Viewing Native American Postcards

I am both a scholar and a collector of postcards; I decided to combine the two and have completed a paper discussing how Kiowa, Comanche and Naisha (Plains Apache) people & culture have been presented on postcards. I discussed some of this research at a meeting of the Plains Anthropological Society in 2010. I have submitted the paper to the journal for possible review & publication. A new postcard project may explore postcards of the American Indian Exposition, a combination carnival and indigenous cultural celebration. I have recently acquired many cards from the 1930s & 1940s and have a regional historical journal in mind....a good project for the fall.

Black Kettle, Cheyenne

A Postcrosser in Colorado very kindly exchanged 2 cards commemorating the life and experiences of Black Kettle. In 1864 members of the Colorado militia attacked a camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho located along the Sand Creek in Colorado killing 160 native people, mostly women and children. The location was declared a National Historic Site in 2007.
Sadly Black Kettle, the camp's Cheyenne headman would be killed in another military attack on his camp in Nov 1868, led by George Custer (who would be killed when he attacked a Lakota camp in 1876). Black Kettle and more than 150 native people died along the Washita River in western Oklahoma.

Canadian First Nations Stamps!

I recently received 2 Canadian First Nations postcards and the senders were extra kind to add wonderful First Nations stamps as well.
This one was a thank you from a gal who is coming to visit Chicago...I sent some cards from here to share with her traveling companions. Summer is pow wow season and these grass dancers wear very colorful regalia!

while the stamps celebrate Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680), a young Mohawk & Algonkian girl who survived smallpox and found sanctuary with other Catholics. She has recently been named a saint by the Church and is the patroness of the environment. Another stamp celebrates the life of Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row, also called Hendrick Tejonihokarawa (1660-1735), a pro-English sachem or leader of the Mohawk against the French. He was later baptized and became a Protestant preacher.

This card was sent as a US/Canada tag and is my first look at the Kejimkujik Natl Park & Historic Site, located in Nova Scotia. The petroglyphs, or rock art, was made by the Mi'kmaw people and is thought to represent a legendary bird who grants magical power to hunters.

The stamps include Tecumseh, a member of the Shawnee nation who had been driven into the Northwest Territory, now Indiana. During the War of 1812 between the US and England he rallied native people to support the British in the hopes of stopping American domination of land and indigenous culture. He was killed in Canada in 1813 and his community was sent to Kansas and later moved to Oklahoma.