Around the House
American Indian Imagery in Children’s Kitsch
Mohawk Lodge: Clinton, MO
The Mohawk Lodge opened in 1892 as a beading outlet for Cheyenne women who made and sold their handmade creations. The store still buys, sells and trades authentic Indian crafts and artifacts across the same counter it used in 1892. Although this store has items of kitsch, much of its merchandise are authentic indigenous artifacts.
“Indian Jewelry”
Dreamcatchers along Route 66
Native Imagery in Oklahoma Gas Station
Cherokee Travel Mart in Geary, OK
Indian Kitsch in Rolla, MO
This post features kitsch from the Totem Pole Trading Post, the oldest trading post in Missouri. Aside from the slew of non-Native, stereotypical “Indian” kitsch found inside, the “Totem Pole” in the store’s name itself is interesting granted totem poles are traditional to indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and British Columbia and are carved sculptures from large (typically Red Cedar) trees—which do not grow in the Midwest. I asked the man in the store the namesake of the Totem Pole Trading Post, and he said, “because Indians make totem poles.” This exemplifies the understanding of many non-Natives that Indians are of one, non-distinctive heritage. This assumption blends the individuality of Native peoples from many diverse tribal groups into one Indian stereotype that is made up of favored traits—in this case, the craft of totem poles is assumed to be something all Indigenous Northern Americans do.
Union, MO
Indian Imagery on Illinois Route 66
Some photos taken in Pontiac, IL, a town named after an Odawa (Ottawa) war chief known for his role in the Pontiac War against British military occupation of the Great Lakes.
