Volunteer Curator

William Standing “Fire Bear” was born July 27, 1904 in Oswego, Montana on the Fort Peck Reservation.  He was named after his Grandfather and was the great-grandson of Wi-Jun-Jon, Chief of the Assiniboine Tribe.

Standing began his education at the Wolf Point Mission School and was one of five Kiowa Indians who became special students at the Univ. of Oklahoma under the guidance of Oscar Jacobson.  In 1924 he graduated from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, where he received his formal art instruction.

Although he started his career as an interior designer in Kansas, he moved back to Montana to paint the scenes and people that were so familiar to him.  During the Depression years he supported himself by creating many pen-and-ink drawings that were turned into post cards.  Standing is best known for these humorous sketches, but was also adept in oil, watercolor, and clay.  During the 1930s, in collaboration with James Long, he produced a book titled “The Land of the Nakoda.”  This volume, an in-depth sketch study of the Assiniboine tribe, is the focal point of the greatest body of Standing’s works.

Standing’s life ended too soon when he was in a fatal car accident on June 27, 1951, leaving behind his wife Nancy and one child.  These beaded moccasins with the keyhole design were purchased by Bud Cheff, Jr in 1993 from O’neill Jones, who owned an art gallery and museum in Big Fork, MT and knew William Standing personally.

The beadwork on these moccasins is a traditional “keyhole” design in orange and white outlined in green and blue.  The entire side and back of moccasins are beaded using the spot-stitch method with a white background and smaller circles situated around the heel.  At the center of each circle are grey and blue glass beads.  Around the base of the moccasins in the lazy stitch method are alternating square and triangle.  Note the bar over each shape.  The hem of the ankle is a now-faded blue fabric, hand-stitched using blue thread.  View these moccasins and many more in our online catalog here.

Please click on the image above to view our

New Collections Policy Manual. 

This link will be temporary until the policy manual is placed in a more permanent location on the museum’s website.

This manual was graciously funded by a grant from the Montana History Foundation, and we are so grateful for the many professionals and members of the community who contributed with reviews and suggestions.  We are delighted with its outcome!

Currently on display is a beautifully beaded pair of high-top moccasins worn by Mary (Beaverhead) Smallsalmon (1909-1995).  Though we don’t know a lot about her, we do know that she belonged to the Qlispe (Pend-d’Oreille) Tribe and was born about 1909 in the Mission Valley.  Below is a picture of Mary with her brother Pete and mother, Mat-A-Len.  When Bud Cheff Jr showed Mary this photo in her later years, she was delighted having never seen a photo of her mother.

“Mary was raised in the old traditional lifestyle, and was at home on a horse” recalls Bud Cheff Jr.  “Her father was known by all the Northwest tribes as having fast race horses.”  Her father was Alex Beaverhead, son of Palomine who later became the wife of Louis Mollman (see previous post on Mollman family here).  She married Michel Smallsalmon, and lived out her life here on the Flathead Reservation.  She walked on in 1995 at the age of the age of 86.

Moccasins on loan and on display at the museum, courtesy Bud Cheff Jr.  Please take a moment to stop by and say hello before the summer is over to see what else is new at the museum!

Ninepipes Museum currently has on display several items used and made by the Mollman brothers, Louie and Charley, as well as two items made by Louie’s daughter, Mary Katherine.  To learn more about the Mollman family, click here.

A rawhide war shield was made by Louie and is on loan at the museum from Bud Cheff, Jr.  “The cross on it represents his strong Christian medicine.  It also has his Indian medicine on it” according to Bud Cheff, Jr.  It was given to Bud’s father by Louie, who always called him his “little Canadian Cousin” because their family had both come from Canada.  Also on display are the bow and arrows belonging to his brother, Charley Mollman, on loan from Joe McDonald.

Although she had no children of her own, Mary Katherine (1874-1952), daughter of Louie and Philomie Mollman, “liked children and liked to tease and scare them as well as making gifts for them” says Bud Cheff, Jr.  Click here to see a pair of child’s moccasins she made for Bill Engler when he was 3, and to the right is a coin purse she made for his uncle, Clarence Landquist (1912-1999).

Finally, these star-patterned beaded moccasins belonged to Louie Mollman and were also a gift to the Cheff family before Louie passed away in 1929.  The cut of the shoe is the traditional style found so often on the Flathead Reservation with no seam on the insole.  The beadwork on these moccasins is meticulously placed using the spot-stitch method commonly used by Plateau tribes.  Although it is called the star design, the two-toned color gives it an almost three-dimensional look.

“Star” designs such as these are seen on other Salish beadwork among flowers, as though part of a bouquet.  What else do you see? Note the blue line connecting the star (or flower?) to the ‘ground’ or the wearer.   What does the symbol on these shoes represent that its maker would want the wearer to stay connected to?   Could it be a spiritual connection, or maybe a connection to the past or where they came from (knowing they had roots in Canada)?  One can only imagine the possibilities of the true meaning behind this thoughtful beadwork.

“Masterfully designed and crafted beadwork is not just beautiful. It tells an important story through its visual imagery, animated by epic narratives that keep timeless and vital beliefs alive.”  Author, Lois Sherr Dublin, The Visual Language of Beadwork, 2016  https://www.cowboysindians.com/2016/07/the-visual-language-of-beadwork/

We hope that before the summer is over you will take a moment to stop in and see what’s new at the museum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following is a compilation of stories about Louie and Charley Mollman as recalled by Bud Cheff, Jr. whose family purchased land from them about 1866.

