War Club
date: label: Accession Date
content: 21 Oct 1881
name: label: Collector
content: George Catlin
label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Joseph Harrison Jr.
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Made of single piece of elkhorn; with flat copper discs at top 1/2" diam; and soft skin wrist hanger attached through hole in base of handle. The upper portion resembles the head of a water bird, with sharp bill as club end' the two brass buttons as eyes. Note: An early [exhibit] label for this specimen (printed) states "Sioux Indians." "Catlin Collection." Illus.: Ewers, John C., Plains Indian Sculpture; Pl. 18, pg. 27. [Ewers identifies it there as a bird effigy war club, Sioux, ca. 1830's]. Loaned to Civil Hist. 12 April 1966." Object is illustrated, p. 177 and discussed p. 177 and p. 375 of Gilman, Carolyn. 2003. Lewis and Clark across the divide. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. There it is noted that the Catlin club has been identified as Sioux?, but "Bodmer originally identified an elk antler bird war club he illustrated as Monitarri (Hidatsa), then corrected the attribution to Assiniboine. That club, in the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, is now identified as Atsina [Gros Ventre], following Maximilian's notes."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 2 Apr 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Sioux (Oceti Sakowin) (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 010638
label: USNM Number
content: E73278-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Club
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 48.5 cm
label: Width - Object, At Head Section
content: 23.3 cm