<previous -index- next>

		Otter Pouch Eastern Plains Otter hide, intact otter skull, deer hide, dyed porcupine quills, sinew, fiber, glass beads, tin-plated sheet iron tinklers, wool yarn L: 110 cm W:23.5 cm PM#99-12-10/53052 Although otter pouches such as this are often associated with the Midewiwin or Medicine Society of the Great Lakes region, they were also widely used on the Plains as tobacco and pipe containers. Thirty years after the Lewis and Clark expedition, artist George Catlin painted and collected a pouch similar to this one belonging to the revered Mandan chief, Four Bears. This bag may have been sent to Lewis and Clark as an "ambassadorial" gift; according to Peale Museum records, one such was received from the "Sock nation." Jefferson also sent four other tobacco pouches to the Peale Museum; another was sent by the Hutter family in 1828. Subsequent museum labels attributed this quilled otter bag to either the Sauk or the Sioux. At least six quillwork techniques were used in the construction of this bag, including four mutliple thread sewing techniques. The multiple quill plaiting on the paws and tail of the otter is the work of a master artisan. Quill wrapped loops and pendants are attached to the otter's ears. Original paper label from the Peale Museum

	<previous -index- next> h o m e i n t r o o b j e c t s m a p r e s o u r c e s c r e d i t s The Ethnography of Lewis and Clark: Native American Objects and the American Quest for Commerce and Science Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Copyright ©President and Fellows of Harvard College