From Nation to Nation - The Hutter Collection

Detail of Side Fold Dress

Detail of side fold dress, showing attached cowrie shells and English brass buttons. PM 99-12-10/53047


 

Rear view of side-fold dress

Rear view of side fold dress, PM 99-12-10/53047


 

Side-Fold Dress (beaded), made of tanned bison hide

Side fold dress (beaded), made of tanned bison hide. Plains. PM 99-12-10/53047


 

Gourd Rattle, Eastern Plains/Western Great Lakes

Gourd Rattle, Eastern Plains/Western Great Lakes. PM 99-12-10/53018


 

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The blue glass beads on this Mandan style man's choker were highly prized throughout North America. PM 99-12-10/53017


Research determined that a number of items in the Boston Museum Collection formerly attributed to Lewis and Clark were probably given to the Peale Museum by Lt. George Christian Hutter in 1828.  Lt. Hutter (1793-1879) was then a young Army officer living in St.Louis. In 1825-1826, he served on the Atkinson-O'Fallon expedition, which traveled up the Missouri River to conduct formal treaties with many of the tribes Lewis and Clark had encountered, including the Mandan. Lt. Hutter may have acquired Indian diplomatic gifts and trade items on that expedition.  In 1830, he married Harriet Risque, the niece of William Clark's wife.  His brother and sister in law lived at Poplar Forest, Virginia, formerly the estate of Thomas Jefferson. Since both Lt. Hutter and Lewis and Clark donated Indian robes, pipes, weapons and garments to the Peale Museum, it is difficult to distinguish between their collections entirely.