Silver Pipe
date: label: Accession Date
content: 20 Mar 1931
name: label: Donor Name
content: Victor J. Evans
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Inscribed peace and friendship "presented by Major Gen. (William H.) Harrison to the Delaware tribe of Indians, 1814; one of the sacred relics of the Delaware." Etched panel showing spread eagle, another panel showing Harrison presenting the pipe to the Indians. References: American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, p. 838; Lindsay, G. Carroll. "The Treaty Pipe of the Delawares," Antiques, LXXIV (July 1958), 44-45. Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 4, Fig. 3, p. 36. See photo MNH420 of related? pipe. Loaned to Political History for Exhibit. Returned 11-28-84. Lent to National Portrait Gallery 12-20-84, returned 2-26-86. Lent to Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 8/11/87. Loan returned Dec 15 1988."
label: Notes
content: Information below is excerpted from entry on this pipe on p. 89 of "Presentation Pieces in the Museum of History and Technology" by Margaret Brown Klapthor, Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, Paper No. 47 [Smithsonian Institution]: Silver presentation pipe formally presented to the Delaware Indians in 1814 by General William Henry Harrison at the conclusion of the second Treaty of Greenville [at Fort Greenville, Ohio]. The treaty was intended to commit the Indians to active resistance in the American cause during the War of 1812. General Harrison and Lewis Cass had been appointed commissioners by the U.S. Government to conclude the treaty. On July 8, 1814, General Harrison read to the Indians a message from the President of the United States, and afterward he presented to the Wyandotte, Delaware, and Shawnee Indian tribes large silver pipes elegantly ornamented and engraved with emblems signifying the protection and friendship of the United States. (Reference: "The Journal of the Proceedings of the Commissioners Plenipotentiary, Appointed on Behalf of the United States to Treat with the Northwestern Tribes of Indians," _American State Papers ... Indian Affairs_, vol. 1, pp. 826-836.) The pipe has an urn-shaped bowl with a bead-edged cover bearing acanthus-leaf decorations. The S-shaped stem is 21 inches long and only one-fourth inch in diameter. The great length of the stem was necessary to cool the smoke; the S-shape added rigidity to the silver. The pipe has no identifying maker's mark. (Reference: G. Carroll Lindsay, "The Treaty Pipe of the Delawares," _Antiques_ (1958), vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 44-45.)
label: Notes
content: The "spread eagle" design on one of the pipe panels depicts a form of the Heraldic eagle with outspread wings and shield on its chest that is used on the Great Seal of the United States and that has appeared on early U.S. Peace Medals and various U.S. coins, etc..
label: Notes
content: This pipe was formerly owned by Richard Calmit Adams, who in 1909 lent it to the Smithsonian, under loan acccession no. 49797, catalogue no. 253552. Reference: "Indian Relics For Museum," The Washington Post, February 27, 1909, 5. After Adams' death in 1921, objects from his collection were sold to Victor Justice Evans. See also the remarks in the records for related objects E362062-0, E362064-0, and E362066-0.
label: Notes
content: Silver pipe E362061 is probably the one referenced on p. 21-22 and p. 36 in Adams, Richard C. 1921. Claims of the Delaware Indians; memorial of the Delaware tribe of Indians ... in support of Senate bill 663 and H.R. 6051. http://archive.org/details/claimsofdelaware00adam .
label: Record Last Modified
content: 21 Apr 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Delaware (Lenape)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 113605
label: USNM Number
content: E362061-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Pipe