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Curious: shirt from Indian legend returns to his family after 113 years
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Frankfurt am Main – The Frankfurter The World Culture Museum has returned the historic leather shirt of a Teton-Lakota political leader to his descendants.
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Duane Hollow Horn Bear (l.) Is pleased about the return of the shirt that his great-grandfather (r.) Had worn. © Image montage: Facebook / Michelle Traversie, Weltkulturenmuseum Frankfurt / John Alvin / www.firstpeople.us, Weltkulturenmuseum Frankfurt / Wolfgang Günzel
The museum had acquired the shirt of Chief Daniel Hollow Horn Bear, who died in 1913, in 1908 in exchange from the American Museum of Natural History, a spokeswoman reported on Thursday.
The sight of the embroidered deerskin shirt might evoke memories of Wild West films in museum visitors, but for Duane Hollow Horn Bear the museum piece is a connection to ancestors.
The shirt from the stocks of Frankfurt World Culture Museum belonged to his great-grandfather Chief Daniel Hollow Horn Bear of the Teton Lakota people. For years he was looking for the shirt.
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As chief, Duane Hollow Horn Bear is also one of the dignitaries of his people on a reservation in the US state of South Dakota.
He contributes to the preservation of the culture of his people through traditional oral transmission as well as digital formats as a storyteller.
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Chief Daniel Hollow Horn Bear fought in the famous Battle of Little Bighorn
Duane Hollow Horn Bear in earlier years before his great-grandfather’s photo. (Archive picture) © Weltkulturenmuseum Frankfurt
His great-grandfather fought as a young man in the “Indian Wars”, including the famous Battle of Little Bighorn.
He later worked as a diplomat with the US government for the rights of indigenous peoples. He died while visiting Washington in 1913.
For a long time Chief Duane was convinced that his great-grandfather had worn the shirt shown in the museum at the time.
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However, according to North America curator Mona Suhrbier, the shirt entered the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in 1906 and was swapped in Frankfurt in 1908.
There is a historical photo that shows Chief Daniel Hollow Horn Bear in the shirt – a confident man with a proud look.
Suhrbier points out the special features of embroidery with colored glass beads, such as the so-called feather pattern in red and green. “These patterns are passed on in a family over generations,” explains the ethnologist.
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Her great-grandfather has returned for the family
Duane and his wife Elsie examine the shirt in the World Culture Museum in Frankfurt. © Weltkulturenmuseum Frankfurt / Mona Suhrbier
Another special feature is the star on the sleeve: “A Lakota star traditionally has four rays,” she says. In this case, however, there are five points like the classic sheriff star, presumably to express police functions. “Because the indigenous police officers on the reservations also wore these stars on their shirts.”
“The shirt gave him an identity,” says Suhrbier, looking at a photo of the young Chief Duane in front of an old photo of his great-grandfather, on which he was wearing the shirt that has now been returned. The family resemblance is obvious.
“From the moment I saw him in front of the shirt and heard him speak to him, it was clear to me that the shirt should be returned,” says the ethnologist.
The shirt has now arrived on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Chief Duane’s daughter, Michelle Traversie, proudly posted on their Facebook page Pictures of the homecoming of the shirt, of the grave of her great-great-grandfather.
“Today history has been made,” she wrote. Her father had tears in his eyes when he was able to present his ancestor’s shirt to the family and the Lakota community: For the family, this return is like a return of the great-grandfather.
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Cover photo: Image montage: Facebook / Michelle Traversie, Weltkulturenmuseum Frankfurt / John Alvin / www.firstpeople.us, Weltkulturenmuseum Frankfurt / Wolfgang Günzel
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