#1870

Assembled bugs on an illustrated title page. The population of an old pear-tree. 1870.

Antique sewing kit circa 1870

Lakota/Teton Sioux dress made by Ah-ho-appa, daughter of Spotted Tail, ca. 1870. In the Met Museum collections

Vertical lanes of beadwork, in place of the typical horizontal configuration, give this dress its distinctive character. The U-shaped motif at the lower center represents Turtle, a symbol of power relating to women’s health. Like most bead workers in the mid-nineteenth century, this maker favored tiny glass Venetian seed beads over the larger pony beads popular in earlier periods. Today, women wear elaborately beaded dresses reminiscent of this one for the Women’s Traditional Dance, one of several categories in powwow competitions.

Geography: Possibly made in North Dakota, United States; Possibly made in South Dakota, United States

Culture: Lakota/ Teton Sioux, Native American

• Beach Umbrella.

Date: 1860-1870

Kingsbury velvet gown, c.1870

Velvet, silk, floral lace, satin ribbon, petersham ribbon, tarlatan, baleen bones.