
AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 
DESIGNS. 
The designs among the Plains Indians are justly celebrated for their 
geometric character. To be fully appreciated they must be seen in 
color instead of in mere outline as in this booklet. They were intended 
for costume decoration and used out-of-doors in the open and the sun- 
light. Under such conditions the colors tended to blend into their 
surroundings and to lose much of their harshness. The true place such 
decorations held in Plains Indian life is suggested by the accompanying 
photograph of two Blackfoot women. 
A general similarity is found among the beaded designs for all the 
Plains tribes, but the choice of colors for backgrounds differs. Some of 
the finest work comes from the Dakota (Sioux) who use white as the back- 
ground; however, some forty years ago they used a light blue. 
The Indians around the Great Lakes seldom use geometric patterns, 
but incline to floral motives. Naturally, in their woven work they some- 
what conventionalize these floral patterns, but in all cases the plant forms 
are obvious. On the other hand in their embroidery, where there are 
no limitations, they attain highly realistic effects. (See the Menomini 
and Ojibway cases.) 
The contrast between these two types of beadwork will appear if 
you closely examine the collections in the Eastern Woodland Hall and 
then those in the Plains Indian Hall. 
NAMES FOR DESIGNS. 
The Indian bead workers often have names for their designs to 
facilitate discussion among themselves. Many of these names have 
highiy figurative meanings that suggest true symbolism. The best 
series of such design names as used in beadwork was collected for this 
Museum from the Arapaho Indians, a list of which is given on the fol- 
lowing pages. All of these designs are from specimens in the Museum 
and the names were supplied by the maker of each piece. A typical 
series of these are on exhibition in the Arapaho cases, Plains Indian 
Hall. Additional examples of design interpretation are shown in the 
Dakota cases. Naturally, tribes differ in the use of these names and not 
infrequently groups of workers in the same tribe have different names 
for the same design. 
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