Pathfinders: Blackfoot Culture |
 |
|
|
Featured Sponsors:
|
Blackfoot CultureThe Blackfoot are a Plains Indian tribe who live in Montana and Alberta. This pathfinder points to information resources about Blackfoot arts, crafts, and language. If these resources are not available in your library, ask your librarian about interlibrary loan. Where can I find a short introduction to the Blackfoot? The Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 13. Plains ( Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2001) contains an article on the Blackfoot that briefly summarizes their history and way of life. It has pictures and a map. Where can I find pictures of Blackfoot people? http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu has digitized The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis, an enormous ethnographic and photographic work, which was originally published as a 20 volume set in the early 20 th century. Vol. 18 has many pictures depicting traditional Blackfoot life. Click on the “browse tribes” button and look for “Siksika,” the Blackfoot word for Blackfoot. Where can I find information about and pictures of Blackfoot art? http://www.iacb.doi.gov/museums/museum_plains.html is the website of the Museum of the Plains Indian. You can see works by contemporary Blackfoot artists by clicking either “current exhibitions” or “previous exhibitions.” Persistent Vision: Art of the Reservation Days by Richard Conn (Denver, CO: Denver Art Museum, 1986) has a chapter with descriptions and pictures of Blackfoot clothing, hide paintings, and jewelry. After the Buffalo Were Gone: the Louis Warren Hill, Sr., Collection of Indian Art (St. Paul, MN: Northwest Area Foundation, 1985) has essays about the significance of decorations in Blackfoot life and many pictures of clothing, baby carriers, ornaments and implements. Beauty, Honor, and Tradition: the Legacy of Plains Indian Shirts by Joseph and George Horse Capture ( Washington, DC: National Museum of the American Indian, 2001) has color photos of many beautiful clothing items by different tribes. Look for “Blackfeet” in the index. Where can I find information about Blackfoot music? Bruno Nettl’s “Studies in Blackfoot Musical Culture, Parts I-IV” (Ethnomusicology, 1967-68, Vol. 11, 141-160, 293-309, Vol. 12, 11-48, 192-207) discusses traditional and contemporary Blackfoot singing and the role of music in Blackfoot life. Part III has music you can play on the piano. “Songs of the People: Plains Indian Music and Recordings, 1968-1996” (Notes, 2 nd ser., 55, 37-67) by Erik Gooding lists cassettes and cds of Plains Indian singing and record companies you can buy them from. Look for “Blackfoot” after the performers’ names to find recording of Blackfoot music. Where can I learn about the Blackfoot language? The first part of Blackfoot Grammar by Donald Frantz (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto, 1991) has short word lists and basic grammar. Where can I find more sources of information about the Blackfoot? Bibliography of the Blackfoot by Hugh Dempsey and Lindsay Moir (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1989) lists books and articles about all aspects of Blackfoot life from history and government relations to art and poetry. Some items have short annotations to tell you more about them.
For more information about the Blackfoot, contact your librarian. |
|
