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Dresses

3/24/2018

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This dress display includes the two main parts of a ceremonial dress: the apron and the skirt. Below are photos of the dresses, with close ups of the intricate detailing on the dresses and historical photos of women wearing the dresses. These dresses and aprons were worn during a variety of ceremonies held by local tribes and dresses like these are still used in ceremonies today.  

Aprons

​The apron was worn in the front while the skirt wrapped around the back. Photos from the early 1900s often show them being worn backwards to highlight the details on the back of the dresses. Ceremonial outfits include a variety of pieces that are made up of materials including dentalium, seed, and bead necklaces, hair ties, basketry caps, and sometimes sashes with woodpecker scalps.  
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​The aprons vary in design and materials with some aprons being very plain to others being very elaborate. Two examples of aprons are on display, one is a plain but detailed deerskin apron while the other is made up of hundreds of strands of blue trade beads with bells and beargrass.
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Deerskin Apron

Trade Bead and Bell Apron

Skirts

The skirt goes over the apron and wraps around the back of the wearer. The skirt usually features a large amount of decorative detailing made up of both naturally made and worked materials or traded materials. In many early 1900s photos of skirts being worn by locals, photographers had their subjects reverse the dress so the elaborate detailing could be more easily seen. An example of one of these photos, by A.W Ericson, is on the right. The photo on the left is of a contestant in Hoopa's Miss Indian Princess pageant in the 1950s. You can see between the two photos the difference in how the skirt is worn, with the apron being visible on the left under the skirt (which ends near the model's left hand) while no apron is visible in the photo on the right. The photo below these two portraits is of a group of Wiyot girls in ceremonial dress from a 2004 edition of the Times Standard. It is another great representation of how skirts and aprons would be worn together to complete the dress.
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July 1, 2004 Times Standard Cover Image

Hair Ties

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Hair ties like these are typically worn as part of dance regalia. They also feature a mix of traded and naturally found materials, with blue and gold beads and pine nuts. ​
When danced, the sounds of the shells, seeds, nuts and beads on the regalia add to the music being played and sung in the ceremonies. ​ ​​
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Dentalium

3/2/2018

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​Dentalium, a small ocean mollusk native to the areas around Vancouver Island, was used as a form of currency by tribes throughout the Pacific Northwest and as far east as the Dakotas. Many of the shells were strung on thread made from irises and measured in strands. Men would have special tattoos on their arms to measure strands against to ensure proper payment. These strands of dentalium were stored and transported in small purses made of bone or wood.
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Dentalium Shell. Photo from Los Angeles County Natural History Museum
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Dentalium necklaces feature a variety of materials, from trade beads and coins to local materials. The glass beads on the necklaces displayed here were not made in the Americas but brought by European traders who traded the beads to the local tribes for supplies and pelts. The dark blue beads were brought by Russian fur traders who sailed the coast trading with local Native Americans. Other necklaces feature juniper seeds, pine nuts, and native shells like Abalone. Necklaces with hand carved Dentalia were praised as exceptionally valuable due to the skill required to carve the shell without breaking it.
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Dentalium also appears on various regalia used in dances, including basket caps and necklaces. When worn in dances, the dentalium shells and beads clink together, adding more music to the dances.
This display was created on March 2, 2018
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Tobacco Baskets

3/2/2018

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​Simply detailed tobacco baskets were used to store tobacco both at home and while traveling. Larger baskets, which held tobacco as well as a pipe, would be kept at home, while smaller baskets would be kept on one’s person as they traveled. Smaller baskets with intricate designs were also traded.
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Baby Baskets

3/2/2018

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​These baskets are known as baby baskets, which were used to transport children from the time they were born until they could walk on their own.
Before being put in the basket, the baby would be wrapped up in furs or soft bark and buckskin ties secured the baby into the basket.  Depending on the size of the child, they would be completely swaddled, or they could be secured with just their arms or their arms and legs left out. The baskets were built with a second piece, an openwork dish called a breather, which went over the baby’s head to protect it from the sun, bugs and bumps. As they baby outgrew their basket, a new one was made. Outgrown baskets were hung in trees to encourage the child’s growth to be as strong as the tree.
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​​Baby baskets are notably beautiful and utilitarian with a shape that some describe as resembling a slipper. The bottom of the basket, where it tapers to a point, could be filled with moss so when a child was seated on it, it could function as a diaper. The shape and build of the basket also allows it to float face up if it fell in water. The arch over the top of the basket was used as a handle and straps on the back of the basket made it possible for the basket to be worn on the mother’s back. Most usable baskets had a lifeline-a strip of buckskin with beads or shells on them- which functioned as a kind of nameplate for the baby and provided something the baby could play with while in the basket. Abalone shells typically appeared on girl baskets while obsidian flakes appeared on boy baskets.Baskets without a lifeline-a strip of string or buckskin with beads and shells on it- were normally sold as trade baskets for display rather than use. The smaller baby baskets were oftentimes used as doll baskets and some of these smaller baskets were also sold as trade baskets.

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    This page features the present and past mini-exhibits in Nealis Hall. Scroll down to see each mini exhibit.

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Clarke Historical Museum
240 E Street
​Eureka, California 95501
admin@clarkemuseum.org
(707) 443-1947
Open Wednesday-Sunday
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Closed Monday & Tuesday

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Open until 8:30 p.m. during Friday Night Markets
Open until 9 p.m. during Eureka Arts Alive
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