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Melissa Maccini

ART 5

Professor Seban

October 2014

Article Analysis

In Souvenirs of Niagara Falls: The Significance of Indian Whimsies, Beverly Gordon

presents a historical view of the Native American gay embroidery business that began in the

nineteenth century at Niagara Falls.1 By researching Niagara Falls travel brochures and visitors

guides, Gordon gives her insight on how and why the sewn beadwork became associated with

the Falls. Gordons experience as a professor for 30 years at the University of Wisconsin-

Madison teaching material culture and fashion history with a research focus on the meanings of

objects in peoples lives provides credibility to her writing. In her bibliography, she says she

likes helping people appreciate both our material and inner, intuitive worlds and offering both

an artistic and academic perspective through words and images. Gordons focus in the article is

that the tourists that came to see Niagara Falls associatethe area with the Indians and the

beadwork was merely a memento, not fine art.

In order to support her claims, Gordon used documentary evidence to show that the bead

covered purses, picture frames, needle cases, and similar items now referred to as whimsies

were sold near Niagara Falls for over 100 years. Her first example of documentation was a

tourist brochure from 1884 that describe the Indian maids and their mothers with their brightly

colored embroidery which she believes referred to the Tuscarora women that lived on the

reservation near the falls and the beadwork that they were especially well known for. She also

referenced a visitors guide to Niagara Falls from 1852 that specifically mentions that there are
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Tuscarora women every day selling their beadwork. Gordon draws a parallel that the Falls were

particularly marketed to the romantics celebrating their wedding and that the white people were

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1. Beverly Gordon, Souvenirs of Niagara Falls: The Significance of Indian

Whimsies,New York History, Vol. 67. No.4 (October 1986), pp. 389-409,
accessed April 3, 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23177393

beginning to romanticize Indian history. Taking home an item created by the Indians was

providing the visitors with the opportunity to take home a memento of their trip to Niagara. She

believes that the abundance of whimsies from this time period that can be found in museums,

antique stores, and markets show that very large quantities of the beadwork were sold. Gordon

concludes by addressing the loss of importance and symbolism of the beautiful beadwork

because the pieces were marketed as tourist souvenirs and not Native American fine art.

I found the authors argument both enlightening and disheartening. I do not feel that

Gordon addressed the beauty and different types of beadwork that were created by the Native

American women in the Woodlands. She only had one sentence that discussed the different bead

types and styles associated with the art. While I do believe Gordon did provide compelling

support to the argument that the whimsies are a souvenir, I would have preferred she also include

some information on the materials used and the styles of the intricate beadwork. In her

bibliography she states that she focuses on material culture and I would have appreciated a more

balanced article that did demonstrate the possible differences in the mass marketed beadwork

being sold as trip memento and special more intricate pieces of fine art.

Beverly Gordons article is providing some key information and research about the how

the whimsies became souvenirs. The other research articles I have gathered for my paper provide

more insight into the type of beads, the symbolism and the skills associated with the Native

American beadwork. By combining the history that Gordon provided on the beadwork as a
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souvenir and the information I have reviewed on the art of beadwork, I believe I will be able to

write a balanced point of view paper.