TIPI LINER

Cotton Canvas/Watercolor Paint

1900

Bequest of Julia Schultz

1981.67.09

Staying warm in a region where temperatures fell well below zero and remained there for extended periods required great adaptability and resourcefulness. Plains peoples nestled their winter camps among trees that provided both a windbreak and fuel for the fires they used to heat their lodges and cook their food. Tipi liners - originally made of tanned bison hide - were secured to the inside of the tipi poles to produce a second wall that offered insulation and helped draw smoke up through the smoke hole at the top of the tipi. Illustrated liners also often served a second, cultural function. This painted canvas liner features drawings that document intertribal warfare: gunfights, battles, scalping, horse capture, retreat, and hand-to-hand combat. In 1959, A'aninin (Gros Ventre) elder Julia Ereaux Schultz bequeathed this unique tipi liner to the Montana Historical Society, saying "I am proud of the Indian heritage in Montana, and I want future generations of Montana people to see some of the wonderful things left to us."

Gros Ventre