Ostentatious and Ordinary: EAC Object Stories

Matthew C. Smith

Beaded Moccasins 1937.875

 

A pair of handmade beaded moccasins displayed on a tray, with white, green, blue, red, and yellow geometric beadwork on the uppers and soft tan leather soles and cuffs.
Credit: Matthew Smith, February 24, 2026.

Metadata

Creator

Once Known Lakota Creator

Date

c. 1875-1900

Culture

Lakota Sioux

Medium

Beaded Leather

Measurements

27.9 x 10.2 cm (11 x 4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Amelia Elizabeth White   

Description

Pair of Sioux moccasins crafted by a once known Lakota (Sioux) creator. These moccasins are dated during the reservation period of 1860s-1890s when many tribes were forcibly removed from their lands. These moccasins may have been made for a tourist market as the Lakota Sioux attempted to navigate a time of trouble when their culture was forcibly suppressed by the United States government.

Fun Fact

Use of glass beads in Native art did not begin until after contact with European traders.

 

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Created by Matthew C. Smith for HIS 455 “Power, Knowledge & Gender” at Cleveland State University, April 2026.

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Educate. Analyze. Curate. by Matthew C. Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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