Pecan, a Native American chief of the Miami tribe, circa 1776-1778 Digital
Dates
- Creation: circa 1776-1778
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Physical Description
1 drawing :
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
.5 linear feet (39 drawings in 2 boxes)Physical Location
pf
Dimensions
13 x 9 cm.
General note
Depicts left-side portrait of a man with a flowing shirt with shell ornaments on the shoulders and broad silver arm bands, a necklace, a nose-ring, a dangling five-unit-long earring and a decorative twisted band crossing over his shaved head. He also appears to hold a small tomahawk.
Verso includes text in ink: "The name of this Miami chief is Pacane - I made him a present of a silver mounted? Couteau His Father of the same name having taken down? from a stake when he was to have been roasted. Cap ? Morris of the 17 th Reg.t Infantry, an ? ? and friend of many years standing."
Recto includes text in faint graphite: "Pacane Miami Chief."
Henry Hamilton was accompanied by Pacane on the expedition to Vincennes in 1778-1779.
Image reproduced in: Joseph L. Peyser, ed.. On the eve of the conquest. The Chevalier de Raymond's critique of New France in 1754. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1997.
Walsh notes: "village chief of the great Miami settlement of Kekionga (present-day Ft. Wayne, Indiana) known as Pecan or the Nut (variant spellings: Pacan, Paccan, Pecane, Pecon). He was head village chief of the Atchatchakangouen Miami until his death in 1816. He was obviously a key figure in the 1778 expedition to recapture Vincennes. His high status is evident by his costume."
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu