Book

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

DoubledayGarden City, N. Y.Published In 1966 • Pages:

By: Lancaster, Richard.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
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.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Practical preparations in conducting fieldwork
Community heads
Literary texts
Instigation of war
Warfare
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Blackfoot
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
1999
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Plains and Plateau
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Foreign Resident
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
3: Good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 1983
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1958-1966
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana, United States
NotesAdditional notes
Richard Lancaster
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
66017071
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Siksika Indians