Double Sided Beaded Purse, c. 1900
Wishram Tribe, Washington State
glass beads, fabric purse
Purse: 17.5” high x 6.5” wide
Frame: 23” high x 15” wide x 2” deep
*mint condition in archival framing
This purse was originally gifted to Suzanne Helms of Washington State. Suzanne opened a soup kitchen from her house to feed everyone who was working on the railroads, which included many Native American workers. This purse was given to her by the original beader as a gift for her generosity.
The Wishram are known as the Tlakluit and Echeloot. They traditionally settled in permanent villages along the north banks of the Columbia River. In the 1700s, the estimated Wishram population was 1,500. In 1962, only 10 Wishrams were counted on the Washington census. Their main summer and winter village on the Columbia River, Washington, was Wishram Village, referred to as Nixlúidix by its residents. It is considered the largest prehistoric Chinook village site. The site is now part of Columbia Hills State Park, located near Five Mile Rapids, located at the far eastern reach of Chinookan lands. The village and the name for its people as Wishram comes from the neighboring Sahaptin-speaking tribes, which called the village Wɨ́šx̣am/Wɨ́šx̣aa - ″Spearfish″, and its people therefore Wɨ́šx̣amma - Wishram people
