Nez Perce National Historical Park
Horse Regalia Exhibit
Horse Regalia Exhibit
|
National Historical Park
1965 Park Size 4,561 acres Annual Visitors 377,000 Park Fee none Superintendent Steve Thede Park Partner Discover Your Northwest Location 38 sites across four states: ID, MT, OR, WA |
Nez Perce National Historical Park honors the history, culture, and ongoing stories of the Nez Perce (Nimíipuu) people. In 2023 and early 2024, the park did a major visitor center renovation, including a new exhibit that honors Nez Perce horse culture, poignantly showing the Tribe's adaptability, resourcefulness, and resilience.
The exhibit includes a mannequin horse, but the park had no access to funding to complete the exhibit with traditional regalia and adornments, which would show the craftsmanship and meaningful relationship Nimiipuu people have with the horse. The Fund for People in Parks provided a grant to Discover Your Northwest to contract with local Indigenous artists to make traditional horse regalia pieces, including a beaded saddle bag, cougar hide bow and quiver case, and a wolf hide arm drape. Some of this craft work was patterned on items in the park's archives that are not suitable for display. The park's new visitor center exhibits opened in May 2024, including the horse regalia exhibit, which visitors see upon arrival. Project Cost: $19,000 Project Completed: 2023 The Fund for People in Parks: $17,500 In-Park Donations: $1,500 The adoption of the horse by the Nez Perce is testament to their intelligence, resourcefulness, adaptability, and resilience. Plus, the Nez Perce survived in large part to their mastery of the horse and knowledge of the land. It will be essential that the mannequin horse display be adorned with colorful, striking, and authentic items that ultimately show visitors the beautiful and meaningful relationship the Nimíipuu have to their horses." |
Wolf hide saddle drape by Tony Smith/Tòo'yaXnin
|
Beaded horse head stall by Kellen Lewis
|
Martingale by Tisa Matheson
|
