I have been thinking a great deal about former other-site Mod PinkyPam, who passed away some years ago. Tomorrow is her birthday. She loved her Florida State Seminoles. She has been on my mind ever since Thanksgiving, when I visited my sis in PA and went to a Goodwill outlet store for the first time.
Jen pulled a somewhat disheveled but clearly old garment out of a bin and brought it to me, asking me what I could tell about it. “Oh, definitely 19th century fabrics. Porcelain buttons, sewed on a machine, but treadle or hand crank. Jen, the placket. I think this is indigenous.” We bought it for a whopping $1/pound and started researching before we even got to the next shopping stop. By the time we got home and could take pictures, we knew what we had found. A very early example of Seminole patchwork; a mens article referred to as a bigshirt. And before I left two days later we had already sent an email winging it’s way to the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, operated by the Seminole tribe, offering it as a donation to their collection. We knew without even talking about it that what we needed to do was repatriate it, and when we learned that the tribe had a museum we almost couldn’t type the email fast enough.
Tomorrow is Pinky’s birthday, and today we heard back from the museum. Their acquisitions committee is delighted, though they clarified twice if we were offering it as a donation rather than for sale. They are worth thousands to collectors, but we knew it didn’t belong to us, we certainly wouldn’t sell it back to the people it did belong to. I think Pinky would have loved this story, and this shirt.
It’s absolutely one of the most amazing things I have ever had the good fortune to do. A dream, to be able to hold and investigate such a garment, before sending it home to its rightful place. And I know there are other textile nerds who will appreciate the opportunity to see it.
What an incredible find! And such a happy bit of luck that one of the few people who’d recognize its age and history found it. The entire thing makes my heart happy, especially as it will be donated back to the tribe it originated with.
Thank you for sharing so many pictures! The detail is fascinating.
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(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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We can’t fix the mistakes of the past but we certainly can do what little we are able to keep indigenous culture alive and remembered. This shirt represents a real human’s handiwork. The hand done buttonholes are such a detail and labor of love. The patchwork is colorful and yet unified.
What a wonderful find and a wonderful gesture, Mel!
I was thinking of Pinky as well when something I made for her came up in my Pinterest feed. She was a light that was put out too soon. No one who knew her could ever forget her style and smile!
What a stunning item of clothing and I’m so glad it’s now back with the people it belongs to, and will be kept in a museum where it will be preserved and displayed for future generations.
I had not heard of Seminole Patchwork before, your post sent me down a rabbit hole on Google. Such a coincidence that you of all people found this at Goodwill. Plenty of people would not have recognized it and this historical piece of textile art might have gotten lost forever. From what I’ve read so far the earliest pictures of Seminole Patchwork are from the 1910s. If this garment is indeed from 19th century fabrics then it’s a find with great historical significance.
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(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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I have a quilt book with Seminole patchwork patterns. I have never made anything as it feels like cultural appropriation to me, especially since this form of quilting is still alive and well among the Seminole people. I feel like I would be taking something away from one of their means for making a living.
There was a big uproar when a famous designer used Seminole patchwork in her designs. I can see getting inspiration from other cultures but not copying them and turning their culture into a money making scheme.
Fun financial fact: Each Seminole person in Florida receives a dividend of about $128,000 a year. A newborn Seminole will be a millionaire by the time they reach 18. None of the money comes from our taxes. It is money earned from the many gambling casinos in Florida, which do get tax breaks in reparation for the damages and treatment of their ancestors and taking over their lands and businesses.
We know it’s a very early example for a couple of reasons. The earliest examples, from the 1890s, were made out of scrap fabrics and cast-off garments, but as the art form evolved and trading posts and tourist camps became more prevalent, Seminole women could be choosier about color and pattern. Also, on this example all the narrow strips are appliqued rather than sewn in, which is a detail that would change over the years, and the very few actually-pieced strips are extremely simple, another detail that would change over the years. I hope to be able to get more information from the museum once they have it in hand, because of course they will know more about it than I do, and will share that info here.
It’s a fascinating art form, and it was an incredible privilege to see this garment in person. The museum called it an incredibly beautiful ad historic piece.
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(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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I am sure they are quite touched by your interest and generosity. It would be fun to know how it got to the store that you found it in. It seems so far away from home.
We cannot at all fathom how it wound up in a Goodwill outlet store in PA. Did it go to a regular Goodwill and remain unsold, and get shipped off to the outlet? Who donated it in the first place? How did it go on this journey with no one seeing it for what it is? I guess I don’t think of myself as particularly exceptional, but maybe I do know more than most about old fabric. Lol
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(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
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The infamous Native American school in Carlisle, PA, which is where my parents had lived, did have students from the Seminole tribe.
I read that in Philadelphia, the last census recorded over 13,000 members of indigenous tribes, including the Seminole. Perhaps it was part of an estate of one of those. We will never know, of course, but it is fun to imagine.
My eyes are teary and my skin covered in goosebumps. What an amazing coalescing of circumstances made this happen! That artifact was this close to going in the dumpster or incinerator. Thank you and your sister for being good temporary guardians of this piece and for finding its best home. And thanks for sharing this with us!
The Berks County Historical Society has been thinning out it’s collection to items only related to Berks County, and we have thought it was possible that perhaps this item was in its collection, but it would be very hard for me to imagine that a museum would not repatriate such an item. My first thought on determining it was indigenous was that it could be related to one of those terrible schools, but I think its too big to be a child’s shirt, and it looks like most child-sized shirts were a slightly different style.
Jen and I have clearly spent no small amount of time imagining the shirt’s story. Lol
Lots of Native people don’t live on their Reservations or even near them. Also, plenty of non-Native people come to own items not made for tourist trade. If they don’t make it clear to their heirs that these things have value, then they’ll get tossed or donated without a thought. You see this kind of thing all the time on Antiques Roadshow, “We found this in a box in the attic when we cleared out my great-uncles house and it seemed like it might be special in some way.” Not everyone can see the special in the things in boxes in the attics of the dead.
I added a link to the first post that will take anyone who is interested to the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum’s searchable online collection of Seminole patchwork. It’s really incredible. You can see the evolution of this textile art form.
Absolutely amazing. Both your finding the garment, and your making sure it gets “home”. Please be sure to let us know if the museum shares any more information in future. I’m truly fascinated.
Oh, I knew nothing about this garment, but it is beautiful. The colour palette is gorgeous. I am so glad you found it and were able to pass it back to its people, where it will be treasured and cared for I can believe there are some people in this world who would try to charge the museum for it, even if they found it for a low price, sadly.
Thank you for sharing it. I don’t remember PinkyPam specifically, but I loved the other site, and it is so nice that the kind spirit fostered there continues.
