Man's Shirt Made about 1860 Cheyenne, Native American, Plains Region Buckskin, wool, ermine skin, human hair, glass beads, pigment Founders Society Purchase with funds from Flint Ink Corporation (1988.27)

Elaborate garments like this man’s shirt were the formal wear of the Cheyenne Native Americans of the North American Plains. The shirt is made from two deerskins and adorned with various materials including glass beads, which were obtained through trade with Europeans and European Americans. Cheyenne men and women shared the work of creating shirts like this; men hunted the deer, and women tanned the hides and sewed the shirts. Women created intricate beadwork patterns while men painted on the designs.

Only men of great accomplishment wore such shirts and the decorations conveyed the man’s attributes. Here, the ermine, or weasel, fur on the sleeves symbolizes the wearer’s abilities as a warrior because the ermine is known as a ferocious predator. The pattern of stripes on the sleeves indicates that the man who owned this shirt killed an enemy in combat.