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Seminole
A Cultural Memory :
Resistance and Reorganization of the Seminole and Micccosukee Tribes of Southern Florida
An exhibition of ca. 150 textiles, artifacts, and photographs showing the culture of the Seminole people of Southern Florida.
The exhibition is an opportunity to discover the lifestyles, cultures, and modern-day challenges of the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes through a collection of ca 150 artifacts and 50 19th and 20th century.
The exhibition includes 18 complete costumes, beaded fobs and sashes, women's ornaments and necklaces, 25 carved animals in cypress wood, 30 dolls, 12 palmetto and sweet grass baskets.
Also included are 50 24 x 32" mounted historical photographs showing the historical and cultural context, dwellings, crafts, clothing, etc. of the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes from the late 19th century until the present.
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These young women grew up at Musa Isle. Seen in this “real photo” postcard are, from left to right, Mittie Osceola Jim, Annie Doctor Jimmie, Lena Osceola Billie (Big Towns clan), Annie Billie, Mickey Tiger, and Maggie Billie Buster (others are Bird clan). They were photographed by WPA photographer Florence I. Randle, c.1937.
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A Creek Seminole woman is preparing a raccoon skin on a stretcher for drying, ca. 1940. (536-9-14, photograph by William D. Boehmer.)
Man-on-Horseback Doll, ca. 1950s, Mikasuki, Palmetto Fiber, Cotton, Cardboard, Beads. This type of doll was associated with the craft program at Glade Cross Mission operated by the Episcopal Deaconess Harriet M. Bedell located at Everglade City, Florida (1933-1960). Deaconess Bedell and Edith Boehemer of the Seminole Arts and Crafts Guild, both instituted the making of unique items for their craft programs.
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Creek Seminole Mary Osceola Huff (Bird clan) is engaged in the process of sifting corn meal into a palmetto splint basket at the Brighton Reservation. She rests on a typical camp work platform, c. 1960s. (photograph by William D. Boehmer.)
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Baskets, 1975-1991, Seminole and Mikasuki, Sweetgrass, Palmetto Fiber, Cardboard, Embroidery, Thread, Beads, Yarn
Coiled sweetgrass baskets are made by women for the tourist trade. The wild sweetgrass is hand-picked from high, dry areas of the Everglades basin washed and laid in the sun to dry and sewn together with colored threads. Palmetto fiber is the usual basket base material.
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Seminole women produced a great volume of crafts for tourist sales. Here women at Silver Springs Seminole Village are engaged in a morning activity, fixing their uniquely evolved hairstyle by smoothing their long hair over a hair board, securing it with a hairnet, and meticulously tying on their layers of necklace beads for the day, ca. 1940's. Left to right: Alice Doctor, Suzie Doctor, Ettie Cypress, Rosie Billie, Annie Tiger Tail, and Rachael Billie Boy. (1314.)
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Abraham Lincoln Clay (Panther clan) holds a small alligator that he has just shot, c. 1920.
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Three Beaded Fobs, early 1900s; Creek, Brighton Reservation
Beads. The loom beaded fobs were pinned to turbans or other vests. These accessories were worn by men, but were made by women.
Beaded Sash, ca. 1900, Tommie (Mrs. Dan) Parker (Snake Clan); Creek, Brighton Reservation; Loomed Beadwork, Woven Cord Drops, Yarn. Sashes such as these were common men's decorative accessories that were worn as a belt or across the chest. Sometimes two sashes were crossed over the chest.
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Jane Tiger Motlow (Otter clan) sews on a hand-cranked Singer sewing machine. Quite portable, a Singer could be used almost anywhere there was a level surface. The Mikasuki women excelled at patchwork which was their signature art form. Patchwork was made by stripping fabric, sewing it together in long bands, then cutting it into exact pieces, and re-stitching the piece work in simple, straight, bands which formed intricate designs, ca. 1927. (884.)
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Medicine Man's Rattle, ca. 1960, Coconut Shell, Canna Lily Seeds, Egret and other Bird Feathers, Hardwood .
Used in the “Feather Dance” of the Green Corn Dance held at Hilolo. At the Green Corn Dance the Seminoles gather into clan camps where they dance for four days. The dances are led by a medicine man who keeps cadence with the rattle and is followed in a line by men and women. This is the most important socio-religious event of the tribe.
The Seminole families of the tourist attractions carried on their daily routine and stayed at the attractions only as long as they desired. This photograph shows Bird clan employees of the Musa Isle tourist attraction preparing a meal of garfish. From left to right are unidentified, Mickey Tiger, unidentified, and Mrs. John Tiger, c. 1937. (photograph by WPA photographer Florence I. Randle, Florence I. Randle Collection.)