Note: the name MOLLMAN (pronounced “Molt-le-men”) was a French word that the Jesuits used, meaning, “they were pliable or easy to work with.”

Louie Mollman (1836-1929) was the son of Pierre Gouche (meaning “Left-Handed Peter”).  Pierre (or Peter) was born at the Cauhnawaga Mission in Ontario Canada and came to the Bitterroot in the 1830’s from Canada.  He was Iroquois and a member of the original Iroquois who moved west following the French and Indian Wars.  Only four Iroquois remained with the Salish (Selis) in the Bitterroot, and Pierre was one of them.

Pierre was instrumental in bringing the “blackrobes” to the Bitterroot.  He had made four trips going back east and on his last (in 1839) he returned to tell everyone that they were coming.  Pierre married a Pend d’Oreille woman from the Mission Valley area and also had a daughter, Susan (or Suesan), and a son named Charlie (1835-1926).  Tragically, Pierre was killed in 1856 when his horse stumbled and fell as they were running elk in the Big Hole Valley.  His sons, age about 18 and 22, were with him.  After that, his wife returned with her family to the Mission Valley so she could be close to the St. Ignatius Mission.

Louie and Charley learned cattle ranching and farming from their father, who had learned it as a youth at the mission in Canada. When his family returned to the Mission Valley, they brought their father’s cattle and were the first Natives to herd black cattle in the area.  In the early 1860’s, they made their home at the foot of the Mission Mountains where they put in irrigation ditches from Mollman Creek to irrigate their meadows.  In 1919 they filed on water rights from Mollman Creek for their ranch and were considered ahead of their time compared to other Natives on the Reservation.

Louie and Charley never gave up traditional way of living. Louie was the bow and arrow maker for the Pend’d Oreille (Qlispe/Kalispell) tribe, and both He and Charley were excellent bowman. Some of the old hunters didn’t want to run buffalo close to Louis because it was said that his arrows often went clear through a buffalo, and if you were riding on the far side of the buffalo he was shooting at, his arrow might pass through the buffalo and hit you or your horse. Louie and Charley used mostly flint arrow points, but they did not make the tips themselves. They had certain places they could find the points after a hard rain. Louie said that the old people that were here before them made the flint points. Louie also made long, hand-whittled fishing poles that he sold or traded to other Natives to use on the lakes or rivers. He liked to fish and when he got too old to go on the hunts he spent a lot of time fishing.

Louie was fond of Bud Cheff Sr., who was about 8 years old when he gave him some of his bows and arrows.  Louie called him his “Little Canadian Cousin” because they both had roots in Canada.  As a child, Bud couldn’t resist taking them outside and shooting them, playing with them so they don’t have any left; however, Joe McDonald has one of Charley Mollman’s bows and some arrows, which are on display at the Ninepipes Museum.  Louie gave Bud Sr. the red shield before he passed away, as well as the moccasins (though Bud Jr. doesn’t recall whether those were given to his father or his aunt).

Shortly before he passed away, Louie fell off of his room and broke his hip at his home at the foot of Mollman Pass Trail, one-half-mile from Bud’s grandparents house.  He used his mirror to signal to Bud Jr.’s grandfather, who stopped what he was doing to check out the glare.  Bud Sr’s sister Bernida, only about 11 at the time, drove Louie to Ronan to the hospital.

Mary Katherine (1874-1952), another daughter of Louie and Philomie* Mollman, grew up learning the traditional way of Native living from her parents and Uncle, Charley Mollman.  “Mary was known for her skill in tanning hides and making and beading buckskin items.  She was an excellent horse woman and participated in many celebrations and parades too.” recalls Bud Cheff, Jr.   “She sponsored the New Year Winter Jump Dance each winter for years in the 1930, and 40’s.”

Mary was married to Stousse in her younger years but had no children that lived into adult hood; however, she liked children and liked to tease and scare them as well as make gifts for them.  She was also a companion of Philip Pierre and Clara Paul for many years as they gathered and hunted in the wilderness mountains.

Mary is shown on the 1940 census next to Bill Engler’s grandparents (the Landquist’s).  It was about this time that she made a coin purse for Bill’s uncle Clarence Landquist.  She also made some infant moccasins for Bill when he was 3, just before she passed away.  They are both on display at Ninepipes Museum in the new exhibit about the history of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribe.

 

*note: Philomie is found with several different spellings, for example: Palomine, Philomine, and Palomie

When Amy Webster walked into the museum a few years ago, she saw a small museum with potential and work that needed doing with our collection. She volunteered her professional services to get the ball rolling, resulting in a series of steps to improve preservation and cataloging procedures for the museum collection. Her latest project includes a specialized collections policy and procedure manual, an important core document for all museums, which serves to demonstrate to the public that the museum holds its collections to the highest standards of ethical, legal and professional care while simultaneously fulfilling its mission. It aligns with the code of ethics set forth by the American Alliance of Museums and serves as an example for other museums around the valley.  She’s been researching and writing all winter and is ready for the next phase — professional, employee, board and other reviews.  The project will be completed and ready for Board approval by the end of June.   A generous grant from The Montana History Foundation has made this essential project possible!  History lovers, check out this stellar organization on their website, https//www.mthistory.org