9/20/2010:
Welcome to a week at the museum! This week we are bringing you the stories behind some of the objects at the Heritage Center. Among pioneer artifacts of washboards and spinning wheels, there are objects from some of North Dakota's earlier residents, including a buffalo-hide tepi.
While some think that all Native Americans lived in tipis, the tipi is specific to certain groups, including the Dakota. It was useful for moving across the prairie. Women prepared the leather by brain-tanning and smoking buffalo hides, which made the soft, suede-like material waterproof. Around 8 to 14 hides were needed to cover the many slender poles arranged in a semi-circle. The steeper side of the tipi, opposite the door, faced the prevailing wind, which provided a good home with a warm fire.
The buffalo hide tipi at the museum, however, doesn't have any evidence of smoke, suggesting that it wasn't used. It was likely given as a gift to Major Hamilton who served at Fort Sisseton in Dakota Territory from 1875 to 1878. When his tour of duty was up, the major moved to Grand Forks, bringing the tipi with him. By that time, canvas had almost completely replaced hide as a tipi covering, and today Major Hamilton's tipi is one of 9 to11 such objects left in the world.
In Grand Forks, Hamilton started a law practice and became well known throughout the community. His daughter, Helen, followed in his footsteps, becoming the first woman admitted to the North Dakota bar. Years later she donated the tipi to the Historical Society. As seen on a cover of the "North Dakota Magazine," the leather was stretched loosely around the poles, displaying the designs on the outside and the tears in the leather. The society later had the holes repaired by Mrs. Red Bead and her daughter from the Cannon Ball Reservation.
Today, damage on museum artifacts are seen as part of the object's story. Objects are supported to prevent further damage, but are not generally "restored." In a letter thanking Helen Hamilton for her gift on this date in 1937, the society wrote of the repair work, saying, "...but we certainly would not think of sending the statement to you for this work. We appreciate your generosity..." The patches are now a part of the tipi's story.
Today, the large tipi, which spans 19 feet in diameter, is rolled up in archival materials that help protect it for future generations. But inside, the painted designs of horseback riders continue to gallop across the hide in red, blue, yellow, black and green.
Dakota Datebook written by Alyssa Boge
Sources:
Accession record for object 15029
Live interview with Mark Halverson
"The Buffalo Hide Tipi of the Sioux" by Larry Belitz and edited by Mark Belitz - 2006.
"The Tipi: Portable Home of the Plains" by Scott Thybony - 2003.