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Artifacts in the exhibition:
ca. 175 artifacts and photographs
 18 complete costumes
 4 beaded fobs (1 from 1893), 1 beaded sash
 Women's ornaments and necklaces
 20 carved animals in cypress wood
 Medicine man's rattle, stickball racquets
 30 dolls (from 1930s - 1990s)
 6 palmetto baskets, 7 sweet grass baskets
 50 c. 24 x 32" color and black and white historical photographs
Stickball Racquets and Ball, ca. 1960
Hardwood, Leather, Deer Buckskin, Deer Hair.
These items were used to play stickball, a ceremonial
game associated with the Green Corn Dance. Although
both men and women participate in the game, only men
use the rackets. Women used their hands to throw the
ball. Four (a sacred number) fleas were placed inside the
ball “to give it life.”
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Women and girls often wore necklaces strung with dimes or quarters, a trend dating back to the 2nd Seminole War era. The cape is ornamented with 31 tin disks made to look like the more costly silver broaches.
On the Miami River, Little Charlie Jumper (Panther clan) and Billie Tommie Jumper (Bear clan) pose with their children in their cypress dugout canoe laden with camp gear, ca. 1904
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These rare examples of wooden dolls were carved and painted c. 1940s by men for the Seminole Arts and Crafts Guild. The Guild was established at Brighton by Indian Service employee, Edith Boehmer, in 1938. It was responsible for the new innovations and quality in Seminole arts and crafts.
“Medicine Man's” Coat, Jimmie O. Osceola, Panther Clan, Mikasuki, Cotton.
In the 1890s all men wore this style coat. By the 1930s onlya few older men wore this garment, which came to be called a “medicine man's” coat. The medicine colors are red, yellow, black and white.
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The woman's garment consisted of a very full, floor-length skirt, gathered at the waist with an adorned area and ruffle at knee length. Her long sleeved blouse has an attached cape, trimmed also with a ruffle, which came only to the shoulders. The blouse was very short, barely covering the breasts and leaving a few inches of midriff exposed between the bottom of the blouse and the top of the skirt. Old photographs usually show Seminole women with their arms crossed in front of this gap, doubtless to conform to the photographers sense of decency.
To complete the woman's outfit, she wore as many strings of glass necklace beads as she could afford. The Seminole female wears beads at a very early age and adds to these from time to time until a large quantity had been amassed. As the women got older, they wore fewer beads - as vanity gave way to comfort and not to prescribed ritual. The vogue of necklace beads is still present among traditionally-minded women today, although the excess of earlier times has greatly diminished.
Technical Information:
Available: From Autumn 2009 for 3-month periods
Size: Variable - from 3500 - 4500 sq ft depending on your space needs
Participation Fee: Inquire
Borrowing institution is responsible for transport costs
Included in the participation fee:
Insurance
Courier accompaniment
Number of Artifacts: approximately 150, a complete artifact list will be available later in the year
Types of objects Included in the exhibition:
clothng, carvings, baskets, jewelry, tools and cooking utensils, dolls and toys, beaded works, photographs,
Also included: text panels and labels in electronic format.
Curator of the Exhibition: Patsy West, Ethnohistorian and Director of the Seminole/Miccosukee Photographic Archive, Ft. Lauderdale
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Billy Bowlegs III (Little Black Snake clan) was of no relation to the war leader. This Bowlegs was a grandchild of one of the last full-blood African slaves owned by a Seminole clan. His mother Nancy, was half Seminole, a slave retained by the Snake Clan. Since Seminole mothers give their clan to their children and Billy's Mother had no clan, he was given the designation of Little Black Snake clan by his Seminole relatives, c. 1911.
Creek Seminole Fred Smith (Panther clan) exhibits the traditional tonsured, first-haircut for a boy. (photograph by William D. Boehmer)
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Building a chickee required the help of several people. In the Creek country of vast cabbage palm prairies the main chickee uprights were made of cabbage palm (seen here), while the Mikasukis in the Big Cypress used cypress trees. The most time consuming task was cutting and transporting the palmetto “fans.” (429-3, photograph by William D. Boehmer.)
There was a task for everyone in the operation of the Seminole camp. Here Ben Wells, an elderly man, tacks a nail in the fan. The next step is to hand the fan to a man on the roof, who will then twist and nail it into place on a beam of the framework, c. 1960. (photograph by William D. Boehmer.)
Winnowing Basket and Two Storage Baskets, 1940s-1950s; Plametto Splint
The front basket is used to sift and separate the cornmeal from the chaff. The storage basket in the center was made by Lucie Pierce (Bird clan) . Creek, Brighton Reservation.
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For Further Information
about schedulilng and fees please contact:
Shirley Reiff Howarth, Director
The Humanities Exchange
Montreal, Canada
514-935-1228
exhibitionsonline@earthlink.net
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Conservation Requirements
Temperature: spring and summer, 22°C; fall and winter 21°C
Relative humidity: 42%, ± 2%
Lighting: maximum of 150 lux for all objects except textiles, for which the maximum is 50 lux.
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The Humanities Exchange
A non-profit corporation
Belleair Bluffs, FLORIDA USA
and
Montreal, CANADA
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Tel 514-935-1228 ; Fax 514-935-1299
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