Katalsta and daughter Iwi Katalsta

Katalsta and daughter Iwi Katalsta

Artisans

Cherokee pottery

Cherokee women

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Handicraft

Manners and customs

Potters

Pottery craft

This 1900 photograph from the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives depicts Cherokee women making pottery. The woman on the left is Katalsta, the daughter of Drowning Bear or Yonaguska, arguably the most prominent chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. Pottery made by the Cherokee at this time was constructed entirely by hand without the use of wheels or molds and was fired in firepits or hearths. Behind the women, leaning against a tree is a corn pounder, used to grind corn into meal. This photograph was taken in 1900 by James Mooney of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Mooney came to the Qualla Boundary, Cherokee, North Carolina to interview and photograph Cherokee Indians as a part of his comprehensive ethnographic study of Native American culture.

Mooney, James, 1861-1921

Photograph Collection

Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723

1900

National Anthropological Archives

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

jpg;

photographs

StillImage

11106

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/11106

2009-01-13

All rights reserved. For permissions and use, contact Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, NC 28719;

Qualla Boundary

Appalachian Region, Southern

10" x 8"(dimension)

Cherokee Traditions