Shield
date: label: Accession Date
content: 25 May 1892
label: Collection Date
content: 1872
name: label: Collector
content: Brig. Gen. William B. Hazen
label: Collector
content: William Courtenay
label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Mildred M. Hazen
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Old [19th or early 20th century exhibit] label: Ceremonial shield. - Made of thick rawhide covered with buckskin and painted in various designs. Around the rim is sewed a red flannel strip, holding large eagle feathers. Suspended from the center is an ornament of hawk wings. When not in use the shield, with feathers folded inward, is kept in a buckskin cover, which a red cross, eagle claw, feathers, and small medicine pouch, adorn. D.17".
label: Notes
content: Detail of reverse of shield showing incised bear paw is illustrated Fig. 33, p. 54 in Ha¨ma¨la¨inen, Riku. 2010. Bear power motifs on Plains Indian shields = Ba¨renmotive in Schildbemalungen der Plainsindianer. Wyk auf Foehr, Germany: Tatanka Press. This object is described pp. 51 - 52 in publication: "... [Shield] is made of thick bison [buffalo] rawhide of which the side where the fur was removed serves as the reverse side of the shield. On the reverse side, a large circle is painted in blue in the centre of the surface, and on both sides of the inner part there appears an incised bear paw. ... [T]hese paws were merely outlined by incising the design, but no surface of the rawhide on the inner part of the design was removed. ... In contrast to the bear paw designs in general [on other shields], these paws are made so that the claws reach down pointing outwards. The front surface of the cover of this shield made of thin buckskin is heavily decorated having an intricate painted design, a feather decoration formed on hawk wings, and a strip of red cloth on the edge having multiple eagle feathers. .... [S]ince the cover cannot be taken out from the rawhide disc [shield], it is not known if the front of the disc has any design. In addition, three bullet holes can be found in this shield. In all cases, the bullet has penetrated through both the cover and rawhide disc from the front leaving clearly visible holes as well as splits on the reverse side."
label: Notes
content: Culture identification changed from Sioux to Hidatsa, Arikara, or Mandan by Candace Greene May 2017 based on a full review of the collecting history and consideration of general stylistic traits.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Fort Buford, Williams County, Dakota Territory / North Dakota, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Hidatsa (?)
label: Culture
content: Arikara (Sahnish) (?)
label: Culture
content: Mandan (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 025748
label: USNM Number
content: E154024-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Shield