Beaded items are part of a long tradition in Native American art. By the late eighteenth century, the Iroquois had begun creating traditionally beaded items for the tourist market. Although such tourist items were not present in the traditional Native world, Iroquois artists quickly adapted traditional beading methods and techniques to create objects specifically for sale to non-Native buyers, in order to make money to live. By the mid-nineteenth century, northeastern Native cultures had established a robust market in the Niagara Falls area for beaded pincushions, wall-hangings, and purses that were sold to collectors and tourists.
Floral motifs are traditional Iroquois designs and were popular among Victorian-era tourists. Paper patterns were often attached to the surface fabric and beaded over, as in this pincushion. Velvet fabric in the star points and the polished cotton back is typical of Iroquois work of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
For more information, you may contact the researcher(s) noted in the title of this exhibit entry, or Dr. Billie Follensbee, the professor of the course, at BillieFollensbee@MissouriState.edu