Native American Beadwork Souvenirs

During the turn of the 20 th century crafts and souvenirs made by Native American became popular and were sold at many tourist attractions, such as Niagara Falls . The sale of tourist beadwork remained a major source of income for many Native Americans and as more Americans traveled farther from home, the market for these interesting objects increased. Native Americans created a variety of household objects that incorporated their use of beadwork and other techniques and were designed to appeal to this market; objects include pin cushions, picture frames, hanging wall pockets, match stick holders, boxes and bags, shoes, etc.

An excellent source of information regarding these souvenirs is Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900 by Ruth B. Phillips. In her book (p.3) Ms. Phillips notes “… in the early seventeenth century, the indigenous peoples of the Northeast were witnessing the tentative beginnings of European settlement. Initially the introduction of European trade goods… were based on hunting, gathering, and farming supplemented by a small amount of specialized, intertribal artisanal trade. By 1900, however… the relative importance of hunting and of tradeware fabrication had been dramatically reversed. With the disappearance of land and game, commodity productions closely tied to the expanding tourist trade had become essential to many local economies. The interest of northeastern souvenir arts lies partly in the opportunity they provide to identify a paradigm for the commoditization of Indianness through the sale of souvenir wares, which came to dominate the artistic production of the indigenous peoples of North America throughout much of [the twentieth] century.”

Beadwork Pin Cushion, circa 1890

Price: $625, Approximate size: 9”h x 10½”w x 3”

Massive and richly colored, this beadworked souvenir is much like the one depicted as Plate 1 in Ruth B. Phillips Trading Identities . The caption reads “During the Victorian era Native-made souvenirs sold at popular tourist resorts… often displayed patriotic symbols such as American or Canadian flags and eaglelike birds borrowed from the Great Seal of the United States.”

The heavily beaded imagery was worked on a bold purple velvet ground. This technique has been referred to as Iroquoian raised beadwork. The eagle-like bird clutches the olive branch in its talons and American flags stand behind each wing, mirroring one another. The patriotic motif is framed by a fully beadworked border, creating a scalloped edge to the pin cushion. Single delicate loops of beads create fringe dangling from each corner.

The pin cushion remains in excellent condition.

Beadwork Souvenir from the Brockton Fair, Massachusetts , 1926

Price: $280, Dimensions: 9”w x 4”h x 2”d

Brockton , Massachusetts was not named as such until 1874, after Isaac Brock, a British army officer. It was part of the land which the Massasoit sold to the English in 1649, and was then settled in 1700. The town is approximately twenty miles due south of Boston in Plymouth County , and has one of the oldest American county fairs, since 1873.

In 1922, Annie Oakley performed at the Brockton fair for the first time in years after rumors arose of her coming out of retirement. She did five performances for five minutes each and made $700. This was her last paid performance.

Our beadwork souvenir is in the shape of a canoe with beaded fringe dangling from the bottom. This was likely made by the local Native American people as a souvenir from the fair. It has a thick edging of light blue beads, and in clear and white beads the date and location are stitched into the deep green velvet on each side. Other decorative flecks are worked throughout in the same alternating white and clear glass beads. A paler green fabric lines the interior of the canoe. The souvenir remains in excellent condition.

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