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Maine
Folklife Center |
Newsletters
Spring - Summer, 2002 Volume 8 Issue
1
Table of Contents
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New Acquisitions in
the Northeast Archives are these Images of the Penobscot
Community of Indian Island, and of Passamaquoddies at Pleasant
Point.
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Some of these are post cards that I have bought in on-line
auctions and donated to the collection. Unfortunately I haven’t
been able to get the best ones, which go for as much as $75 per
card.
The Passamaquoddy cards came to
us through the generosity of Michael Graham of New Gloucester,
Maine, who made us copies of cards for which he had outbid me.
Quite a few Penobscot cards are available, especially of Indian
Island, but images of the Pasamaquoddies are much rarer,
probably due to the greater distance of these communities from
the white tourist centers, the principle markets for such cards.
Taken around 1910, these images-especially the basket maker and
the sealskins-do give us some information about traditional ways
of life. But they also document the influence of other tribes
and of the surrounding white culture. |
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The war dance (to the right) may be a traditional dance, but it
is also a performance for the white audience gathered outside
the ring. |
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Chief Bruce Poolaw and his tepee
gift shop on Indian Island (above left and above right)
represent another such cultural exchange. A Kiowa from Oklahoma
and former rodeo star, he had married into the Penobscot tribe
(his wife, Lucy Nicola, was known as Princess Watawaso, a
popular vaudeville singer whose records are also in our
collection), and brought with him the feathered bonnet, totem
poles and tepee designs we see in these photos, which were
probably taken in the 1950s. |
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