Pair of Moccasins

The Jarvis Collection

Many of the articles in this case (and the adjacent clothing case), some of the earliest and finest Eastern Plains pieces in existence, were collected by Dr. Nathan Sturges Jarvis, a military surgeon stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, between 1833 and 1836. Most items were made by the Eastern and Middle Dakota (Sioux) or by the peoples of the Red River region, including the Red River Métis, Anishinabe, Plains Cree, and Salteaux. Some of the objects were purchased by Jarvis, and some may have been given to him in exchange for his medical services.

These works demonstrate indigenous ingenuity in combining trade materials such as cloth, metal, and glass beads with traditional hides, pipestone, and porcupine and bird quills. For comparison, a few examples collected later by Nathan Jarvis, Jr., during his army service in the Western Territories among the Apache and other Plains peoples are also included. These items clearly show the later indigenous preference for multicolored glass trade beads.