Bandelier bag

1875

Bandoleer Bag; Great Lakes; ca. 1875-1900 \nWool, cotton, glass; 96 x 36 cm.\nRMV 2098-1; donated by C. Bondam (unidentified), 1926 \nThis is not a typical bandolier bag (Gashkibidaagan, Aazhooningwa'igan, Aazhooningwi'igan) either in form or in beadwork design and therefore not easily attributable to any single Woodlands/Great Lakes nation. The bag is constructed with a red wool stroud foundation cloth likely produced in Europe for the North American Fur Trade during the mid-19th century and bound with a wool twill bias tape (often used). The loomed panels and the bead size used also suggest late 19th century origins. The small repetitive geometric motif might be Ojibwe, but is more frequently attributed to bead artists of the Menominee or Potawatomi nations by other scholars. The loomed construction consisting of one entire piece rather than a pocket panel and one or two strap panels is rather unusual, as is the cut into the pocket panel area and resulting small opening for pocket access. A few other examples of a similar form and design exist in private and public collections but limited provenance prevents specific cultural attribution. The major surface decoration of these bags made during the late 19th through 20th century was rendered in geometric and/or floral motifs. Their unique and distinctive imagery was attached to the bag surface either with panels of loomed beadwork that were applied to a cloth foundation or with beads that were attached, 1 to 3 beads at a time, using a needle and thread in a technique known as spot stitch or appliqué. The date of manufacture can be estimated based on bead size, the fabrics used, size and origin of beads, whether the beadwork is loom woven or applied, and on the motifs employed. Bandolier bags are identified as shoulder bags, with both the strap and pocket decorated primarily with glass beads. The beads used most often in the bags made by Great Lakes tribes were imported from Bohemian or Czechoslovakia. The bag's most distinctive characteristic is that it is made to be worn across the chest with the strap over one shoulder and the pocket resting on the opposite hip. It is commonly assumed that the bandolier bag was given its moniker by non-Indians because American Indians wore them the same way that Euro-American military men wore powder pouches and ammunition belts. Early images of First Americans as depicted by European immigrant artists present indigenous people wearing animal hides, quiver straps and other accessories across the chest or from the shoulder, suggesting that the wearing method was not introduced solely by immigrants.\nBandolier bags or their precursors were made by American Indian peoples in the Southeast, the Northeast, the Great Lakes and the far West. But from the mid 19th and well into the 20th century is the period when bandolier bags achieved their most prolific presence, and the area of greatest productivity in their creation was among some of the Algonquian language based nations of the Great Lakes (Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk or Winnebago, Menominee, Potawatomi, Sac & Fox or Meskwaki). But Ojibw (also known as Anishinabeg, Ojibwa, Chippewa) bags particularly dominated.‖ Ojibw bags began as highly decorative and potentially functional objects. Historically they may have held tobacco, personal effects, or other materials tied to an event or activity during which they were worn. Like all functional objects, bandolier bags could serve many purposes depending on the individual's preferences. What may have originated as a decorated, small, functional pouch eventually emerged as a large bag more valued for its visual impression than practicality, eventually ceasing to exist as a bag with a functioning pocket, at all.A major part of the Chippewa's ceremonial dress is the bandolier; a large beaded bag with a wide shoulder strap and fringes or tassels at the bottom. Bandoliers were worn by the wealthy Chippewa, usually one on each shoulder. The bag resembles the ammunition bag used by British soldiers in the eighteenth century. The Chippewa and other peoples of the Central Woodlands made their first own bandoliers in the early nineteenth century. Some say the beadwork-decorated bags were exchanged for horses with the Sioux at the end of winter. Each decorated bag was said to be worth one horse. From 1860 onwards European glass beads became more common and the bags were decorated entirely with beadwork, often in floral motifs.