late 18th century on two separate occasions, in part for securing the promise of restitution of Mohawk lands after the American Revolution. Like the Mohawks in figures 3 & 4, he is also depicted wearing a combination of European and Native elements. In figure 6, he is adorned in a pink shirt and what were likely wool breeches, in addition to his Native raiment. In describing the symbolism behind this portrait, Stephanie Pratt says that “Brant’s European garments combined with American Indian accoutrements… define his figure as a warrior, rather than a leading sachem. If he wanted to be seen as the latter, according to the colonial customs of the 1740s to 1760s, he would sport a tailored coat, and possibly lace collar and cuffs, in the manner of an English gentleman… [His outfit] in its combination of English and Woodlands elements, speaks of Brant’s own position between two worlds…. What distinguishes Romney’s picture is its cultural location within Mohawk attitudes to England. As with his predecessors in 1710, Brant’s figure combines items of European manufacture such as guns, hatchets, or pipes alongside the more American Indian accoutrements such as earrings and the headdresses, not as a costumier’s miscellany but as tokens of trade and good relations” (Pratt 2005:97-98). Native attire that combined trade items with Native made material made sense on the American frontier where dry goods were scarce but would have appeared exotic in England. Fig. 8 – A book engraving from 1774. The individual depicted could be an Iroquois as he is holding a wampum belt in his extended hand and his headdress appears to be an early version of the gustaweh. He is standing next to a large waterfall (possibly Niagara). Private collection. In another portrait of Brant (figure 7) he is similarly dressed in a combination of European and Native attire. Old images are also found in which individuals are wearing less formal (more traditional?) attire but the older symbolic and allegorical representations were never far from the surface (figure 8). In this book illustration the subject is holding a wampum belt in his extended hand and his plucked scalp and feather top knot of hair could be an early version of the gustaweh, an Iroquois man’s headdress. I’ve seen similar 18th century illustrations where the subject was identified as Iroquois. He is standing next to a large waterfall (possibly Niagara). His attire could be made from animal skins or it could be a European trade textile. Although the image may have been a fanciful depiction of an Iroquois warrior, it appears that the artist got some of the details right. He doesn't appear to be wearing leggings. Fig. 9 – 18th century leggings from the St. Lawrence Valley, possibly Iroquois. They are decorated with porcupine quills and moosehair on black dyed buckskin. Collection history unknown. Fig. 10 – 18th century Iroquois leggings on dyed deerskin, decorated with either porcupine quills or moosehair embroidery, trade beads and silk ribbon work. National Museum of the American Indian. Leggings have long been an integral part of traditional Iroquois regalia. Figure 9 is a pair of late 18th century leggings that are possibly Iroquois. Although they are simply decorated with porcupine quills and moosehair, they are an honest representation of a “traditional” clothing item from this period. In another pair of exceptionally decorated leggings we get a better look at some early “traditional” motifs (figure 10). Along the bottom of the leggings is the sinuous line representing the sky dome with the celestial tree above it and the earth tree below. The leggings are also decorated with extensive ribbon work and the square and diamond motifs appear to be done in either porcupine quills or moosehair. These geometric designs had deep cultural meaning as they are found on various items of early Iroquois material culture. Although not specifically part of someone’s regalia, other 18th century items that were made by Iroquois artisans, such as burden straps (figures 11 & 12), aptly demonstrate some of the bold and colorful geometric design motifs that were prevalent during this period. In an 18th century watercolor of a Mohawk woman and child, she is wearing a burden strap across her forehead that is holding her cradleboard (figure 13). She is dressed almost completely in European trade goods. The lower border of her dress appears to be decorated with silver brooches and silk ribbon appliqué. Fig. 11 – Four burden straps from the 18th century. (A) - Iroquois: from the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russia. (B) - Iroquois or Huron – Mid- to late 18th c. Made of hemp, dyed moosehair false embroidery and glass beads. (C) - Collected in the St. Lawrence River valley, c 1775, and possibly Iroquois. It’s edged with white imitation wampum. (D) - Iroquois, sometime before 1775. Colors are orange, blue, black and white. Dyed Moosehair in false embroidery. Fig. 12 – Three Iroquois burden straps . Circa 1780. Decorated with dyed moosehair in false embroidery. Most surviving burden straps are of Iroquois origin although they were also made by the Huron and neighboring Algonkians. Private collection. Fig. 13 – Mohawk woman with child – 18th century watercolor by an unknown artist. Her attire is almost completely made from European trade material. Collection history unknown. Another traditional item from the 18th century is the shoulder or bandoleer bag (figure 14). They seem to have been in vogue during that period and this tradition continued well into the 19th century. There are a number of examples of these in 19th century photographs (see my blog posting on these) but the example in figure 14 is earlier and is decorated with imitation or glass wampum beads. It’s another illustration of the use of geometric designs in pieces of material culture from this period. Fig. 14 – Iroquois shoulder bag – pre 1778 – a vogue for these bags, with fronts made of imitation glass wampum beads, existed at the end of the 18th century. The geometric designs they display resemble those on belts and ornaments made of shell wampum. From the collection of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, Germany. In 1778, Thomas Davies painted a scene near Quebec of an Indian encampment (figure 15). It is filled with details of encampment life. It also gives us a glimpse into the mode of dress that many of the inhabitants wore. Many of the adults are attired in garments that were made from European textiles and most also have a blanket draped over their shoulders. Of particular interest are two of the women in figure 15a who are wearing a peaked cap, not unlike those the Wabanaki made. Fig. 15 – A watercolor over graphite illustration titled: A View near Point Levy Opposite Quebec with an Indian Encampment by Thomas Davies, 1788. From the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Possibly Mohawks or Hurons from Lorette. Fig. 15a - detail view. Fig. 15b - detail view. In another painting by Tuscarora artist Denis Cusick that was executed in 1822, (figure 16), the seated woman is also wearing a peaked cap but this one appears to be decorated, possibly in beads. Fig. 16 – Tuscarora village, 1822. Watercolor signed “Dennis Cusick, son of the chief. Fecit.” Private collection. I am aware of at least one of these peaked caps/hoods that has survived (figure 17) and it does have similarities to the Wabanaki examples. These caps are quite rare but their appearance in both the Quebec painting and the one from Tuscarora suggests that they were made and used by more than one Haudenosaunee community and this was no doubt a piece of “traditional” attire during this period. Fig. 17 – Seneca headdress – late 18th early 19th century. From the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. The standing woman’s dress in figure 18 is also similar in style to the Caroline Parker example in figures 1 & 2, and the edge of the dress could