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Dressing the Part [Stereotypic Native Clothing] (12 pages)
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Page: of 12
56 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY
brought out only on ritual occasions (Kroeber
1925; Bates n.d.).
Buckskin clothing, in the form of shirts,
leggings and dresses, had only begun to
penetrate California from the north by the
end of the 19th century. The Klamath, in
southern Oregon, had begun to adopt certain
characteristics of Plains culture, such as parfleches, by the time of contact (Kroeber
1925: 339). Klamath dresses resemble those
of the Blackfeet in having alternate colored
lanes of lazy stitched beadwork across the
breast (Spier 1930: 212). The use of buckskin
shirts by the Klamath is also thought to be a
relatively recent practice (Spier 1930: 207).
Apparently, these influences had come down
from the Columbia River area, being assimilated by the Klamath and, in turn, passed on
by them to the neighboring Modoc and
thence to the Achomawi and Shasta (Kroeber
1925:334).
Shasta clothing was often fringed and
ornamented with beads. Shirts were apparently a poncho-like affair, with women wearing skirts with a poncho top (Dixon 1907:
407-411: Silver 1978: 216; Kroeber 1925:
292). The Achomawi seem to have copied this
type of clothing, occasionally ornamenting it
with crude quillwork in an undetermined
technique (Kroeber 1925: 311). The Atsugewi, immediately to the south of the Achomawi, also acquired certain Plains-type clothing including a one-piece woman’s gown and a
man’s buckskin shirt with a triangular bib
below the neck, both rather recently (Garth
1953:145). These clothing styles seem to have
disappeared early on, and costumes made by
the Atsugewi in the 1930s do not appear to
be based on these models.
With the exception of ceremonial regalia
among certain groups, the abandonment of
traditional garb came early in California. The
Sierra Miwok, whose intensive contact with
Anglo-Americans did not begin until 1848
and the Gold Rush, began to wear cloth
clothing at that time. Photographs taken in
the 1850s and 1870s show cloth dresses worn
by the women and pants and shirts worn by
the men (Bates 1978: Plates 1-2; Bradley and
Rulofson 1873:30; Palmquist 1979:93, 105,
110). Acculturation was rapid, and by 1900 it
is doubtful that anyone but a handful of older
people wore native clothing on a daily basis.
The teachings of various Christian missionaries and pressure from Anglo residents resulted in the instilling of Victorian values of
modesty among most Californian peoples.
As early as the 1880s Sarah Winnemucca
Hopkins, a Northern Paiute, created a costume for her lecture series where she exposed
the outrageous treatment of Nevada Indian
people by the federal government and spoke
on traditional Paiute life. While she was
lecturing in San Francisco the local newspaper, the San Francisco Call of October 18,
oh ae =
. Florence Summerville, “Queen White Fawn,”
at the Indian Field Days, Yosemite Valley,
1929, Note the netted beadwork. Standard
Oil supplied the public address system and an
announcer. Negative number 2126, courtesy
National Park Service, Yosemite Collections.