Heading: (Wounded Knee)
Author: Moorehead, Warren
Title: Letter offering Indian artifacts to a Congressional Medal of Honor winner
Place Published: Columbus, Ohio
Publisher:
Date Published: August 18, 1897
Description:

Typed Letter Signed, Ohio State University, Department of Archaeology. 1 pg. + original stamped mailing envelope. To Major William S. Beebe, Thompson, Conn.

While in New Mexico, Moorehead had bought, from a trader, 15 Navajo blankets, which "takes a woman anywhere from one to four months to make" on a handloom, with symbolism of "broad bands of various colors running zig zag in imitation" of lightning. He offered these to Major Beebe at prices ranging from $7 to $12, with those made by three Navajo families noted for their fine weaving running from $15 to $20.

Sometimes honored as the Dean of American Archaeology, Warren Moorehead was a pioneer in the excavation of ancient Native American earthworks. Appointed Professor of Archaeology and museum curator at Ohio State University, he paid for his travel and research by selling Indian art objects. Some were duplicate artifacts taken from his archeological digs, but this letter establishes his more conventional business. Moorehead is more appreciatively remembered for exposing the tragic massacre at Wounded Knee. Present as a journalistic observer at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, he did not personally observer the killings, but his camera was used by other journalists to record the horrific aftermath, and he was expelled from the reservation under Army guard because he was the only reporter present who spoke some of the native language and had spent time at a Sioux encampment. He subsequently wrote articles demanding justice for the Indians. Beebe, the Army officer to whom he offered the blankets, won the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Civil War, was an amateur archaeologist with odd theories about ancient Native American origins. He died in Cuba while serving in the Spanish-American War.

Very good.