Editorials by Forrest Fenn - Early American Indian Dolls

Sioux, 13.5 inches

An old Crow Indian woman, who was born about 1865, said that when she was a little girl, her family was "so poor she didn't even have a mother:' Although the veracity of her words is suspect, they serve to show the levity that probably existed throughout her tribe and assisted in its ability to survive in the harsh Montana environment. A strong imagination was an important ingredient in the construction of daily life, both with adults, who saw an omen in the sudden appearance of an eagle, or with little girls, who could conjure up visions of parenthood when playing with dolls and other toys. Like with most children, they felt a certain comfort in having something of their very own to love and to care for.

The first doll was probably nothing more than a small limb with forked legs and a piece of buckskin tied around the waist that gave it a human characteristic. If the doll did not have a face or clothing, it allowed the child to imagine anything she wanted. Such dolls are rarely seen in museums today because they were usually discarded as the child got older and needed playthings that were more realistic.

Many objects could be transformed into a doll: a shaped stone, a corn cob, even the bone of an animal. Apache dolls often were made from sticks and, although they were sometimes lavishly dressed in painted and beaded buckskin clothing, quite often they had no face on the head, which was little more than the rounded end of the stick.

In his book, Plains Indian Sculpture, John Ewers reported a story from the "buffalo days" that was given to him by his elderly Blackfeet informants. "A little girl of six or seven years who accompanied her grandmother into the brush to collect firewood might beg the old woman to make her a birch doll. The grandmother would cut a section of a birch limb about one foot long and four inches in diameter with her axe. She used her butcher knife to cut a groove around the piece about four inches from one end. This formed the dolls shoulder line. Above this line she whittled a crude, knob-like head and bored little holes in one side of the knob to suggest eyes, nose, and mouth. The simple doll had no ears, hair, or legs. The body retained the unaltered form of the birch cylinder below the shoulder line. Little girls clothed these dolls by simply wrapping a piece of buckskin or trade cloth around the cylinder."

Most of the early dolls had hair made of buffalo fur or horse tail. Later on, strings of black wool were braded and affixed to the head of a doll. In some cases human scalps were sewn on a head that was made from cloth or buckskin. This realistic touch seemed to suit the little girls’ just fine.

Before Indian women began making clothing from cloth, the dolls wore hide dresses that were decorated with beaded designs and had fringe hanging from the sleeves and skirt. Frequently they had miniature accouterments such as leather belts on which small beaded strike-a-light pouches and knife sheaths were hung. Female dolls might have metal jingle-bob earrings that had been handed down from earlier times, or long strands of seed-beads hanging from each side of the face. Conical-shaped dentilium shells also made favored earrings. Beaded leggings and moccasins are nearly always present on dolls of both genders, and many were very elaborate and skillfully made.

With the early stick dolls, no distinction was made between male and female dolls, although a child for whom it was made probably envisioned it to be one or the other, depending on which she would prefer to mother. An educated guess would place the number of male dolls at less than one-third of the total that were made for children. Many times, when a male doll is present, it is part of a pair that simulated a mother and a father.

Male dolls frequently were more elaborately ornamented than their counterparts. The reason may be that in real life men had a wider variation of tools with which they worked that could be depicted on a doll. Objects such as shields, rifles, tomahawks, bow and arrow sets, knives, and beaded pouches were common, as were breastplates made from porcupine quills. Personal items attached to female dolls were usually limited to belts, beaded bags and awl cases, and jewelry.

Dolls made of buckskin or cloth often were stuffed with antelope hair, grass, or whatever was available at the time. One I saw was stuffed with sage brush leaves that gave it a pleasant aroma. White glass seed-beads were commonly used to make facial features, which were often emphasized with colored pigments.

In her book, The Way to Independence, Carolyn Gilman spoke of a doll that was made by a Hidasta named Turtle for her granddaughter, Buffalo Bird Woman. "She sewed on two white bone beads for eyes. I bit off one of these bone beads, to see if it was good to eat, I suppose. For some days my dolly was one-eyed, until my grand- mother sewed on a beautiful new eye, a blue glass bead she had gotten from a trader. I thought this was much better, for now my dolly had one blue eye and one white one."

Generally, boys and girls played separately because their rolls in life were different, as were their interests. When they did play together, they acted as grown-ups. The boys used miniature bows and arrows to kill small animals such as squirrels, which they brought home to the girls, who pre- tended to tan the skins and cook the meat. Miniature teepees were constantly being taken down and moved to different locations on small travois that were pulled by dogs. Toy horses were placed in different "pastures" where the grass was better, and on occasion some of the horses were "stolen" by boy warriors in imitation of their fathers.

Carolyn Gilman further reported, "When ever Buffalo Bird Woman dressed up in her father's hunting cap, her grandmother laughed at her and said, 'That's a warrior's cap. A little girl cannot be a warrior.' In turn, Buffalo Bird Woman passed her attitudes on to her son. 'I did not play with little girls: Goodbird said later. 'My mother would say if you play with girls, you will grow up to be a woman’.”

One report tells of a seven-year-old Crow girl who tied her buckskin doll to the neck of the family dog before she mounted her horse for an afternoon ride. Side by side they wandered along the Little Bighorn River as she sang to her "baby:” Those same instincts are inherent in children of all cultures, but manifest themselves to a greater degree among peoples in remote locations who usually have more time to themselves and fewer distractions.

Dolls can add an important component to a child's emotional stability. They also are educational in that they teach both the practical lessons of adult behavior and the necessary responsibilities that come with maturity.