Description
It is assumed that tobacco was one of many forms of smoking material used in these different types of pipes, found only in North America, they are culturally unique.
Our focus in this book is on the smoking pipes of the American Indian from 1800 to 1935, a time thought of as a more traditional period of art form, purity and cultural exactness. We have coined the title "Red Pipes" , referring to the vast majority being created from red pipestone or Catlinite.
In the early 1950s, my main source for coveted Indian information was from the inside covers and special pages of the "Lone Ranger" and other comic books. One page of special interest to me was titled "Indian Calumets". It told that - "among various tribes the calumet (peace pipe) ceremony was a part of every treaty, whether between Indian tribes or Indians and Whites. Also any brave who carried a calumet was accepted as a friend by the various tribes he traveled among".
The colorful Indians on horseback, feather-decorated pipes, pipe tomahawks and effigy pipes illustrated on those invaluable fragile pages were quickly cut out and added to my Indian scrapbook for continued study. Fifty years later I offer you my version, in book form, of the wonderful and intriguing subject matter, CALUMETS - Red Pipes - Indian Smoking Pipes of the American Frontier.