be decorated with beadwork. Fig. 18 – Christening of the Tuscarora Asa Thompson – Watercolor attributed to Dennis Cusick, August 21, 1821. From the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC. As we get into the early 19th century, we find a number of realist paintings, done by Iroquois artists that give us a glimpse into the “traditional” dress styles from the period. In a watercolor painting by Denis Cusick (figure 18) we see examples of both men’s and women’s dress styles from the early 1820s. The bottom edge of the woman’s dress, which appears to be decorated in silk ribbon work, might also be edged in beadwork. Unlike the man who is wearing pants, she appears to be wearing leggings and both wear moccasins. The man has a frock coat that is held closed by a hand-woven sash. In a more defined image from this period (figure 19) we can see a lot more detail in the men’s outfits. It’s hard to say from the image if their leggings are beaded or simply decorated in ribbon work but it may well be a combination of the two. Fig. 19 – An undated photograph of a now-lost watercolor of four Tuscarora men wearing sashes, perhaps by Thomas Jacobs. Early-to mid-19th century. Titled: “The Intains [sic]. Tuscarora tribe.” The National Museum of the Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1833, the young Laura M. Sheldon of Barnet, Vermont, married the Reverend Asher Wright, a preacher to the Seneca at the Buffalo Creek Reservation, and she devoted the rest of her life to the Christian well-being of the Iroquois. Very clever in devising ways to get them to listen to her moralizing and religious instructions, she would invite them to what we might now call a “tea meeting.” They were at the liberty to bring their needlework, which consisted in ornamenting their deerskin moccasins with porcupine quills, or their broadcloth skirts and leggings with beads, or perhaps fastening a quantity of silver brooches upon their short gowns or hats. While thus occupied, she read and explained the gospel truths in their own language, sang hymns with them, and frequently encouraged them to tell her some story of old times. The simple repast, which had really brought them there and held them through the afternoon, was then served, and they went away to think of the “good words” that had been spoken to them about the “new way” (Caswell 1892:65). Two Seneca ladies are depicted wearing an ample amount of silver broaches on their collars in a circa 1860 tintype (figure 20). Fig. 20 – Circa 1860 tintype of two Seneca women in their traditional dress. Their collars are decorated with silver brooches. Private collection. Fig. 20a - detail view Fig. 20b - detail view Fig. 20c - detail view Caroline Parker’s outfit in figures 1 and 2 is also decorated in silver brooches. Although none of the brooches depicted in these images are in the shape of a heart, many 18th and early 19th century Iroquois brooches were. The heart shaped brooch has been called the national badge of the Iroquois because of its popularity among them. It is found in both single and double forms, often surmounted by a crown. The design is thought to have come to North America from Scotland, where it was a popular love token and betrothal symbol. The “Luckenbooth” brooch, as it was known in Scotland, may have been introduced by British-trained silversmiths such as Robert Cruickshank or James Hanna. Another possibility is that the Indians requested the brooch after seeing it worn by Scottish traders and settlers (Fredrickson and Gibb 1980:53). The earliest heart-shaped brooches were manufactured in Europe as early as the seventeenth century. “They were mostly used as luck tokens, or betrothal gifts, and the choice of the heart shape … is sufficiently obvious (Parker 1910:354).” Many were later made by Iroquois silversmiths who found their inspiration in European models, and historically, the Iroquois continued fabricating them until at least the 1860s. Any brooch pinned to the garment of a child was regarded by the Scotch as an efficient charm against witches.…When the Iroquois silversmiths copied the Scotch patterns they left off many things that were common in the original patterns and interpreted the design as their own education, environment, or customs dictated … (Parker 1911:285). The use of silver brooches as charms to ward off evil spirits was an early component of many Native peoples’ traditional beliefs. Silver was a gift from the underworld with a natural luminosity – a quality much revered by native people. They believed that the luminosity, especially in ornaments of personal adornment, constituted a power that reflected or blocked evil spirits and radiated the good powers of the sun and moon in the Upper World. Reflective silver ornaments were placed at strategic locations on the body by adults and children, the living, and the dead. Luminosity represented knowledge and wisdom and gave life to inanimate objects. Iroquois ceremonial masks have reflective surfaces at the eyes to give them life and the Naskapi word for mirror translates as “see soul metal” (Hamilton 1995:49). About the same time that Caroline Parker was photographed in the famous daguerreotypes of her (figures 1 & 2), the artist Thomas Jacobs produced a watercolor illustration of three Iroquois women in traditional attire (figure 21). Fig. 21 – Three Iroquois women in colorful attire – Watercolor signed “Thomas Jacobs 1852.” Jacobs is a Seneca name, and it may also be a Tuscarora name. The women’s apparel is typical of mid-19th century formal dress, with silver brooches and beadwork decoration. Their outfits appear to be embellished almost exclusively with silver brooches. In another watercolor from the same period (figure 22) the women’s outfits are also decorated with silver brooches and additionally their leggings and dress appear to be beaded. One of the unusual features of their outfits are the scarves/shawls they are wearing. Some early 19th century observers mention these scarves but to the best of my knowledge, none exist in either museum or private collections. Fig. 22 – Watercolor of four Iroquois women, artist and date unknown. Looks to be from the mid-nineteenth century. Private collection. Caroline Parker’s mid-19th century outfit in figures 1 and 2 is clearly decorated with curvilinear designs and floral motifs. None of the other outfits in the early images we have examined in this posting, as well as others I have seen, are decorated this way. By the mid-19th century, floral beadwork replaced the abstract and geometrical designs that had been the accepted art form among Iroquois traditionalist for centuries. Why this happened may have its origins in Euro/American reasoning. In the early nineteenth century non-Native girls were schooled to be pious, chaste, submissive, patient, and adept at “every variety of needlework,” and to “have a special affinity for flowers” (Welter 1966:165). During the same period, the Haudenosaunee incorporated symbolic and representational floral imagery in their work and this development came about rather suddenly. Although scholars have demonstrated eloquently that flowers were related to Victorian ideals of womanhood (Phillips 1998), the sudden emergence of this type of ornamentation is a fundamental question that has yet to be fully explained. Ted Brasser also points out that there is only scant evidence that representational floral motifs, in Iroquois decorative arts, were in use prior to the Revolutionary War. Aboriginal decorative designs were originally abstract and geometrical, but a curvilinear art style became popular in the 1750s. This new art style was adopted by all native peoples around French Quebec, suggesting that it was inspired by some form of French art (Brasser 2009:71). Others have argued that the complex foliate designs arrived in North America with the French missionaries and fur traders and that they originate in European decorative