bandolier bag

Description:

Made by Sophia Smith circa 1895 - circa 1901. Cloth bandolier bag with front pocket, spot-stitch decorated with multicolored glass seed beads in curvilinear floral designs on a translucent bead background. Bag is bound with purple silk ribbon and has netted thread fringe with green glass bugle beads. Made by Sophia Smith [Sophia LaRush (Smith) La Roche, AKA Mrs. Rev. Fred Smith] for Minnesota's Episcopal Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple. The bags appear to have been prized for their decorative qualities and were worn on special or important occasions, including dances and treaty trips to Washington, D.C. Contemporary Ojibwe elders have told us that these beaded bags were decorative articles of clothing that could be worn by any man or woman. Bandoliers were worn on festive occasions, the broad band passing over the shoulder. Sometimes two such bags were worn.