Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 159 



To date there are few accounts of Pan-Indianism in the anthro- 

 pological literature. Petrullo was the first to touch upon the subject: 



The reservation system has caused the old tribal animosities to disappear, and 

 there has arisen a sympathetic attitude of the various tribal units toward each 

 other, with the result that intercourse between them has become common, and each 

 other's rites are observed and studied with the avowed purpose of comparison. 

 This constant interchanging of ideas is giving rise to a novel feeling for Indian 

 nationality. As welcome as this may be to one interested in the progress and 

 development of the Indian, it must not be underestimated as being of prime 

 importance in the disintegration of tribal culture patterns. The Delawares are 

 actively participating in this, and as a result not only have they assimilated many 

 of the ideas emanating from other tribes, but have disseminated their own widely. 

 [Petrullo, 1934, p. 26.] 



Herskovits, in his "Acculturation," also touches upon the subject. 

 In commenting upon Margaret Mead's study of the Omaha, "The 

 Changing Culture of an Indian Tribe" (1932) he states: 



The great emphasis placed in this study on the impact of white culture on the 

 "Antlers," furthermore, tends to obscure the efifect on the same people of a highly 

 significant process of inter-tribal acculturation that the book implies is going on 

 among the Indians themselves. It would undoubtedly have been very illuminat- 

 ing if the fact that the "Antler" takes refuge from his sense of a loss of tribal 

 dignity through identifying himself with the larger group, "the American Indian," 

 had been further probed. [Herskovits, 1938, p. 50.] 



In his concluding chapter he elaborates upon his earlier statement: 



The mutual give-and-take that results when American Indians of many diflferent 

 tribes come together in rodeos and exhibitions of various sorts is well worth the 

 attention of ethnologists. Such an obvious example of intertribal acculturation 

 as the spread of the war-bonnet, now the authenticating label of a "true Indian" 

 no matter what his tribe, comes to mind as a rough illustration of this sort 

 of borrowing; but one can only speculate whether the obviously foreign ele- 

 ments seen in the performances of the various tribes of Southwest Indians at 

 such a gathering as the Gallup Festival, assumed for purposes of show in the 

 presence of a white audience, are carried home to invade tribal rituals. [Ibid., pp. 

 124-125.1 



The late Karl Schmitt, of the University of Oklahoma, was much 

 interested in the subject of Pan-Indianism, and read a paper entitled 

 "A Possible Development of a Pan-Indian Culture in Oklahoma" at 

 the 1948 meetings of the Central States Branch of the American 

 Anthropological Association. He intended to publish on this subject, 

 but his untimely death halted the project. 



William Newcomb, Jr., has published a brief study of Delaware 

 participation in Pan-Indianism (1955), and his "The Culture and 

 Acculturation of the Delaware Indians" (1956) also contains excellent 

 material on the subject. I have a short paper on the general subject 

 of Pan-Indianism as well (1955 b). 



Both Newcomb and I have observed that the powwow, centering 

 around the modern form of the HeduSka, or War dance, is the prime 

 secular focus of Pan-Indianism in Oklahoma. In addition to the 



