The Indians' Book by Natalie Curtis
Published in 1907 with a second edition issued in 1923, The Indians’ Book was the ambitious work of Natalie Curtis, an American ethnomusicologist devoted to documenting and advocating for Indigenous and African American musical traditions. The volume brings together songs and stories from eighteen Native nations, accompanied by handwritten musical transcriptions, illustrations, and photographs.
The book’s cover design is based on a parfleche — a rawhide case used by Plains and other Indigenous peoples — painted by the Cheyenne artist Wihunahe (Chief Woman). As Curtis explains in her introduction, parfleches were used “to hold and carry their belongings, especially the dried buffalo-meat that was their sustenance. The idea in choosing this design is that the cover of the book is in itself a parfleche to keep those possessions of the Indian which he must carry ever with him—the songs and legends of his race."
Chippewa artist and designer Neebinnaukzhik Southall explains the design of De Cora’s Winnebago title page:
"For the Winnebago title page, DeCora created an illustration based on loom beadwork made with glass seed beads, likely based on a garter worn around the knees to hold up leggings, or perhaps an armband. The center of the design is depicted in detail, which then fades out to strings rendered in a wash. The pattern is very typical for Great Lakes tribes, and is also seen in Anishinaabe designs [. . .]. DeCora’s letters draw from the beadwork design, not only in the green and orange color scheme, but also in their use of square motifs as anchors flanked by triangles. DeCora also uses the stepped form in most of the letters, notably the K, and the jagged floral-like form in several letters — the two Es, the W, and G."
For the "Dakota Indians" chapter title, De Cora designed the lettering and Sioux artist Tatanka Ptéčela (Short Bull) created the illustration, which depicts “A Dakota brave and Medicine Man. The warrior wears the horned head-dress emblematic of divine power, the insignia of the Holy Man, or Man of Medicine.”
Tatanka Ptéčela (c. 1849s-1920s) was an influential leader in the Ghost Dance movement. During the tense months following the Wounded Knee Massacre, Tatanka Ptéčela led hundreds of Ghost Dancers to a stronghold in the Badlands before eventually surrendering to U.S. troops. His leadership during this period made him one of the most prominent Lakota religious figures of the era. In later years, Tatanka Ptéčela shared accounts of Lakota experiences through oral narratives and artwork, leaving an important historical and cultural record of the movement and its impact on his people.
