Woman's Dress
date: label: Accession Date
content: 20 Mar 1931
name: label: Collector
content: Major John W. Powell
label: Donor Name
content: Victor J. Evans
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: ""This is part of the J. W. Powell Collection." The yoke of the dress is outlined in a beadwork band. The neck is also outlined in a beadwork band. The top of the sleeves have a beadwork panel. The ends of the sleeves are fringed with the fur of the animal still on the fringes. The sides and bottom are fringed. At the outside lower edges of the dress are two squares of red material outlined in flowered flannel. The lower portion of the dress has buckskin thongs attached. At the place of attachment are tufts of red material. On the left hand side of the dress half way down is tied a small buckskin sack." Listed as Paiute on the catalogue card, however old Smithsonian museum tag with artifact identifies it as Ute.
label: Notes
content: Woman's dress # E357541 is marked on shoulder: "14370 Pah Utes JW Powell". The group catalogue card for catalogue numbers 14369 – 14371 notes: Exchange – Mr. Victor J. Evans Ninth & Grant Place, NW Washington, DC June 23, 1920." 14369 and 14371 of that group are still in the collections. 14369 – 14371 were catalogued as "Man's dress", however 14369 and 14371 are women's dresses, so there seems to have been some sort of cataloguing error. Based in this information, we can assume dress E357541 is the former E14370. This dress resembles photos of John Wesley Powell collection dress Accession No. 2106, Catalogue No. E10800 (no longer in the collections), and presumably may have a similar history to that dress, based on the information in the cataloguing and the old tag with it. E10800 is illustrated being worn by a Kaibab Paiute woman in John K. Hillers photos taken circa 1873. See Fig. 17 and Fig. 18 (woman on left) of Fowler, Don D. and Matley, John F. 1979. Material Culture of the Numa: The John Wesley Powell Collection, 1867-1880. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. In Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, 26. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810223.26.1. On p. 3 Fowler and Matley note: "... [John Wesley] Powell carried some of the White River Ute clothing which he had collected in 1868 with him on his tour of Utah and Nevada as Special Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1873. He dressed up some of the Kaibab Southern Paiute in these clothes to be photographed by Jack Hillers (Fowler, editor, 1972:6; Kelly, 1964:59-60)." On p. 30 Fowler and Matley again note: "... Powell carried one or more items of Colorado Ute clothing with him to southern Utah in 1873. The beaded dress worn by the woman in Figures 17 and 18 has "Colorado Territory" and the [catalogue] number "10800" written on the bodice." The photo shown in Figure 17 can be seen in the National Anthropological Archives/NAA: Photo Lot 24 SPC Stereo Basin Paiute 00193500, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. The photo shown in Figure 18 can also be seen at the NAA: Photo Lot 24 SPC Stereo Basin Paiute 00193400, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 9 May 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, Colorado / Utah, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Ute (Nuche)
label: Culture
content: Paiute, Southern, Kaibab
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: E357541-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Dress