arts, introduced, in the French convents, by the Ursuline nuns to their Indian students. The course of instruction that was taught to young women in Europe and America that Welter described above was no doubt adopted in the French convents as part of the curriculum for their Indian students. These decorative ideas were subsequently dispersed across the region as their Native students returned to their scattered homes through the northeast (Barbeau 1930). Perhaps, as a partial concession to ministerial educational programs, some Indian artists modified their traditional iconography and adopted the floral imagery. The inspiration may have been European floral designs, but Native aesthetics and cultural meaning were incorporated into the final works of art. Ruth Phillips has suggested that “the Western and Victorian association of flowers with ideal ‘feminine’ qualities of fragility, beauty, and godliness converged with traditional Haudenosaunee associations of plants and the crops cultivated by women with the sustenance of human life to create a shared visual artistic language” (Phillips 1998). Flowers and plants did have a place in Iroquois ceremonial life, although not necessarily in the forms depicted on clothing. The fact that floral designs were adopted for ceremonial clothing indicates that there had to be more to their use than mere imitation and commercial motives. They had become an accepted part of the art style, and a source of group identity (Harding 1994:26). In summary, many believed that the shimmering patterns, fashioned by the beads, attracted the spirits that inhabited the woodlands of the Northeast. Richly decorated clothing was, after all, intended to please benevolent spirits and to protect the wearer against harm from malevolent ones. Clothing styles and fashion accessories change over time; this is true in most cultures. The reasons for the change are varied and sometimes complex. Jennifer Neptune, a contemporary Penobscot artist, aptly points out that the floral motifs that appear in Northeast Woodland beadwork were meant to convey a message about the individual or group identity of those who created them. I see medicine plants in the designs, and it’s obvious to me that people were beading designs of plants that were highly valued to themselves, their families, and their tribe. When I look at the floral designs I see plants that ease childbirth, break fevers, soothe coughs and colds, take away pain, heal cuts, burns, and bruises, and maintain general health.… A hundred years ago plants were the main source of medicine for Natives as well as non-Natives. With the knowledge and importance of these plants in our culture beadworkers needed to look no further than their own backyards for their own floral designs. A hundred years later these same plants are still in our backyards, are still being used for healing, and are still being used to inspire our beadwork designs (Faulkner, Prince & Neptune 1998:41). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. REFERENCES CITED Barbeau, C. Marius 1930 “The Origin of Floral and Other Designs Among the Canadian and Neighboring Indians.” Proceedings of the Twenty-third International Congress of Americanists, held at New York, September 17 – 22, 1928. Nendeln/Leichenstein. (Krans reprint, NY 1968). Brasser, Ted J. 2009 Native American Clothing – An Illustrated History. Firefly Books, Ltd. Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. Caswell, Harriet S. 1892 Our Life Among the Iroquois Indians. Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, Boston and Chicago. Faulkner, Gretchen Fearon, Prince, Nancy & Neptune, Jennifer Sapiel 1998 “Beautifully Beaded: Northeastern Native American Beadwork” in American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 24, Number 1, Winter edition. Fredrickson, N. Jaye and Gibb, Sandra 1980 The Covenant Chain – Indian Ceremonial and Trade Silver. A catalog to a travelling exhibition of the National Museum of Man. Published by the National Museum of Canada / Ottawa. Hamilton, Martha Wilson 1995 Silver in the Fur Trade 1689–1820. Published by the author. Privately printed. Harding, Deborah 1994 Bagging the Tourist Market: A Descriptive and Statistical Study of 19th Century Iroquois Beaded Bags. Unpublished Masters Thesis. Anthropology Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Holler, Deborah R. 2011 ‘The Remarkable Caroline G. Parker Mountpleasant, Seneca Wolf Clan.” Western New York Heritage, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring. Parker, Arthur C. 1910 “The Origin of Iroquois Silversmithing” in American Anthropologist, New Series, Vo. 12, No. 3, July-September. 1911 “Additional Notes on Iroquois Silversmithing” in American Anthropologist, New Series, Volume 13. Phillips, Ruth 1998 Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700 – 1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Pratt, Stephanie 2005 American Indians in British Art, 1700-1840. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Welter, Barbara 1966 “The Cult of True Womanhood 1820–1860.” American Quarterly 18(2), pt.I:151–174.

Ben Seibel Harvest Time 15" Oval Serving Platter. Vintage Iroquois Informal True China Harvest Time pattern. Produced from 1958 to 1969. White platter with gray and brown leaves. The back of the platter is a matching solid brown. Cool retro design. Marked 'Informal True China by Iroquois Ben Seibel Design Flameproof for Cooking Made in USA' on the bottom. Nice aged condition with very light scratches. No chips cracks. Looks great on display or on the table. Autumn Fall Leaves Thanksgiving Tabletop Decor. Measurements: 15 3/8” long / 10.5" wide Please refer to photos as part of the description and contact me with any questions. Combined shipping quote available upon request. For more vintage finds from shopliferelics, follow this link to my Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/shopliferelics

Revised January 17, 2014 In the collection of the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) in Rochester, New York is a table cover (figures 1a and 1b) that was made by Caroline Parker, a Seneca from the Tonawanda Reservation in Western New York. Although it is undated, stylistic comparison to other similarly beaded items suggests it is from the mid-nineteenth century (figure 2). The most prominent feature on the piece in figure 1 is the large, central floral motif that distinguishes it stylistically from other floral work that was done during the mid-nineteenth century. I believe this motif, and its variations are diagnostic of a style of floral beadwork that was done on the Tonawanda Reservation in western New York primarily by beadworkers in the Parker family; notably Caroline Parker, her mother Elizabeth, and Mariah, the wife of Caroline’s brother Levi. There may also have been others in their immediate circle of beadworkers involved in the production of this style. Figure 1a – The center section of a table cover in the Rochester Museum and Science Center collected by Lewis Henry Morgan and created by Caroline Parker. The cover measures 4 feet by 5.5 feet. Photo by Deborah Holler. Figure 1b – Detail of the flower in figure 1. Photo by Deborah Holler. Deborah Holler has written that a recent revival of interest in Iroquois beadwork by connoisseurs and art historians has shed new light on Caroline Parker’s artistry in clothing and textiles, widely acknowledged to be pivotal in the 19th century cultural exchange between the Native aesthetic and European influences. This developing aesthetic in clothing and textiles became an inspiration for generations of Iroquois artists, as well as the prototype for Seneca women’s “traditional” clothing styles. Thus Carrie Parker, it can be argued, became an arbiter of change who walked in two worlds; that of her traditional Tonawanda Seneca and Tuscarora communities, and that of the highest social and political realms of white society (Holler 