Native American Ceremonial Beaded Suit Associated with Sitting Bull | Annex Auctions
Ends May 18, 2025
Native American Ceremonial Beaded Suit Associated with Sitting Bull
Ten Piece Beaded Suit in the Chippewa style, presented to American Teacher Nelson Dunn at the Cheyenne River Agency, South Dakota, by Sitting Bull’s grandson, via oral tradition. By oral tradition, from Nelson Dunn’s son to Lynda Murphy: the suit was of Chippewa style, yet still owned by Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota, because of his good relations with the Chippewa. Included with the suit are ten pieces, all with intricate and finely detailed beadwork.
Provenance: Via oral tradition: Sitting Bull to Nelson Dunn, and then by direct family descent to Lynda Murphy.
Documentation: Via the ‘Sixty-First Annal Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary to the Interior, 1892,’ Nelson Dunn taught at Day School 7 North of the Cheyenne Agency, from 9/1/1891-10/17/1891. Mr. Dunn was then transferred to Day School 5, 48 miles northwest of the Cheyenne Agency in October 1891.
Additional Documentation: Newspaper Obituary: Dunn was born on June 11th, 1866 in Stoutsville, Ohio, then to Indiana, where he completed the common schools course, then in 1886 to the United Brethren Church. The obituary then verifies the 61st commissioners report and states that he then spent two years in South Dakota, beginning in 1891. Dunn passed away on Sept 18, 1905 in Klamath Falls.
Additional Documentation: Eleven page journal hand written by Teacher Nelson Dunn documenting his experiences traveling to, arriving at, and first teaching at the Cheyenne Agency Day Schools.
Per oral tradition, because Nelson Dunn was only 39 when he passed, his son, Clifford S. Dunn, remembered only select stories from his father. One memory that held: Nelson would on special occasion show Sitting Bull’s suit to Clifford and then proceed to perform a Ghost dance for him that he witnessed at the Cheyenne agency while teaching. Sitting Bull was a central figure in the ghost dance movement that promised the return of the Buffalo, their ancestors, and the displacement of white settlers.
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