Book

Piegan: a look from within at the life, times, and legacy of an American Indian tribe

Doubleday • Garden City, N. Y. • Published In 1966 • Pages:

By: Lancaster, Richard.

Abstract

During the year 1958 and again in 1962 the author, a linguist by training, lived among the contemporary Blackfoot on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, Montana. While there he was adopted as a son by Chief White Calf, a 105 year old Blackfoot leader, who subsequently became Lancaster's primary informant for the bulk of the information contained in this source. This work is basically a memory ethnography with particular emphasis on the chief's personal experiences on the warpath, his role in representing his people in relations with the U.S. government, and in general his reminiscences of how things were done in the past. Much of the historical information presented by the chief was later verified by the author. Although a good deal of the source deals with Lancaster's personal experiences of living on the reservation and his personal relationships with the Chief and his adopted brother Jim (who also has furnished some bits of ethnographic information), the true importance of this work seems to lie in that it represents an eye-witness account of living history as it was actually experienced and remembered by a Southern Piegan Indian.

HRAF PubDate

1999

Region

North America

Sub Region

Plains and Plateau

Document Type

Book

Evaluation

Creator Type

Foreign Resident

Document Rating

3: Good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent

Analyst

John Beierle ; 1983

Field Date

1958-1966

Coverage Date

not specified

Coverage Place

Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana, United States

Notes

Richard Lancaster

LCCN

66017071

LCSH

Siksika Indians