2011:9). [You can read two excellent articles about Caroline Parker by Deborah Holler in Western New York Heritage Magazine, Volume 14, Number 1, Spring, 2011 and in American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 37, Number 4, Autumn, 2012.] Figure 2 – Tonawanda Seneca. A beaded bag with a diagnostic flower on the back. An old newspaper used as a stiffener during the construction of the flap is dated February, 1848. During the classic period of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) souvenir beadwork (1800–1840s) bags, hats, moccasins and other fanciful items featured curvilinear and geometric designs and organic motifs. During the dawn of the Victorian era however, (the Victorian era began in June of 1837 with the reign of Queen Victoria and ended with her death in January, 1901) a major design transformation – the rise of the Niagara floral style – took place in Haudenosaunee beadwork (figure 3). The origin of this floral style has long been a topic of discussion among scholars and researchers and evidence suggests it emerged during the late 1830s, in the waning years of the classic period of Haudenosaunee beadwork. (See Chapter 4 in A Cherished Curiosity: The Souvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee(Iroquois) Art for more on this transition.) Figure 3 – An assortment of mid-19th century beaded bags in the Niagara Floral style. These were made in most Iroquois beading communities and often sold at Niagara Falls. Scholars such as Ruth Phillips have indicated that the rapid shift from curvilinear and geometric designs to floral motifs in mid-nineteenth century Iroquois work has been linked to Victorian fashion trends and women’s domestic sphere (Phillips 1998). During this period, floral beadwork became the predominate style that would be made and sold by the Haudenosaunee. The overwhelming evidence suggests that the floral motifs illustrated in figure 3 were produced in most Haudenosaunee beading communities, but the floral style illustrated in figures 1a & b appears to be unique to the mid-nineteenth century Seneca on the Tonawanda Reservation. [F]loral imagery can also be linked to Haudenosaunee cosmology, beginning with Skywoman, who is also called Mature Flower, and is the model for the image of Haudenosaunee femininity. Once on Turtle Island, Skywoman initiates the cycle of growth of the Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash), as well as the use of powerful plant medicines, all of which may be included in the symbolic representation of floral imagery (Holler 2012:62). Caroline’s mother Elizabeth is believed to have lived on the Cattaraugus Reservation before her move to Tonawanda and she may have developed her commercial sewing and beadwork skills under the tutelage of Laura Wright, the wife of the Rev. Asher Wright, a missionary to the Seneca at Cattaraugus. Wright held classes and set up an industrial shop on the reservation. [Wright’s] next step in the plan for the [Seneca] women was to teach them to make garments for sale, and with the money thus obtained buy more material… The women… had become thoroughly interested and imbued with the healthful fascination of earning something, and were clamorous for more work (Caswell 1892:205-206). Mrs. Wright was also clever in devising ways to get Seneca women to listen to her moralizing and religious instructions. Often, she would invite them to what we might today call a “tea meeting.” They were at the liberty to bring their needlework, which consisted in ornamenting their deerskin moccasins with porcupine quills, or their broadcloth skirts and leggings with beads, or perhaps fastening a quantity of silver brooches upon their short gowns or hats. While thus occupied, she read and explained the gospel truths in their own language, sang hymns with them, and frequently encouraged them to tell her some story of old times. The simple repast, which had really brought them there and held them through the afternoon, was then served, and they went away to think of the “good words” that had been spoken to them about the “new way” (Caswell 1892:65). Because her so called “tea meetings” were accompanied by the teaching of the gospel, they were opposed by many Seneca traditionalists. Elizabeth Parker’s daughter Caroline was born sometime before 1828 and she was known to her family as “Ga-ho-na, meaning the Blue Bell” (Parker 1919:58). By 1855, when many white settlers around her were illiterate in English, and most American Indians did not speak English with fluency, Caroline was teaching the “3 R’s” to Indian children on the Tonawanda Reservation. Although the laws at the time dictated that women could not own property, and very few of the emerging middle class worked outside their homes, Caroline earned a living teaching and occupied a cabin of her own on the reservation. She also worked on her parents’ farm. As her brothers left home to serve in the U. S. military and advance their careers, she managed the family business accounts, represented her parents to public officials and corresponded with her brothers on all aspects of family and community life. Caroline sometimes acted as a translator of official business for the Tonawanda Chiefs and seems to have been something of a political operative in times of crisis (Holler 2011:12). In 1864, she married Tuscarora Chief John Mt. Pleasant and moved to the Tuscarora Reservation. Figure 4 – Engraving of Lewis Henry Morgan, from the 1901 edition of his League of the Hodenosaunee or Iroquois. Lewis Henry Morgan (figure 4), an attorney from Rochester, New York, had an inquisitive mind and a curiosity about the Haudenosaunee. He was also loosely affiliated with New York State Cabinet of Natural History (NYSCNH). By chance, he met Caroline’s younger brother Ely in a bookstore and a friendship ensued. Through Morgan’s influence, the Parkers were retained to produce examples of Seneca material culture for the NYSCNH, the predecessor to the New York State Museum in Albany. Although many of these items were destroyed in a devastating 1911 fire, Morgan had illustrations made of the beaded items, in full color, which were published in two reports for the State of New York (Morgan 1850, 1852) as well as in a 1901 reprint of his classic work on the Iroquois (Morgan 1901). Morgan also kept examples of Caroline’s beadwork for himself, some of which were later returned to the New York State Museum and others to the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Regarding Caroline’s dress (figures 5 & 6), that was collected for the state, Morgan wrote: This is without question the finest specimen of Indian beadwork ever exhibited. Next to the article itself the plate will furnish the best description. It was made by Miss Caroline G. Parker (Ga-Ha-No), a Seneca Indian girl, now being educated in the State Normal School, to whose finished taste, and patient industry the State is indebted for most of the many beautiful specimens of beadwork embroidery now in the Indian collection. (Morgan 1852:110–111). During the approximately three month period between November 1849 and the end of January 1850, the Parkers provided Morgan with over 200 items, of which about 16 pieces were beadwork. These were collected by Morgan for the Third Regents Report. Morgan’s correspondence with the Parkers indicates that Caroline made many of the items that were supplied to the Cabinet of Natural History in Albany although some scholars dispute this point as Caroline was attending school in Albany at the time and wrote that she was overwhelmed with school work and other obligations. More than likely, the beadwork that was provided to the state was from an existing inventory and it’s impossible to determine at this point how much of it was made by Caroline or by other members of her family. One of Caroline’s relations wrote that there was a “what-not” or curio cabinet that her mother Elizabeth kept at the family farm. One