Hello, it’s great to be back. I have been sitting on the
back-burner, on my arse for a while, keeping busy with real life, building a
living history program at work, and orienting myself with the history of my new
home for nearly 2 years now. Colorado is quite different from “Oregon Country,”
Hudson’s Bay history, and the “end of the trail,” and I have had to do a lot of
re-reading of late on the Fur Trade here. Here, I live within 25 mile radius of 4 major fur fort sites, major historic trails (South Platte, Trappers
Trail, and the Goodnight–Loving) and the hunting grounds of the Ute, Arapaho,
Cheyenne, and Sioux. It’s great to live
in a place so steeped in history and it is even better awakening visitors to
this reality, which is largely forgotten by the general public.
One thing that has always bothered me and I have fallen
willfully into myself is “reenactor fads.” The idea that someone else’s
research establishes authenticity has always bothered me as a historic
interpreter, museum professional, and reenactor. Somehow these popular ideas, being
“cool,” and nifty looking accessories catch hold and then suddenly, we have an
army of people in walnut shirts stomping around in places they never were and
miss-quoting history “ad nauseum.” This
really gets to me when this is done before the public programs.
BEFORE I GO ANY FARTHER, I am not looking down my nose at
anyone here. If you like what you have use it. After all, this is a hobby for
most (an addiction for me). No skin off my head! For me, I attempt to portray
what is typical not the unusual or out of unique about historic people. My
training in “history school” made me look at the subject of documentation with
scrutiny and intensity, where as many enthusiasts, stop short of its correct
application, which leads to erroneous conclusions about historical material
culture. I was taught long ago, that true historic research demands corroboration by two or more sources
when possible and the sources need to be pure as you can find.
I watch pals strain themselves seeking and delving into
“primary sources.” Like a quest for the Holy Grail, we all want to find that
one reaffirming piece of historic data that seals the historic deal,
absolutely. These should be the pictures
or accounts of those who lived a historical era/experience that occurred to
them in the very recent tense and recorded soon after. They are only primary because they wrote the
account down or recorded history as it happened. This can also be a painting,
drawing, photo, or other media that accurately captures the occurrence.
“Secondary,” indicates it was either relayed to the person
recording the information second hand close to the time of occurrence, or the
person lived it at a previous date and recorded or rendered it from
recollection. As far as tertiary goes,
it has very little weight in my research but can still be valid. Basically,
these would be summation of others research synthesized into major themes. That
being said, don’t take my word here either, as this too you would be considered
“tertiary.” In other words, just because you read someone’s book, doesn’t mean
it was interpreted authentically.
For a long time now, I have wondered about the hooded hats
and pointy head coverings depicted by Alfred Jacob Miller in his field
paintings. While I have no doubt they
existed, I would wonder why very few artists depicted them on anyone but native
people besides Miller. Where are the artifact equivalents in the dusty
collections of museums? How is it that
the brigade of trappers newly headed to the summer rendezvous need to make hats
when they recently left Missouri resupplied?
I keep hearing from fellow enthusiast the reasoning behind
the lack of artifact evidence; “they dissolved in the field “or “who would want
dirty old clothes?” In my time as a museum
staffer, I have handled two circa 1840 buckskin coats, one from the northern
plains and the other of unknown provenance but attributed to overland pioneers.
These two garments came to light after reading articles by well-respected
historians saying “no frontier clothing has survived.” To assume something doesn't exist because it is not prominently displayed is a flawed assumption. Most
artifacts of even a small museum collection, NEVER get displayed, and many
museums have antiquated or undocumented donations. So why no wolf-eared caps? I pondered this for
some time.
Recently the question of “eared hoods” was brought up on
other blogs concerning the eastern fur trade in Wisconsin (http://frenchinwisconsin.yolasite.com/)
and another dealing with the Middle -ground hunter (buffalotrace1765.blogspot.com),
brought this discussion once again to mind. Their thorough research brought to
light for me the long native tradition of hooded and animal like hoods for
hunting and winter use among native people of North America. Thanks to Ike
and Nathan for great posts!
With the well-established native traditions across the
continent of hooded headwear, what I have been suspicious of is the frequency
and upon WHOM these hats resided during Miller’s 1837 trip. Are they on Metis?
Are they on Yankees? Creoles? Miller’s
own words are helpful here:
“The hunter’s form for themselves a peculiar
kind of cap:-it has two ears with flaps reaching to its shoulders…the peculiar
caps on their heads are made by themselves, to replace felt hats, long since
worn out or lost. “ AJ Miller 1837
Here is who
we know is wearing them:
·
Auguste: Metis/Creole – Designated Hunter
·
Moses “Black” Harris: Mulatto-Dispatch
rider/Trapper
·
LaJeneusse: Metis/Creole – Designated Hunter
·
Louis: Metis/Creole-Trapper
It is not only necessary to discover why they were worn, but
also the frequency of wear to try and better understand their place in the
trapper’s kit. By far, Miller is the primary source of the depictions of these
on white trappers. Other artists related to the fur trade are largely discounted
because they did not travel to the field and strangely these hats do not
replicate in their art on white trappers.
