Pipes on the Plains

Description

This hard to find little booklet was first , published, printed, and distributed by  the Pipestone Indian Shrine in 1967. 

The foreword:  When the word “Indian” is mentioned, many people think of a member of the Plains Tribes of historic times.  The many written works on these tribes and large amounts of fiction about them have popularized their way of life.

Their material possessions also hold a fascination for most of us.  The tipi, the travois, the weapons and shields, the luggage, tools, and ceremonial equipment of these people are of interest to the casual museum visitor and the serious collector alike.

One ever-present item in collections of Plains Tribes artifacts is the ceremonial pipe.  Nearly all of the historic Plains Indians used pipes in many ceremonies.  To most effectively tell the story of the ceremonial pipe, this booklet is dived into two parts.  Part One describes the pipes used and the place of these pipes, and associated ceremonies in the life of the tribes. Part Two tells about the surviving stone quarrying and pipemaking activities of one group of modern Indians.

The different chapters in the book are as follows:  The uses and functions of pipes, Smoking materials, Smoking Accessories, Smoking in the Plains culture, Legends of the Pipe, Stone Quarrying and Pipemaking, Quarrying, Pipemaking, and Stems.  There are a lot of old photo’s (some of them color) included in most of the chapters.