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An optional component in straight dance clothes is the wool broadcloth vest. Ponca, Omaha, Pawnee, and Osage straight dancers can often be seen wearing a vest with or without a ribbonshirt.
The most common style of Ponca and Osage vests will have a distinctive strip of lazy stitched beadwork about two inches wide in geometric designs, sewn onto the vest along the bottom edge. In addition, there are usually two strips of beadwork of the same width and design, running from each shoulder at an angle to the bottom edge in front of the vest and matching strips from each shoulder to the bottom edge in back. Sometimes a third strip is seen in the back of the vest going vertically down the center. Occasionally, metal fringe is added to the bottom edge of the vest just below the beaded strip and brass sequins are added to the outline edges of the vest.
Osage at Pawhuska, OK - 1880?
Pawnee - no date
Raises The Dust - Ponca - 1898
Dust Maker (aka Pete Mitchell) - Ponca - 1898
George Michelle - Osage - 1905
George Michelle - Osage - 1910
In recent years I've seen Otoe, Sauk & Fox, Iowa and Kiowa straight dancers wearing the wool broadcloth vest with traditional “semi-floral” or “stylized floral” appliqué beadwork designs similar to the designs seen on the semi-floral beaded aprons.
Henry Red Eagle and son - Osage - 1893
Chas Baddle - Omaha/Otoe - 1898
It Is Him - Otoe - 1907
Generous and wife – Osage – 1911
Generous – Osage – 1911
The color of the wool broadcloth used in the vest is usually the same color as the wool broadcloth used for other components in the outfit, (i.e. leggings, aprons, dance trailer), which is another probable basis for the term “straight dance suit" used throughout Oklahoma.
Sometimes, old photos show a conventional "dress vest" that has been decorated with brass or silver spots, though not many are seen on straight dancers today.
Ne-kah-ka-lah – Osage – 1893
Henry Springer - Omaha - 1898
Henry Springer and John Grant - Omaha - 1898
William Grey Eyes - Sauk & Fox - 1898
White Tail - Ponca - 1906
Standing Bear - Omaha - 1909
Ashworth, Kenneth Albert.
1986. The Contemporary Oklahoma Pow-wow. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma.
Bailey, Garrick, and Daniel Swan.
2004. Art of the Osage. St. Louis Art Museum, University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
Barth, Georg J.
1993. Native American Beadwork. R. Schneider Publishers, Stevens Point, WI.
Callahan, Alice A.
1990. The Osage Ceremonial Dance, I’n-Lon-Schka. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK.
Ellis, Clyde
2003. A Dancing People: Powwow Culture on the Southern Plains. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, KS.
Feder, Norman.
1957-a. Costume of the Oklahoma Straight Dancer. The American Indian Hobbyist Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 1.
1957-b. Costume of the Oklahoma Straight Dancer. The American Indian Hobbyist Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 2.
Fleming, Paula Richardson.
2003. Native American Photography at the Smithsonian: The Shindler Catalogue. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C.
Fletcher, Alice C. and Francis LaFlesche.
1911. The Omaha Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, 27th Annual Report 1905-06, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Hail, Barbara N.
1980. Hau, Kola!: The Plains Indian Collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology. Brown University, Bristol, RI.
Howard, Dr. James H.
1965. The Ponca Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 195, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
1976. Ceremonial Dress of the Delaware Man. Special Issue, The Bulletin of the Archeological Society of New Jersey, No. 33, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ.
Johnson, Tim. Ed.
1998. Spirit Capture: Photographs from the National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C.
Kavanagh, Thomas W.
1992. Southern Plains Dance Tradition and Dynamics: Native American Dance Ceremonies and Social Traditions. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution with Starwood, Washington D.C.
LaFave, Edward J.
1998. Straight Dance Clothing: How to Dress a Straight Dancer. Whispering Wind: American Indian Past & Present Magazine, Vol. 29, No. 4, Folsom, LA.
Orchard, William C.
1929. Bead and Beadwork of the American Indians. Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Vol. 11, Heye Foundation, New York, NY.
Smith, Jerry.
1982. Straight Dance Clothes: Getting Them On. Moccasin Tracks Magazine, April Issue, LaPalma, CA.
Stewart, Tyronne H.
