Teachers NewsletterEiteljorg

Museum

This activity will show you how to make a flatbag inspired by those used by the Nez Perce.

Flat Bag Weaving

Visit the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art to learn more about Native American games and culture.www.eiteljorg.org

Step 1Cut the flap offof your envelope.

Step 2Fold the envelope in half andmake 4 vertical cuts in thefront and back sides, beingcareful not to cut all the waythrough to the top or bottom.Stop cutting about 1/2-inchfrom the edge, then unfold theenvelope.

Step 4Repeat step three with another stripof paper, this time starting under,over, under, over, until you reach theedge of the envelope. Cut the excessand tuck in the end. Continue thispattern until you’ve reached the top.

Turn the envelope overand repeat steps 3 and4 until you’ve reachedthe top.

Step 5Using a glue stick, secure allthe loose ends on the bag.

Materials{ Small coin envelope

approx. 2” x 3”{ Scissors{ Strips of paper

{ Raffia{ Hole punch{ Glue stick

Step 3Using a strip of paper, beginweaving it through the slits onone side of the envelope; over,under, over, under, until youcome to the edge of the envelope.Then, cut off the excess.

Step 6Punch a hole in each side of the bagand string a pieceof raffia through.

Step 7Add designs to your bag.

Teachers NewsletterEiteljorg

Museum

Focus: Flat Bags of the Nez PerceFlat bags have been used for many years. There are

several ways to find out more about them and you cansee real ones on exhibit at the museum or when talkingto a primary resource like Rosa Yearout (Nez Perce), themuseum’s March artist in residence, about her family’shistory and how they live today.

Flat bags FAQ:the what, who, when, where of flat bags.

What:Flat bags, also known as corn husk bags or flat twined

bags, have been created as a clever solution by the NorthAmerican Plateau culture area peoples. The containers canlie flat, store well and are easy to transport. The flexiblesides can expand to hold food and other valuable items.

Who:Nez Perce, Umatilla, Shoshone and other Plateau-area

weavers gathered dog bane, a plant material, processedit and wove it. Depending on the era, they added designsand decorations, originally made from plant materials. By1840, corn husks from farms and purchased wool threadwere used to decorate the bags. Flat bags are still beingmade by a few talented people.

Sacagawea (c. 1788-1812 or 1848), guide for the Lewisand Clark expedition, may have used one of these bags.She was originally from the Shoshone Plateau peoplewho had a similar lifestyle as the Nez Perce.

When:According to archaeological evidence, flat bags have

been used for more than nine-thousand years.

Where:Flat bags were used and are currently made in the

Columbia River Basin in the Plateau Cultural Area.

Bag fact:Members of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery

asked for flat bags to carry the root foods they weregiven by Nez Perce peoples they met on June 7, 1806.The Nez Perce women were reluctant, because one bagcould represent hundreds of hours of labor and four tosix months of weaving. That was long before peoplelived with time-saving equipment like electricity, hotwater in homes and household appliances.

IDOE Academic Standards Connections: 5th grade Social Studies

5.1-.4: Include this activity with units on the Corps ofDiscovery and Lewis and Clark in fifth-grade history, gov-ernment, geography and economy.

5th grade Visual Arts5.1: Discuss the manner in which different cultures havesimilar design solutions for similar functions, using theNez Perce flat bag example. 5.8: Integrated studies

Academic Standards correlations:Additional Academic Standards may be met in math/

geography and visual arts/creative production by looking atthe geometric patterns on traditional basketry and flat bags.Consider English/Language Arts connections and readingcomprehension with the comparison of fictional and non-fiction works.

For more information check these references: Columbia River Basketry: Gift of the Ancestors, Gift of theEarth by Mary Dodds Schlick, 1994

University of Washington Press, Seattle.ISBN 0-295-97289-0

Kaya books; Kaya: An American Girl 1764 (Boxed Set)by Janet Beeler Shaw

store.americangirl.comPBS information on Lewis and Clark:www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/nez.html

Speeches by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce:www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/six/jospeak.htm

Sites of tribes and nations:www.lemhi-shoshone.com; www.easternshoshone.net;www.nezperce.org; www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/idahonatives/nez/

Additional connections—Cultural and PhysicalGeography long ago and now

Depending on the grade level, maps, orienteering and landuse over time will be of interest to students. Talk about howNative peoples are still here, and how they have continued tolive in an area referred to as the Plateau Cultural Area. Helpyour students find major Plateau physical geographical features,like the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades. They shouldinvestigate the placement of the Columbia River, ColumbiaBasin, Snake River and Bitterroot Range and the traderelationships over time that developed with neighbors to thewest (Northwest Coast), the east (Plains peoples) and thesouth (Great Basin) areas. Have your students locate cities,states and partial states and Canada’s provinces within thePlateau region (British Columbia, Alberta, Oregon, Washington,Montana and Idaho). They can also research the origin ofplace names, such as Oregon and Idaho. Discuss how thePlateau cultural area is an invention of anthropologists andhow regions are compared.

Questions in American history within the PlateauCultural Area, 18th century to the present:

How and when did the Nez Perce get horses? How didhaving horses change the Plateau cultures? What were theNative trade routes that involved the Plateau peoples andregion? What brought non-Natives to the region? What wasthe search for a “Northwest passage” that brought Lewis andClark into the home of the Nez Perce and Shoshone? Later,who was Chief Joseph and what was the relationship betweenthe Nez Perce and the US government in the 1870s? What isthis area known for today? What traditions are followed bycontemporary Plateau Native peoples?