Full Beaded Dress
date: label: Accession Date
content: 20 Mar 1931
name: label: Donor Name
content: Victor J. Evans
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Base of buckskin with cut fringe at bottom, sides and arms. Surface entirely covered with beadwork on both sides; both sides beaded in same pattern; background sky blue, decoration in white, dark blue, medium red, light green and yellow, and irregular brass seed beads. Technique lazy stitch. Fine line work in the designs of the yoke. All motives geometric. A Sioux Indian from Fort Peck Reservation was in the Museum in Feb. 1948. He said he had been told this dress was on exhibition in the U.S. National Museum (which it was at that time) by members of previous delegations to Washington from Fort Peck Res. He said the dress belonged to his mother, Minnie Sky Arrow. She was a graduate of Carlisle and an accomplished pianist, who later gave recitals about the country. He said she wore this dress in her recitals. Said he had a picture of her in it, would send for the picture and bring it in. - J. C. Ewers. This is not a typical piece, but a masterpiece of beadwork. Probably beaded since ca. 1890. - J. C. Ewers. Loaned to SITES-Treasures 5-10-84, ret'd. 11-21-84."
label: Notes
content: See possibly related object E362332-0 ? See remarks for that object.
label: Notes
content: On May 12, 2011, Rosella Sky Arrow (granddaughter of Minnie Sky Arrow who is said to have owned the dress numbered E362331) visited the NMNH's Museum Support Center and viewed various objects from the Evans collection. Sky Arrow claimed that E362333 and E357937 were made to go with E362331. She stated that the beads were the same in all three catalogue numbers, the beading techniques the same and that the general designs were the same. In addition, Sky Arrow (being a beader herself) stated that the colors and designs of the moccasins and leggings would have been inverted compared to the colors and designs used in the dress, which was the case with the three objects.
label: Notes
content: Illustrated and described on p. 248 of Torrence, Gaylord. 2014. The Plains Indians Artists of Earth and Sky. Skira. Emil Her Many Horse's catalogue entry attributes it to a Yanktonai Dakota or Lakota artist, circa 1900, and notes about it: "This rare fully-beaded dress was created as a recital gown for Minnie Sky Arrow [? - 1928], an accomplished pianist from the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. It is an exceptional example of the elaborate beadwork created during the early reservation period, when whole garments and various objects were sometimes solidly beaded. ... The complex motifs on the yoke are not traditionally found on earlier dresses; however they may still symbolize stars, clouds, or supernatural beings. Designs were changing, and - by the time this dress was made - intricate combinations were becoming popular."
label: Notes
content: Minnie Sky Arrow Bonser (1893? or 1895? - 1928), Mrs. Ray Martin Eder (married 1922). Per catalog record E362331, a Sioux woman of Fort Peck, Montana, who had attended Carlisle Indian School and was a pianist. She is apparently the person who started at Carlisle in 1907, leaving in 1913, and was listed as Minnie J. Bonser in Carlisle records, listed as from Rosebud (and Wood), SD; mother Bessie White Fox or Bessie Eagle Feather, father John Bonser. See Findagrave entry on her where she is listed as Minnie Sky Arrow Bonser Eder.
label: Notes
content: Beadwork on this dress is reminiscent of dress of Julia Wades In the Water (Under Owl Woman, Staa'tssipisstaakii, c. 1873–1956, Montana Blackfoot) in the 1943 Winold Reiss portrait of her. See image of Winold Reiss portrait here: https://web.archive.org/web/20250415003452/https://iacbmuseums-viewingroom.exhibit-e.art/viewing-room/connections-the-blackfeet-and-winold-reiss#tab:slideshow;tab-1:thumbnails . See also black and white postcard of Julia and her husband here https://web.archive.org/web/20231121135726/https://prairiemary.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-texas-postcard-finds-blackfeet.html . Julia Wades in the Water, in addition to being the first woman to serve as an officer in the Indian Police, was also a noted beadworker.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 13 Jun 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, Fort Peck Reservation, Montana, 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: 113605
label: USNM Number
content: E362331-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Dress