1968. Dressing a Straight Dancer. The Singing Wire Newsletter, February Issue.
The most common style of Ponca and Osage vests will have a distinctive strip of lazy stitched beadwork about two inches wide in geometric designs, sewn onto the vest along the bottom edge. In addition, there are usually two strips of beadwork of the same width and design, running from each shoulder at an angle to the bottom edge in front of the vest and matching strips from each shoulder to the bottom edge in back. Sometimes a third strip is seen in the back of the vest going vertically down the center. Occasionally, metal fringe is added to the bottom edge of the vest just below the beaded strip and brass sequins are added to the outline edges of the vest.
Osage at Pawhuska, OK - 1880?
Pawnee - no date
Raises The Dust - Ponca - 1898
Dust Maker (aka Pete Mitchell) - Ponca - 1898
George Michelle - Osage - 1905
George Michelle - Osage - 1910
In recent years I've seen Otoe, Sauk & Fox, Iowa and Kiowa straight dancers wearing the wool broadcloth vest with traditional “semi-floral” or “stylized floral” appliqué beadwork designs similar to the designs seen on the semi-floral beaded aprons.
Henry Red Eagle and son - Osage - 1893
Chas Baddle - Omaha/Otoe - 1898
It Is Him - Otoe - 1907
Generous and wife – Osage – 1911
Generous – Osage – 1911
The color of the wool broadcloth used in the vest is usually the same color as the wool broadcloth used for other components in the outfit, (i.e. leggings, aprons, dance trailer), which is another probable basis for the term “straight dance suit" used throughout Oklahoma.
Sometimes, old photos show a conventional "dress vest" that has been decorated with brass or silver spots, though not many are seen on straight dancers today.
Ne-kah-ka-lah – Osage – 1893
Henry Springer - Omaha - 1898
Henry Springer and John Grant - Omaha - 1898
William Grey Eyes - Sauk & Fox - 1898
White Tail - Ponca - 1906
Standing Bear - Omaha - 1909
Ashworth, Kenneth Albert.
1986. The Contemporary Oklahoma Pow-wow. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma.
Bailey, Garrick, and Daniel Swan.
2004. Art of the Osage. St. Louis Art Museum, University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
Barth, Georg J.
1993. Native American Beadwork. R. Schneider Publishers, Stevens Point, WI.
Callahan, Alice A.
1990. The Osage Ceremonial Dance, I’n-Lon-Schka. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK.
Ellis, Clyde
2003. A Dancing People: Powwow Culture on the Southern Plains. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, KS.
Feder, Norman.
1957-a. Costume of the Oklahoma Straight Dancer. The American Indian Hobbyist Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 1.
1957-b. Costume of the Oklahoma Straight Dancer. The American Indian Hobbyist Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 2.
Fleming, Paula Richardson.
2003. Native American Photography at the Smithsonian: The Shindler Catalogue. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C.
Fletcher, Alice C. and Francis LaFlesche.
1911. The Omaha Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, 27th Annual Report 1905-06, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Hail, Barbara N.
1980. Hau, Kola!: The Plains Indian Collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology. Brown University, Bristol, RI.
Howard, Dr. James H.
1965. The Ponca Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 195, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
1976. Ceremonial Dress of the Delaware Man. Special Issue, The Bulletin of the Archeological Society of New Jersey, No. 33, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ.
Johnson, Tim. Ed.
1998. Spirit Capture: Photographs from the National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C.
Kavanagh, Thomas W.
1992. Southern Plains Dance Tradition and Dynamics: Native American Dance Ceremonies and Social Traditions. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution with Starwood, Washington D.C.
LaFave, Edward J.
1998. Straight Dance Clothing: How to Dress a Straight Dancer. Whispering Wind: American Indian Past & Present Magazine, Vol. 29, No. 4, Folsom, LA.
Orchard, William C.
1929. Bead and Beadwork of the American Indians. Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Vol. 11, Heye Foundation, New York, NY.
Smith, Jerry.
1982. Straight Dance Clothes: Getting Them On. Moccasin Tracks Magazine, April Issue, LaPalma, CA.
Stewart, Tyronne H.
1968. Dressing a Straight Dancer. The Singing Wire Newsletter, February Issue.
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