shelf contained a display of “fancy Indian beadwork,” presumably made by Elizabeth, but there is no description of it (Parker 1919:194). Elizabeth also “made very fine bead-work too and Aunt Carrie [Caroline] learned from her” (Parker 1919:235). Figure 5a – Illustration of a dress made by Caroline Parker and featured in the Fifth Regents Report to the State of New York, 1852. Figure 5b – An illustration of Caroline wearing the same dress. From the front plate in Morgan’s 1901 edition of his League of the Hodenosaunee or Iroquois. Figure 6 – Circa 1850 daguerreotype of Caroline wearing that dress. Figure 7 – Image on left is a detail of the bag in figure 6. The bag on the right is the one illustrated in Morgan’s report to the Regents of the State of New York. They appear to be the same bag. The beaded bag that Caroline is holding in figure 6 is virtually identical to the colored illustration in figure 7. Beaded bags in this style are seen in both museum and private collections. They usually have a scalloped flap and a scalloped lower edge, as well as several strings of beads sewn in a tight band along the perimeter (figure 8). The scalloping along the edge of these bags may have originated in response to the Victorians’ love for scalloped borders as it’s rare to find a Haudenosaunee bag with scalloped edges that predates the Victorian era. The Schedule of Articles that Morgan donated to the State of New York in 1849 included five varieties of Ga-ya-ah [work bags] and six varieties of Got-gwen-da [pocket books] (Tooker 1994:277) so it would seem that Morgan collected a range of bag styles from the Tonawanda Seneca. The floral design in figure 1 is a documented example of Caroline’s work and there are numerous objects that have survived that incorporate a virtually identical floral motif in the design (see figures 11, 12 & 22). Except for the example in figure 1, there are no records that assure us Caroline made any of the other items but the bead colors, delicacy and refinement of the designs and their stylistic similarity to the design in figure 1 suggests to me that there is a good possibility that she did; they represent the highest level of Haudenosaunee beadwork. Art historian Ruth Phillips has written that Caroline Parker’s work is characterized by its flatness, great delicacy, relatively high degree of naturalism, and its use of small, pastel, white, and translucent beads (Phillips 1998:224). Figure 8 – A group of mid-19th century bags that are stylistically similar to the one in figure 7. Each has a scalloped lower edge and several strings of beads sewn in a tight band along the perimeter. In Morgan’s Fifth Regents Report to the State of New York, he illustrates a pincushion that he collected from the Parkers (figure 9) which is very similar to one that was collected at Niagara Falls in 1850 (figure 10). They both have similarities to the large floral design described above and likely represent a Tonawanda Seneca style, though not necessarily one that was made by the Parkers. Beadworkers seldom worked in isolation so there might have been some borrowing of ideas and designs among mid-nineteenth century Tonawanda beadworkers which would account for the similarities in their work. Figure 9 – Pincushion collected from the Parkers and illustrated in Morgan’s Fifth Regents Report to the State of New York January 22, 1851, Plate 19. Figure 10 – Tonawanda Seneca pincushion, 6 inches wide. An inked inscription on the back reads: “Bought at the Bath House on Bath Island, Falls of Niagara, Sept. 27, 1850.” There is also a name after the date but it’s barely legible, although it possibly says Peterman. Bath Island was one of several islands in the Goat Island complex. Access to Goat Island was from Bath Island where a visitor would first have to pay a toll. There was a concession at the Bath Island Toll House that sold so called “Indian curiosities.” The close similarity of this pincushion to the one illustrated Morgan’s Fifth Regents Report suggests that it could have been made by the Parkers or someone in their immediate beading circle. Figure 11 – From the collection of Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield, Massachusetts. The similarity of the flower to the one in figure 1 is striking. The bags in figures 12 through 17 also have a variation of that large, central floral motif. Other distinguishing features on these bags include a tight band of beads along a scalloped perimeter. Additionally, like the table cover in figure 1, they incorporate some variation of the dendrite or spray work along the perimeter of the flower that might symbolizes the world tree from the Iroquois creation story (Parker 1912:616-620). The large flower could be a stylized representation of the sun depicted atop the celestial or world tree also from the creation story. Although the Parkers adapted their lifestyle to co-exist with Europeans and presented their work to Victorian consumers in a way that was acceptable to them, they could still covertly incorporate symbols in their work that had cultural significance to them. Figure 12 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 13 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 14 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 15 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 16 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. Figure 17 – Beaded bag, likely Tonawanda Seneca, mid-19th century. “The art of flowering” – as the Parkers termed it – is what they were noted for: In doing this work, the eye and the taste are the chief reliances, as they use no patterns except as they may have seen them in the works of others. In combining colors certain general rules, the result of experience and observation, are followed, but beyond them each one pursued her own fancy. They never seek for strong contrasts, but break the force of it by interposing white, that the colors may blend harmoniously. Thus light blue and pink beads, with white beads between them, is a favorable combination; dark blue and yellow, with white between, is another; red and light blue, with white between, is another; and light purple and dark purple, with white between, is a fourth. Others might be added were it necessary. If this beadwork is critically examined it will be found that these general rules are strictly observed; and in so far as beadwork embroidery may be called a systematic art. The art of flowering, as they term it, is the most difficult part of the beadwork, as it requires an accurate knowledge of the appearance of the flower, and the structure and condition of the plant at the stage in which it is represented (Morgan 1852:111). Figure 18 – Beaded Glengarry hat on red wool Stroud with a green silk ribbon edging. Mid-19th century. The top panel incorporates the large diagnostic flower. Other flowers are depicted in various stages of blossoming, a characteristic found on work by the Parkers. Figure 19 – Large beaded pillow in the Tonawanda Seneca style. We are not limited to examples of beaded bags in our search for items with this characteristic flower. Figures 18 – 20 highlight other examples of souvenir art with this diagnostic element. The Glengarry hat in figure 18, although missing the dendrite or spray work along the perimeter of the flower, incorporates other elements that point to a Tonawanda origin and possibly to Caroline Parker. In many of the objects that can be stylistically attributed to the Parkers, flowers are often represented in different stages of blossoming and that feature is most apparent on the side panels of the hat. The large flower on the top could also be a stylistic representation of the sun mounted atop the world tree. Figure 19 is a large pillow which again shows the characteristic central floral element with the dendrite or spray work. This is surrounded by many strings of beads in a scalloped perimeter very much like the beaded bags. Other features are the flowers that are represented in different stages of blossoming. The piece in figure 20 is a lovely tri-fold, calling card wallet shown opened. There are also numerous pieces that don’t have the large central flower but incorporate other elements that are seen in examples that do (figure 21). Figure 20 – Tri-fold calling card wallet with the diagnostic flower. Figure 21 – A group of beaded items without the large diagnostic flower yet still incorporating other elements found on examples that do. Figure 22 – Beaded bag/satchel, Tonawanda Seneca type (both sides shown), dark blue velvet, glass beads, silk ribbon edge binding; circa 1850. The cord strap is wrapped with silk ribbon, in a similar fashion as the one in figure 24. 