Dig It - 11/27/23

My family moved to New Jersey in the late 17th century and bought 10,000 acres from the Delaware people or Lenni Lenape, as they were known at that time. I grew up in New Jersey and have always felt an affinity or connection to the Lenni Lenape. When I was young, there were still trees and little parts of forest that would have known these peoples. Though it is hard to believe today, New Jersey once was beautiful. 

By the time this bandolier bag was made in the mid 19th century, the Lenni Lenape had been pushed all the way to West Port, or what was later known as Kansas City. Indianapolis was also an old Delaware settlement. In the early 19th century, the Delaware had moved to the far western frontier and were highly valued by trappers and explorers as guides to the Rocky Mountains. The state of Wyoming takes its name from a Lenni Lenape place name.

This bandolier bag, with it’s abstract leaf designs, still retains the the memories of their eastern woodland home. The extravagant use of beads also shows how well-off the Delaware were during this period. 

The bag was found in a Freemason’s lodge in the Kansas City area; one of the last Delaware settlements before they were moved to a reservation in Oklahoma. I consider this bandolier to be a great piece of art, as well as, a piece of history of the the Peoples who once roamed the the woods of New Jersey.