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Articles

Vol. 29 (2017)

Flying Woman’s Beaded Cheyenne Cradleboard and Associated Bead Card from Fort Keogh, Montana

Submitted
January 17, 2025
Published
2025-01-24

Abstract

Glass bead sample cards were sent out in the 19th century by bead dealers and producers to illustrate their products and few are known that include small beads of drawn manufacture. One such card marked New York was acquired in 1882 by Captain Eli Lindesmith, a Catholic priest and Army chaplain at Fort Keogh, Montana. Lindesmith used the card to select seed beads for a cradleboard he commissioned that year from a Cheyenne woman named Flying Woman, the wife of Wolf Voice. This previously undescribed sample card is compared to other 19th-century cards displaying drawn beads in an attempt to determine its origin. Insight into the identity and family history of the maker of the cradleboard is also provided.