A Dress made of Crow or Raven Skins, worn by the Police Officiers of the Saux nation

Object Status:

Extant

Primary Source Reference:

Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 45

Additional Source Text:

This artifact appears on a long list of "Articles collected by Meriwether Lewis Esqr. and William Clark Esq. in their voyage and Journey of Discovery, up the Missouri to its source and to the Pacific Ocean, presented at different periods, through the president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson."

Notes:

Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) undertook their western Expedition in 1804-1806.

This was a raven belt ornament, "commonly called 'crow belts,' of the type worn by members of soldier societies in the plains and prairies along the Missouri River. . . . Indian leaders are known to have presented raven ornaments and other military regalia to U.S. officials on diplomatic occasions." Castle McLaughlin, The Arts of Diplomacy: Lewis & Clark's Indian Collection (Seattle, 2003), p. 61

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, has three “raven ornaments” (aka “Crow belts” or “bustles”) acquired by Lewis and Clark. Pictured here is the four-raven bustle (Object number 99-12-10/53049). There are also two single-raven bustles or ornaments (Object numbers 53050 and 53051). All three of these crow belts were acquired by Lewis and Clark and were sent to Peale by Jefferson. William Clark, who told Nicholas Biddle that the Crow ornaments were in Peale’s Museum, believed that the three ornaments constituted a set, with the large belt worn around the waist and the two smaller ones on the arms. However, Gaylord Torrence determined that all three are bustles. See Castle McLaughlin, The Arts of Diplomacy: Lewis & Clark's Indian Collection (Seattle, 2003).