Cheyenne Moccasins with Thunderbird Designs: Part 2 (Moccasin Corner‪)‬

This edition of the MoccasinCorner presents the second article of a seven part series on the Cheyenne use of Thunderbird symbols in the beadwork embroidery of fully beaded men's moccasins. All seven pair of the Cheyenne moccasins to be showcased in this series will be found today in the permanent Native American Footwear Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada, and with the help of Jack Heriard, the Founder and Editor of Whispering Wind magazine, we were able to convince Ms. Suzanne McLean, the Collection Manager of the Bata Shoe Museum, to help with this article and grant museum approval to publish photographs by Wilbur Cheeks. While Mr. Cheek's great photos, Suzanne's collection details, and museum approvals were essential to the publication of this series, the ethnographic story of Cheyenne Thunderbird symbology in moccasin beadwork design could not have been told without the earlier efforts of two other important individuals who I believe have made lasting contributions to our understanding of Cheyenne material culture; Tyrone Stewart and Mike Cowdrey.