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Wooden drumstick with turned handle
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Child's milk can dance rattles / Clifford Littlebear

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Curatorial Remarks

These shell shakers are worn by women during stomp dances. They were not worn by a child. Not all women wear shell shakers. Shell shakers are heavy. This set of shell shakers are made from milk cans. The tin cans are some times attached to leather boot tops. The shell shakers act as musical instruments and ceremonial items.

Tags: milk cans, dance rattles
People: Euchee, Clifford Littlebear
Places: Southeastern, Eastern Oklahoma
Purpose: ceremonial events, stomp dances

From interviews with Dr. Garrick Bailey, 2018-2020 University of Tulsa, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology

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©Gilcrease Museum
Title(s): 
Child's milk can dance rattles
Creator(s): 
Clifford Littlebear (Artist)
Culture: 
Native American; Euchee
Date: 
circa 1997
Place: 
Bristow, Oklahoma
Materials/Techniques: 
tin, hide, wire, brass, stone
Classification: 
Ethnographic Objects
Object Type: 
Rattle
Credit Line: 
Purchased with funds gifted by the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Community Folklife Program
Accession No: 
84.2885a-b
Previous Number(s): 
TL1997.38
Department: 
Anthropology
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