Blackfoot shirts make a return to Blackfoot Country

An “important link with Blackfoot history and culture” has made the trip from the United Kingdom to Lethbridge.
Five Blackfoot shirts will be on display at the Galt Museum and Archives, in Lethbridge, from now until the end of August.

The exhibit, entitled “Kaahsinnooniksi Aotoksisawooyawa: Our Ancestors Have Come to Visit,” showcases the hide hair shirts, decorated with porcupine quills, paint and human hair. Three of the shirts are also sacred items linked to ceremony, war and spiritual power.

“The government policy of assimilation has affected our people and that has lead to a loss of culture. These shirts are very important in the healing process and understanding of our culture. These shirts are a reminder of what we can be. When they were made they were made very well and with the spirit of our culture,” said Blackfoot Elder Narcisse Blood.

In 1841, the Blackfoot people presented the shirts as gifts to Sir George Simpson, governor of the Hudson Bay Company, during his visit to Fort Edmonton. Eventually, Simpson’s secretary Edward Hopkins took them to Montreal, when he retired in 1870. Hopkins moved to England and upon his passing in 1889, the family donated the shirts to the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University.

It’s been an incredible journey bringing the shirts home to be displayed.

The initial request by Blackfoot advisors to return the shirts was made to the Pitt Rivers Museum. With financial assistance from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the universities of Oxford and Aberdeen, they were eventually able to bring them first to the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and now to the Galt Museum.

“The shirts are an important link with Blackfoot culture and history, to a time when Blackfoot people were in control of their territory,” said Dr. Laura Peers, curator with the Pitt Rivers Museum.

 At each museum, handling sessions were held with Blackfoot people before the shirts were put on display. Blackfoot Elders assisted in the cultural interpretation of the shirts for the exhibit.

“Blackfoot ceremonialists, Elders and artists have guided the process in planning the project,” said Peers.

The response to the shirts has been amazing and emotional by members of the Blackfoot communities. The shirts have brought back many stories in the Elders and this information has been shared. The community is learning an enormous amount from these shirts, which has had a huge benefit culturally.

“The shirts being here is important as a way to repatriate these Blackfoot shirts,” said Blood.

“Kaahsinnooniksi Aotoksisawooyawa: Our Ancestors Have Come to Visit” is a result of an international partnership between the four Blackfoot communities, Pitt Rivers Museum at University of Oxford, University of Aberdeen, Glenbow Museum and the Galt Museum and Archives.