Vest

On the front of this vest, two men in feather headdresses—which indicate their status as leaders—face one another; on the back, two men in feather headdresses sit on horses looking toward each other and the mid-line of the vest. Two eagles hover above. Cheyenne and Lakota artists made vests like this for warriors, veterans, and other leaders, as well as for trade with Euro-American tourists. Physician and rancher Dr. Edward S. Lauzer (1882-1960) gave this vest to George Edward Lewis along with a story that it had belonged to a Shoshone medicine man in Wyoming, who may have taken the vest from a Lakota or Cheyenne man in battle. While the medicine pouches on the shoulders of this vest confirm that it was worn by a member of the Cheyenne or Lakota tribe and not created for sale to tourists, Lauzer’s anecdotal history of the vest has not been confirmed.

The vest was made during the late nineteenth century, a time when Native tribes across the Great Plains were facing genocide and dispossession perpetrated by the United States government. Research on this vest and other beaded works from the George Edward Lewis collection is ongoing.