Native American Lore


Figure 1.--Indian lore activities abd costumes varied greatly in attention to detail. Mostly they were very basic reditions. We note, however, some rather elaborate undertakings. These were often associated witth summer camps. The scene here is undated, but we believe was staged during the 1950s, in part because of a period car in the background.

American boys once wanted to dress up in Native American garb for play. The activities conducted, however, varied greatly in the accuracy of the dance and costuming.I'm not sure just went this started. It seems to have developed over after the end of the Indian Wars in the West. I first note children, almost always boys, in Native American costumes at the turn of the 20th century. We see both photographs of boys in play costumes and advertisements for play costumes in the big mail order catalogs. We do not see many formal portraits as we see in Europe of ethnic outfits. The American photographs are nearly all family snapshots. Interestingly dressing up like this for play was also popular in Europe. The American game seems to have been primarily cowboys and Indians. In Europe the children seem to have played Red Indian without the cowboy component. All of this declined in popularity after World War II. I'm not sure just why. British Cubbing drew heavily from Baden Powell's African experiences and Kippling's jungle lore. Ernest Thompson Seaton, or "Black Wolf," was an award winning wildlife illustrator and naturalist who was also a spell-binding storyteller and lecturer, a best selling author of animal stories, expert with Native American Sign language and early supporter of the political, cultural and spiritual rights of First Peoples. He played a major role in the development of the American Boy Scout movement, writing the first American handbook and serving as Chief Scout. An early colaboration with Baden-Powell soured after the founder of Scouting apparently stole many of his ideas and cpncepts. Seaton promoted the naturalist and native American approach to Scouting, but lost out to thoise who want a more militarist approach. He devoted much of his energy to the Woodcraft movement in America. He was a major influence on both Baden Powell and the American youth movement, incliding the Boy Scouts. American Cubbing which was not officially initiated until the 1930s drew from that foundation. Seaton played a key role in its formation. American Cubbing and Scouting once gave considerable attention to Indian lore and culture, including Indian dance. Indian lore was also once important at summer camps, both Scout camps and other camps. Some camps were even organized around the Native American theme.

Play Costumes

American boys once wanted to dress up in Native American garb for play. The activities conducted, however, varied greatly in the accuracy of the dance and costuming.I'm not sure just went this started. It seems to have developed over after the end of the Indian Wars in the West. I first note children, almost always boys, in Native American costumes at the turn of the 20th century. We see both photographs of boys in play costumes and advertisements for play costumes in the big mail order catalogs. We do not see many formal portraits as we see in Europe of ethnic outfits. There are some. An example is Stanley Paulson in 1915. The American photographs are nearly all family snapshots. Interestingly dressing up like this for play was also popular in Europe. The American game seems to have been primarily cowboys and Indians. In Europe the children seem to have played Red Indian without the cowboy component. We have notice this interest in several European countries. Both books and movies seem to have driven the interest. All of this declined in popularity after World War II. I'm not sure just why.

Scouting

British Cubbing drew heavily from Baden Powell's African experiences and Kippling's jungle lore. Ernest Thompson Seaton, or "Black Wolf," was an award winning wildlife illustrator and naturalist who was also a spell-binding storyteller and lecturer, a best selling author of animal stories, expert with Native American Sign language and early supporter of the political, cultural and spiritual rights of First Peoples. He played a major role in the development of the American Boy Scout movement, writing the first American handbook and serving as Chief Scout. An early colaboration with Baden-Powell soured after the founder of Scouting apparently stole many of his ideas and cpncepts. Seaton promoted the naturalist and native American approach to Scouting, but lost out to thoise who want a more militarist approach. He devoted much of his energy to the Woodcraft movement in America. He was a major influence on both Baden Powell and the American youth movement, incliding the Boy Scouts. American Cubbing which was not officially initiated until the 1930s drew from that foundation. Seaton played a key role in its formation. Both American Cubbing and Scouting once gave considerable attention to Indian lore and culture, including Indian dance. This was persued at meetings, camps, and expositions.

Summer Camps

Indian lore was also once important at summer camps, both Scout camps and other camps. At most camps, Indian lore was just one of many activites. Some camps were even organized around the Native American theme. As far as we know, this was just at boys' camps. A lot of activiries at camp such a camping, camp fires, canoeing, ect lebnt itself to Native American themes.

Unidentified Settings

We have found some Native American lore programs in settings that we can not readiily identify. They may well be simmer camp activities or perhaps some kind of civilc or other festival It is often very difficult to tell unless the photograph is identified. We note one very elaborate Native American depiction in a wide open field without any clues whatsoever, just elaborately costumed boys and horses--a rarilty in Native Amerucan lore programs.








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Created: 3:44 AM 11/20/2006
Last updated: 3:44 AM 11/20/2006