12 inches high by 12 inches wide. The similarity of the large central flower to the one in figure 1 suggests to me that it could be the work of Caroline Parker. The beading technique and the floral patterns on the side with the flap are nearly identical to those on a skirt in the Rochester Museum and Science Center, number 70.89.61 that is attributed to Caroline Parker (See: Phillips 1998:225, fig. 6.23). Perhaps two of the most striking pieces that incorporate floral elements attributable to the Parkers are the large bags/satchels in figures 22 and 23. Figure 23 – Beaded bag/satchel, Seneca type (both sides shown). Glass beads, red velvet, green silk ribbon edge binding. Mid-19th century. 11.3 inches high x 14 inches wide. Originally from the estate of William Waldegrave Palmer (1859–1942), the Second Earl of Selborne and the son of Roundell Palmer (1812–1895), the first Earl of Selborne. Remarkably similar to an example attributed to the Parkers and illustrated in the Fifth Regents Report to the State of New York; see figure 24. The example in figure 22 is from a remarkable collection that was illustrated in the publication titled: Pleasing the Spirits by Douglas C. Ewing in 1982, figure 252 although there is no known record linking it directly to Caroline. The bag in figure 23 is from the estate of William Waldegrave Palmer, the Second Earl of Selborne (1859 – 1942). Palmer served for a time as High Commissioner to South Africa and before that was Under Secretary to the British Colonies. This bag could have belonged to his father Roundell Palmer (1812 – 1895), the First Earl of Selborne, who may have been one of the many foreign dignitaries that were frequent visitors to the Parker/Mt. Pleasant homestead near Niagara Falls. What is remarkable about this example is its similarity to a satchel illustrated in Morgan (figure 24). Figure 24 – Beaded satchel attributed to the Parker's and illustrated in the Report on the Fabrics, Inventions, Implements and Utensils of the Iroquois, Made to the Regents of the University, Jan. 22, 1851, by Lewis Henry Morgan, plate 18. Morgan described the satchel in his 1850 Tonawanda field notes as a beautiful example of Seneca beadwork. Upon one side of the lower figure is designed to represent a rosebush, with its flowers at different stages of maturity from those [which] are just opening to those [which] are in full bloom. The success of the imitation although not perfect by any means is yet quite striking. It is quite easy to detect the opening rose in the bud at the left. The same thing is attempted on the rose at the top. On the reverse side are two stars, which as specimens of fancywork, are certainly very tastefully and ingeniously made. It is an imitation of the ordinary travelling bag of the whites, and not an Indian article. [As quoted in: (Tooker 1994:152–153)]. The beading technique used for the floral decorations on both Palmer’s bag and Morgan’s satchel appears identical, and each depicts flowers that are in various stages of blossoming. Even the method used to create the stems is distinctive, comprised of adjacent and repeated bead segments which create the illusion that the beads are twisted together. Morgan indicated in his notes that the Parkers sent him five of these sizable bags in 1849. Both these bags were conceivably made by the same hand, and possibly by one of the Tonawanda Parkers. Figure 25 – Late 19th century cabinet card of Caroline Parker wearing a dress with beaded decorations, possibly by her own hand. Caroline (figure 25) died in 1892 and her obituary appeared in the New York Times. A Noted Indian Woman Dead. The Widow of the Chief of the Six Nations. Lockport, N.Y., March 20. – The death of Caroline Mountpleasant, wife of the late chief of the Six Nations, John Mountpleasant, yesterday, aged sixty years, removes one of the most prominent Indian women of the time. Mrs. Mountpleasant was a sister of the celebrated Indian General Parker, now of New York, who served so gallantly in the civil war, earning his title of brigadier General. The deceased had received an academic education and was well read in literature, particularly regarding Indian matters. She proved of great help to her husband in his efforts to elevate and educate the various tribes of the Six Nations. Mrs. Mountpleasant, after his death, retained her home with the Tuscaroras, on the reservation, where her influence in religious, educational, and commercial matters was strongly felt. Her home was a large finely appointed house in the midst of the reservation, very picturesquely situated. It was one of the most complete museums of Indian relics and curiosities, and was visited by thousands of prominent American and noted English and foreign tourists. The other appointments of the place, such as barns and out-dwellings, were on a mammoth scale. The funeral of the dead Indian woman will be held to-morrow (New York Times, March 21, 1892, page 4). If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art. REFERENCES CITED Biron, Gerry 2012 A Cherished Curiosity: The Souvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art. Published by the author. Saxtons River, Vermont. Caswell, Harriet S. 1892 Our Life Among the Iroquois Indians. Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, Boston and Chicago. Holler, Deborah 2011 “The Remarkable Caroline G. Parker Mountplasant, Seneca Wolf Clan.” Western New York Heritage Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 1, Spring. 2012 “Fashion, Nationhood and Identity: The Textile Artistry of Caroline G. Parker.” American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 37, Number 4, Autumn. Morgan, Lewis Henry 1901 League of the Hodenosaunee or Iroquois, A New Edition, with Additional Matter. Edited and Annotated by Herbert M. Lloyd. Volume I & II. Dodd, Mead and Company, New York. 1850 “Report to the Regents of the University, upon the Articles Furnished to the Indian Collection.” In The Third Annual Report of the Regents of the University on the Condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History and Antiquarian Collection, Annexed Thereto pp. 63 – 93. Revised Edition: Printed by Weed, Parsons and Company, Albany. 1852 “Report on the Fabrics, Inventions, Implements and Utensils of the Iroquois, Made to the Regents of the University, Jan. 22, 1851; Illustrative of the Collection Annexed to the State Cabinet of Natural History, with Illustrations.” In The Fifth Annual Report of the Regents of the University on the Condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History and the Historical and Antiquarian Collection, Annexed Thereto, pp 68 – 117. Printed by Richard H. Pease, Albany. Parker, Arthur C. 1912 “Certain Iroquois Tree Myths and Symbols” in the American Anthropologist, Vol. 14. 1919 The Life of General Ely S. Parker, Last Grand Sachem of the Iroquois and General Grant’s Military Secretary. The Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo, New York. Phillips, Ruth 1998 Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700 – 1900. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. Tooker, Elizabeth 1994 Lewis H. Morgan on Iroquois Material Culture. The University of Arizona Press.

