A highly respected elder of the Crow tribe draws on stories he has collected throughout his lifetime to offer a unique glimpse of American Indian culture as Indians themselves know it. "No one who hungers to understand what America lost when it destroyed the Plains Indian cultures should miss this exciting little book."--Tony Hillerman.

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A comprehensive study of the beadwork of the Crow Indian Nation from 1805 to contemporary times. Between 1907 and 1916 Dr. Robert H. Lowie made repeated visits to the Crow Agency Reservation to study their traditional customs and, as a result, published the first paper on Crow Indian beadwork. Based on this research, in 1918 William Wildschut began to collect specimens for the Heye Foundation. His work went far beyond merely collecting specimens. He asked questions from his Crow associates and in 1927 produced a manuscript for the Heye in which he concluded that "true Crow beadwork was not borrowed from the neighboring Western Sioux, nor from any other Tribe. It possessed a distinctive character of its own."

In 1957, Dr. John C. Ewers, a truly enjoyable expert, made further inquiries and this book was produced providing an illustrated description and history of Crow Indian Beadwork from the time of its first mention by the fur trader, Francois Larouque, in 1805. Included are sections on Men's Dress Clothing (Shirts, Leggings, Feather Bonnets, Vests, Gauntlets, and Feather Fans); Women's Dress Clothing (Dresses, Leggings and Belts); Robes and Blankets; Moccasins; Riding Gear (Saddles, Head Ornaments, Horse Collars, Cruppers and Saddle Blankets); Containers (Saddle Bags, Quivers, Gun Cases, Sword and Lance Cases, Cradles, Belt Pouches, Ration Ticket Pouches, Mirror Pouches, and Pipe and Tobacco Pouches); Characteristics of Crow Indian Beadwork (Beadwork Techniques, Beadwork Designs, and Bead Colors); Symbolism in Crow Beadwork; History of Crow Beadwork and a bibliography. 18 illustrations; 48 B&W photographs; 3 pages in full color.

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Born in 1882, Richard Throssel was a North American Indian, of Cree heritage, and an adopted Crow. He was also an accomplished commercial photographer. Throssel lived on the Crow Reservation from 1902 to 1911 and undertook a vast personal effort to photograph the people and places there. He made more than a thousand photographs, thus effectively creating a visual census of the Crows. Despite this prolific and historically significant output, Throssels work has received little attention. In Crow Indian Photographer, Peggy Albright deftly combines biographical detail with an overview of Richard Throssel's photographic legacy. In addition to his Crow photographs, Throssel photographed Northern Cheyenne ceremonies that were prohibited by government regulation.

The first book-length publication devoted to the photographer's life and work, Crow Indian Photographer provides a compelling look at the photographer, his work, and the culture in which he lived. The book includes commentaries on the photographs by present-day Crow people.

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Pretty-shield, the legendary medicine woman of the Crows, remembered what life was like on the Plains when the buffalo were still plentiful. A powerful healer who was forceful, astute, and compassionate, Pretty-shield experienced many changes as her formerly mobile people were forced to come to terms with reservation life in the late nineteenth century.

Pretty-shield told her story to Frank Linderman through an interpreter and using sign language. The lives, responsibilities, and aspirations of Crow women are vividly brought to life in these pages as Pretty-shield recounts her life on the Plains of long ago. She speaks of the simple games and dolls of an Indian childhood and the work of the girls and women—setting up the lodges, dressing the skins, picking berries, digging roots, and cooking. Through her eyes we come to understand courtship, marriage, childbirth and the care of babies, medicine-dreams, the care of the sick, and other facets of Crow womanhood. Alma Snell and Becky Matthews provide a new preface to this edition.

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This fascinating ethnography explores how the Crow Indians have blended scientific observation with religious symbolism to develop traditions that are a cornerstone of their culture. For centuries, the Crow people have kept a careful watch on the heavens above them--particularly the cycles and movements of the stars, the sun, the moon, and certain planets. Their interpretations of these cosmic phenomena have shaped the principles by which the Crow live, providing a sense of right and wrong and an attendant set of values and ethics. The Crow speak of this celestial wisdom as "the stars we know." In this illustrated volume, McCleary provides description and background but lets the Crow star knowledge unfold through the words of contemporary tribal elders, whose narratives describe the origins and organization of the universe and the history of constellations that have special religious interpretation and history. A valuable contribution to the study of Native American theology as well as an important record of Crow oral traditions.

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