Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I will analyze a grocery store receipt and a hat, and other non-traditional narrative sources because they document American Indians’ power, success, and complex relations with non-Indians and the environment during the 20th-Century more than written accounts alone have provided.

Paper long abstract:

Some of the most interesting and revealing historical narratives about the environment aren’t found in written accounts but instead in sources that don’t seem to contain a story at all. In this paper, I will analyze a grocery store receipt, a business voucher, and a hat, among other non-traditional narrative sources. These sources broaden the historical record of northern Plains America Indians in the twentieth century—the era after the U.S. government forced them onto reservations—because they document how people have made history in multiple ways and platforms. These non-literary narrative sources document Crow Indians’ power, success, and complex relations with non-Indians and the environment more than written accounts alone have provided. The paper is based on my current book Dried Buffalo and Apple Pie: The Ongoing Reinvention of the Crow Indian Community.