Iroquois Confederacy PART I. Because of the length of study on this topic, we have devoted two pages on our site to this topic. This page is about the Iroquois Confederacy. Click here for PART

Please read the ADDENDUM at the end of the posting. Over the past few years, an intriguing group of images from the Sanitary Commission Fair in Albany, New York have surfaced that depict a group of non-Natives who are dressed in outfits incorporating Iroquois designs along with examples of their beadwork. One dress in particular, worn by a Mrs. Clinton Ten Eyck (figure 1a), appears to be the identical dress worn by Caroline Parker, a Seneca beadworker, in a famous daguerreotype of her (figure 2). Figure 1 – Large, albumen photograph of a group of enactors at the Sanitary Commission Fair, Albany, New York – February, 1864. No photographer indicated. Figure 2 – Daguerreotype of Caroline Parker, circa 1850. I reversed the image so that it can be viewed laterally correct. Daguerreotypes images are normally a reversed image, depicting the subject as if it were in a mirror. The only way the photographer could get a correct orientation was to copy the image with a second daguerreotype, or to make the original daguerreotype using a reversing prism or mirror system. Besides the complexity, another problem with a reversing mirror was if the image was taken outdoors it could be subject to movement by a breeze which would cause a blurred image. So typically people just lived with a flipped or inverted image. By reversing the orientation of this image Caroline is seen as she would have appeared to us in person and it’s easier to see how the design on her dress is identical to those on the dress in figure 1a. Wikipedia reports that the United States Sanitary Commission was created during the Civil War to improve conditions for Union soldiers. It was a private relief agency, created by federal legislation, to support sick and wounded soldiers. It operated across the North, enlisted thousands of volunteers, and raised its own funds. Union ladies did fund-raising fairs in cities across the north, where paintings, photographs, and a host of other donated items were auctioned or sold to support the war effort. Besides raising money and collecting donations, volunteers worked as nurses, ran kitchens in army camps, administered hospital ships, soldiers' homes, lodges, established places of rest for traveling or disabled soldiers, made uniforms, and organized Sanitary Fairs to support the Federal army with funds and supplies. It was hard work; many women had to travel great distances and at times found themselves in unpleasant situations. Some of the more prominent women involved in these fairs included Louisa May Alcott, Almira Fales, Eliza Emily Chappell Porter, Katherine Prescott Wormeley and others. The first Sanitary Fair occurred in Chicago, in the fall of 1863, and it included a six-mile-long parade of militiamen, bands, political leaders, delegations from various local organizations, and a contingent of farmers who donated carts full of their crops. The fairs generally involved large scale exhibitions, including displays of art, mechanical technology, and period rooms. Many of these displays were based on the history that local communities held in common. Different localities often competed with one another over their contribution to the national cause which brought a sense of pride to the community. Except for figure 2, the photographs in this posting originated from a Sanitary Fair that was held in Albany, New York in 1864. It was reported, in the Evening Journal of February 29, 1864, that over the duration of the Fair, the individual concession booths had raised an estimated $50,000 for the cause. There were thirty plus booths at the Albany event including the Yankee Booth, Shaker Booth, Oriental Booth, Spanish Booth, Russian Booth, Gipsy Booth, Saratoga Springs Booth, the Ice Cream Booth, and of particular interest to us, the Indian Wigwam. The image in figure 1 is of a group of enactors who were overseeing that booth. The Fulton County (NY) newspaper cited above had the following entry about it: THE INDIAN WIGWAM. The Wigwam is one of the chief lions of the Bazaar. It has, probably, attracted larger crowds than any other "Shop" in the building. Its budget of curious things is peculiarly rich. A mere enumeration of the articles makes one's head swim. Moccasins, of rich texture and exquisite workmanship; Bows and Arrows; Pipes; Stuffed Birds and Animals; belts of Wampum; Scarves and head ornaments; Baskets, Reticules, Purses, Portmonnies, stacks of other curious wares too numerous to mention. In a reference to the outfits that the enactors were wearing and the individual personalities they were representing, it went on to state: The personations are admirable. Costumes, ornaments, paint, war-whoop, are wonderfully Indianiah. So perfect is the ambulation and so life-like the acting, that one fancies, for the moment that a band of Aboriginals have actually encamped in the Bazaar. The characters of the chieftainnees, “Nokomas,” “Minnehaha,” “Wawatasa,” “Opechee,” “Pocahontas,” and “Metamora” are strikingly “done.” The names of the dramatis persona are as follows:—Mrs. J. L Johnson, Manneoka; Mrs. Clinton Ten Eyck, Miss Mount Pleasant [Caroline Parker took the surname Mountpleasant after her marriage to Tuscarora chief John Mountpleasant]; Mrs. Karalake, Hiawatha; Mr. C Thomas, Metamora; Miss Groot, Pocahontas; Miss Little, Wawatasa; Miss Swan, Owassa; Miss Netterville, Minnehaha; Miss Redfield, Winona; Miss Wilson, Opechee; Miss Steele, Nokoma; Miss Taylor, Tawashagunshee. The importance of the Fair in Albany was demonstrated by a publication called TheCanteen that was published specifically to advertise the Fair and cover events that transpired there. It contained a diagram of the floor plan of the building along with lists of advertisers, items donated, food menus available to patrons, a description of each of the booths, anecdotes from soldiers who were fighting in the war, etc. Regarding the Indian Wigwam, it had this to say: THE WIGWAM Is one of the best regulated and most attractive places in the Bazaar. It is a life picture of Indian life. The ladies who preside there have made a decided hit. The hut itself is a curiosity as a work of art; the decorations are such as become a forest home. The managers evince a keen appreciation of the character, habits of life, sources of amusement, listless inactivity, pride and fondness for dress and display of the tribes they personate. They present the Indian character to the life. The hut is hung with trophies of war and of the chase. The canoe is drawn up waiting the opening of the streams; the snow-shoes are near the door and ready for any emergency. Bows and arrows, baskets, bead work, in all the varied forms, are here and well displayed. The wanderers from the St. Regis tribe who visit us and encamp on the island over the river annually [Starbuck Island?], never display a greater variety of their handiwork than do the fair denizens of the Wigwam, who have made their home with us for a few days. We give below the names of those who occupy the Wigwam, together with their Indian names: Mrs. J. I. Johnson, Manneoka; Mrs. Clinton Ten Eyck, Miss Mount Pleasant: Mr. S. Karslake, Hiawatha; Mr. C. Thomas, Metamora; Miss Groot, Pocahontas j Miss Little, Wawatasa; Miss Swan, Owassa; Miss Netterville, Minnehaha ; Miss Redfield, Winona; Miss Wilson, Opechee ; Miss Steele, Nokoma; Miss Taylor, Tawashagunshee. Figure 3 – An illustration of a very similar dress that was made by Caroline Parker’s and illustrated in one of Lewis Henry Morgan’s regent’s reports to the state of New York in the mid-19th century. It’s interesting to note that the text above was reporting that Akwesasne [St. Regis] Mohawk were selling in Albany, around this time, and possibly on Starbuck Island. Upon examination, the dress that Ten Eyck is wearing in figure 1a appears to be the same one that Caroline Parker is wearing in figure 2. Around 1850, Lewis Henry Morgan acquired a substantial number of beaded pieces from Caroline for the New York State Cabinet of Natural History (predecessor to the New York State Museum in Albany). So it’s possible they lent the dress to Ten Eyck for the fund raiser (figure 3). Figure 4 – Carte-de-visite (CDV) of a group of enactors at the Sanitary Commission Fair, Albany, New York, February, 1864. Photographer: J.H. Abbott, Albany, New York. Another photograph of this same group of enactors (figure 4) was likely taken at the same time figure 1 was taken as the images are nearly identical. A detail view of one of the bags in these images is illustrated in figure 5. Two similarly styled Iroquois bags are illustrated in figure 6. These bags, as well as the one in the image, are earlier than the date of the photograph (1864). Stylistically, the bags date to the 1830s. So the enactors are wearing a variety of items from different time periods