Arts | Page 117 | MNopedia

Sample card of glass seed beads

Sample card of glass seed beads sold at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post in Onamia between 1920 and 1959.

Dakota beaded bag

Beaded bag made by Margeurite Metivier (Dakota), ca.1860.

Dakota wood loom frame

A Dakota loom frame or heddle with wooden bars, early-to-mid 1800s.

Dakota woman making beadwork

Colorized picture postcard featuring a Dakota woman making beadwork, c.1930.

Dakota beadwork band

Dakota band with loomed, geometric beadwork, c.1890.

Dakota people in what is now Minnesota began using glass beads to decorate clothing, bags, and household items in the mid-nineteenth century. The practice both reinforced and transformed Dakota art, allowing Native artists to preserve a creative tradition that continues in the twenty-first century.