Both Karl Bodmer and W.T. Ranney witnessed the fur trade. Bodmer in his trip up the Missouri in 1834
and Ranney as a young artist with trappers involved in Texas independence who
had returned from the frontier, depict nothing like AJ Miller on their non-Indian subjects.
Using Miller works solely as a documentarian source is
flawed, UNLESS your use the correct pictures. Miller wasn't painting with the intent
of being the only documentarian to witness the western fur trade; so much as he
was doing so to make his boss’s adventures seem heroic and romantic for his
reputation back home in Scotland.
The problem with this, is one must check the dates of the pictures
as he generated works from this trip for the next 20 years! For this purpose, I would only utilize his
works from no later than, you guessed it: 1837! Many of his most romantically
captivating pictures have multiple versions of the same subjects, some
numbering into the hundreds. Many still have no dates, or dates of reproduction
as late as 1858-1860 or even 1867!
The more I looked at the images with TRUE 1837 PROVENANCE,
the fewer of these “peculiar caps” I saw represented. In order for this to be genuine primary
documentation, the pictures would have to be field renderings to be considered
as valid as “Photographs.” One of the
best sources for this is, the book; The
West of Alfred Jacob Miller by Marvin C Ross. Composed only of 1837 sketches and
watercolors rendered in the field, one can get a true, yet incomplete sampling
of the material culture of the mountain men and the 1837 caravan to the summer
rendezvous.
So here are the pictures in which the “wolf-eared caps”
appear that I could find from the 2 books on Miller I own:
1.
Trappers starting for the beaver hunt
2.
Preparing for the buffalo hunt
3.
Auguste and his horse
4.
Trapper’s Bride
5.
Trappers
6.
The Grizzly Bear
7.
Roasting the Hump Rib
8.
Caravan en route
9.
Breakfast at Sunrise
10.
Shoshone Indian and his pet
11.
Escape from Blackfeet
12.
Storm: waiting for the caravan
13.
Approaching Buffalo
14.
The greeting
15.
Indian toilet
16.
The Scalplock
17.
Trappers and Indians communicating by sign
18.
Trapper in his solitary camp
19.
Louis Rocky Mountain Trapper
Mind you, there are approximately 100 plus field works by
Miler. The vast majority of depictions with “wolf-ears” have no more than 2
individuals and mostly a singular individual among a group, wearing such
hats. Two of the pictures are of native people.
The OVERWHELMING hat preference in the field works is slouched hats of
pale complexion. They are seen in numerous states of wear and cocked in many
different rakish ways. Some apparently have the brims cut down or have worn to
a more narrow and haggard shape.
Other artists lack such hats. Both Ranney and Bodmer depict
hoods/hats of fur. Bodmer on an Assiniboine hunter in winter wearing a badgers
skin hood and Ranney with simple “pill” style hats of what could be interpreted
as beaver on his trapper subjects. In the journal of Isaac P. Rose, the hats of
this nature are used for stalking buffalo. This man while recounting his
exploits in the late 1870s hung out with Bridger, Carson, Wyeth, and Russell in
the field from 1834-38 and while he is a secondary resource, was in the
mountains during Miller’s appearance there. He also mentions these “caps” being made from
wolf skin specifically.
Here is the corresponding journal entry from Miller’s 1837 journal
from the hunting scene “approaching the buffalo:
“The hunters form for themselves a peculiar
kind of cap—it has two ears with a flap reaching to the shoulders. This is worn
with a double object in view, one of which is to deceive the buffalo in
approaching—under such a guise, the hunter is mistaken for the animal as a
wolf, and is suffered to approach quite near…” AJ Miller 1837
So what can we take away from this whole discussion? Firstly,
is there are only about 14 guys out of 100 pictures with this head-wear I don’t
believe the trappers relished wearing these hats. The vast majority of the group
is portrayed wearing them as make-do head coverings some of blanket or cloth
some of apparently buckskin.
It may also be quite possible that these are part of the
hunting attire for just that specific task as 4 of the 17 images revolve around
actual hunting. Miller quotes reflect the word “hunter” and “trapper,” each
with singular significance in respect to duty. However, Antoine a fine hunter himself
is depicted in a tan slouch a hat with broad brim.
1868 photo of Dakota Sioux hunters
For me personally, portraying the typical trapper, I find
this hat very “non-typical.” However, this hat has a seemingly specific
application among the native inhabitants and among the 1837 brigade as well….Which
I will discuss next time……
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