such as bags from the 1830s, Caroline Parker’s dress from around 1850, and the hat of the subject in figure 1d from the 1860s. Figure 5 – Detail view of the beaded bag in figure 1b. This same bag can also be seen in figure 4. Figure 6 – Two beaded bags in the same style as the one in figure 5. Both of these bags date to the 1830s. In another image from the same year, and taken by the same photographer, J. H. Abbott, of Albany, New York, has a different group of enactors from this same Fair. Two of the women (fig. 7a & 7c) have beaded bags. The young boy (fig. 7b) is wearing a multi-panel hat that has floral decorations in the Niagara style. Figure 8 is a detail view of the bag in figure 7a. A similarly styled bag is illustrated in figure 9. This style of bag is contemporary to the image. The bag in figure 7c is in the Niagara floral style. Figure 7 – CDV of a different group of enactors at the Sanitary Commission Fair, Albany, New York, February, 1864. Photographer: J.H. Abbott, Albany, New York. Figure 8 – Detail of the beaded bag in figure 7a. Figure 9 – A similar beaded bag to the one in figure 8. This bag is totally embellished in crystal beads and two strings of white beads and the one in figure 8 may have been as well. Bags in this style that were decorated with crystal beads and occasionally in a combination of both crystal band white beads were popular from the 1850s through the 1880s. Another interesting image from this group is figure 10. These same three individuals are also part of the group in figure 7. This image affords us a better view of the boy’s Niagara style hat and beaded bag. Some of the elements in the woman’s outfit, such as the large flower on her headband and the one on her dress, above her bust line, appear to be beaded and this may be a Mohawk diagnostic (See: A Cherished Curiosity for more info on this).Yet the designs on her dress, although unusual, look Seneca. High magnification reveals that most of the decorations on her outfit are done in fabric appliqué and are not beaded. The wide band on her dress, with the diamond motifs, is bordered with a twisted cord. Even the large diamond with double-curves and semi-floral motif to the right of it appears to be made up from some kind of braided band. This could have been done for efficiency as her outfit may have been made specifically for the Sanitary Fair. Figure 10 – A cabinet card of what might be a mother and her children. The same boy is depicted in both figures 11 and 12 although he is wearing a different bag in those images. This same group is also depicted in figure 7. No photographer or location indicated but likely taken in February, 1864 at the time of the Sanitary Commission Fair in Albany, New York. Figure 11 is of the same young boy in figure 10; figure 12 depicts the same man pictured on the far left in figure 7. In figure 12, we have a much better view of his bandolier bag. Figure 11 – CDV of the young boy depicted in figures 7, 10 and 12. He has a late Niagara floral style beaded bag attached to his belt and a multi-panel Iroquois beaded hat, also in the Niagara floral style. Photographer: S. J. Thompson, Albany, New York. Figure 12 – CDV of the same young boy depicted in figure 11 and what is presumably his father. The father is wearing a large bandolier bag at his side (a better view of his bag can be seen in figure 7). Both the father and son are wearing Haudenosaunee moccasins decorated in the Niagara floral style. It’s especially of interest that Caroline Parker, the Seneca beadworker, was included in the list of historical characters that these enactors were representing. The year of the Fair is the same year that she was married to Tuscarora chief John Mountpleasant. During this period, her celebrated brother, General Eli Parker, was an officer on then General Grant’s Civil War staff. Deborah Holler writes that …historians and scholars of the Iroquois have speculated on her role in the political upheavals surrounding the Seneca land battles of the 19th century and wondered about her friendship with the renowned ethnographer Lewis Henry Morgan. In addition, a recent revival of interest in Iroquois beadwork by connoisseurs and art historians has shed new light on Caroline Parker’s artistry in clothing and textiles, widely acknowledged to be pivotal in the 19th century cultural exchange between the Native aesthetic and European influences. This developing aesthetic in clothing and textiles became an inspiration for generation of Iroquois artists, as well as the prototype for Seneca women’s “traditional” clothing styles. Thus Carrie Parker, it can be argued, became an arbiter of change who walked in two worlds; that of her traditional Tonawanda Seneca and Tuscarora communities, and that of the highest social and political realms of white society (Holler 2011:9). She was certainly a well know and a recognized figure in Albany society, not a small undertaking for an Indian woman in that day and age. References Cited Biron, Gerry 2012 A Cherished Curiosity: The Souvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art. Published by the author. Holler, Deborah 2011 The Remarkable Caroline G. Parker Mountpleasant, Seneca Wolf Clan in Western New York Heritage magazine. Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 2011. Addendum In looking over the photographs, after posting them online of course, I noticed a small detail that I overlooked and as small as it is, it changes everything. The floral motif on Ten Eyck’s dress (figure 4), (she is the lady standing in profile on the far right), should have five round flowers but it has only four and one stem can be seen ending abruptly, with the flower missing. That same floral arrangement on the dress in figures 1 through 3 has five flowers. So the dress that Ten Eyck is wearing might be a reproduction. The question is: was the beadwork on the dress under construction at the time the photo was taken, (likely using the original dress as their model) or, was she wearing the actual dress but by the time this image was taken, it had become damaged and somehow the flower fell off or was removed. Any thoughts?

 This first group of images is of Haudenosaunee people. The common feature here is the large beaded bag that they are wearing. These bags are quite rare and were likely made for personal use and not to be sold as souvenirs. Circa 1870s CDV photograph of a young woman, possibly Haudenosaunee, with a beautifully beaded bandolier bag. This image was taken in England so she may have been travelling with a Wild West show or an entertainment group as both were popular during this period. The next image is of a different woman, possibly this woman's mother, who is wearing the same hat and bag. Circa 1870s CDV image of a family, possibly Haudenosaunee, wearing outstanding examples of Iroquois beadwork. Both wear Haudenosaunee bandolier bags. This image was taken in England. 1870s tintype of a Haudenosaunee wearing a large bandolier bag that is similar stylistically to the ones pictured above. 1870s albumen photograph of Solomon O'Bail (1814-1899), a Seneca and grandson of Cornplanter. He is also wearing a large, Haudenosaunee bandolier bag. A late 19th century beaded collar and a bandolier bag identified as Iroquois in the Rochester Museum and Science Center. The bandolier bag is stylistically similar to those worn by the subjects in the previous images. If you have an interest in Northeast Woodland beadwork you might find my book of interest. Titled: A Cherished Curiosity: TheSouvenir Beaded Bag in Historic Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Art by GerryBiron. Published in 2012. This is a brand new, hard cover book with dust jacket. 184 pages and profusely illustrated. 8.5 x 11 inches. ISBN 978-0-9785414-1-5. Since the early nineteenth century, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) beaded bags have been admired and cherished by travelers to Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations for their aesthetic beauty, detailed artistry, and the creative spirit of their makers. A long neglected and misunderstood area of American Indian artistry, "souvenir" art as it's come to be called, played a crucial role in the subsistence of many Indian families during the nineteenth century. This lavishly illustrated history examines these bags – the most extensively produced dress accessory made by the Haudenosaunee – along with the historical development of beadworking both as an art form and as a subsistence practice for Native women. In this book, the beadwork is considered in the context of art, fashion, and the tourist economy of the nineteenth century. Illustrated with over one hundred and fifty of the most important – and exquisite – examples of these bags, along with a unique collection of historical photographs of the bags in their original context, this book provides essential reading for collectors and researchers of this little understood area of American Indian art.