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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!