Description:
Plains Indian History and Culture, an engaging collection of articles and essays, reflects John C. Ewers multifaceted approach to Indian history, an approach that combines his far-reaching interest in American history generally, his professional training in anthropology, and his many decades of experience as a field-worker and museum curator.
The author has drawn on interviews collected during a quarter-century of fieldwork with Indian elders, who in recalling their own experiences during the buffalo days, revealed unique insights into Plains Indian life. Ewers use his expertise in examining Indian-made artifacts and drawings as well as photographs taken by non-Indian artists who had firsthand contact with Indians. He throws new light on important changes in Plains Indian culture, on the history of intertribal relations, and on Indian relation with whites--traders, missionaries, soldiers, settlers, and the U.S. Government.
Brief description: John C. Ewers (1909-1997), was the first curator of the Museum of the Plains Indian on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. Later he served as Director of what is now Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and was Ethnologost Emeritus with the Smithsonian. His many publications include The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains and Plains Indian History and Culture: Essays on Continuity and Change.