The Technique of Porcupine-quill Decoration Among the North American Indians, Volumes 4-5

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Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1918 - 53 pages
Describes and illustrates technique in an attempt to bring about an appreciation of the complexity of the art of porcupine-quill work.
 

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Page 194 - they make earthen pots of very different sizes, so as to contain from two to ten gallons, large pitchers to carry water, bowls, dishes, platters, basins, and a prodigious number of other vessels of such antiquated forms as would be tedious to describe, and impossible to name. Their method of glazing them is, they place them over a large fire of smoky pitch-pine, which makes them smooth, black and firm.
Page 103 - the species are black and white, but the black is worth more by one half than the white ; the black is made from Conch shells which are to be taken from the sea, or which are cast ashore from the sea twice a year. They strike off the thin parts of these shells and preserve the pillars or standards, which they grind smooth and even, and reduce the same according to their thickness, and drill a hole through every piece, and string the same on strings, and afterwards sell their strings of wampum in...
Page 231 - ... profuse sweating, and are never in a hurry about a good thing. The stems are commonly made of soft wood about two feet long and an inch thick, cut into four squares, each scooped till they join very near the hollow of the stem : the...
Page 44 - A typical ash-layer is shown in plate m, e and underneath this layer can be seen a shell-layer composed of the shells of Tivela mactroides. The writer estimated that some 40 per cent, of the shells found in the St. Bernard deposits were of this latter species and some 58 per cent, of the Donax variabilis, which is the small shell shown in plate in, /. In this illustration also is shown a large fragment of a pottery vessel in situ. The Donax variabilis is locally known as the "chip-chip" shell and...
Page 54 - Thummim, the American Archimagus wears a breastplate made of a white conch-shell with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he puts the ends of an otter-skin strap, and fastens a buck-horn white button to the outside of each, as if in imitation of the precious stones of the Urim.
Page 103 - ... scratching and disfiguring their faces, and showing all possible signs of grief. But where a mother has lost a child, her expressions of grief exceed all bounds, for she calls and wails whole nights over her infant, as if she really were in a state of madness. If the deceased are young persons, or persons slain in war, then their lamentations are of a particular kind, and the women shave off their hair, which they keep the customary time, and then they burn the hair upon the graves of the deceased...
Page 103 - His arrow head he quickly maketh with a little bone, which he ever weareth at his bracer. of any splint of a stone, or glasse in the forme of a hart, and these they glew to the end of their arrowes.
Page 44 - ... Report of the committee on generic types of the Botanical Society of America. Science (ns), vol. 49, no. 1266, Apr. 4, 1919, pp. 333-336. HODGE, FW Excavations at the Zunl pueblo of Hawikuh in 1917. Art and Arch., vol. 7, no. 9, Dec., 1918, pp. 367379, figs. 1-10. Brief description of the joint expedition of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, and the Bureau of American Ethnology at Hawikuh, New Mexico, with historical references and a description of certain archeologlc objects...
Page 103 - ... and money, near the body in the grave; this they say is necessary for the journey to the other world. Then they place as much wood around the body as will keep the earth from it. Above the grave they place a large pile of wood, stone or earth, and around and above the same they place palisades resembling a small dwelling.
Page 93 - A/varado mi hermano y lugarteniente se le tenga el respeto y voluntad que es razón y se conformen con él, por manera que la tierra se conserve, y la justicia sea favorecida y...

About the author (1918)

A gifted artist, was born in England around 1865, came to the United States, worked for a short period at the American Museum of Natural History, and then entered the private employ of Dr. Heye. Upon the founding of the Museum of the American Indian in 1916, Mr. Orchard became preparator, continuing in this capacity until his retirement in 1935. He died in 1948. His genius in repairing and restoring specimens was remarkable, and he enjoyed a well-earned reputation throughout the museum world for his skill in creating models and dioramas of native scenes. His son, Fred, was also a preparator, serving on the staff of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, for many years." (From the foreword to the 1975 edition by Frederick J. Dockstader). William C. Orchard also wrote "The Technique of Porcupine Quill Decoration Among The Indians of North America", which was first published in 1916. This in depth study of a craft that is unique to the Indians of North America was reprinted in 1971 by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation and they cooperated with the publishing of an Eagle's View edition in 1982. That edition has been reprinted five times, a testament to the enduring reference value of Orchard's work.

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