Heart-shaped beaded women's handbag with floral pattern: Handbag Back

This bag exemplifies the beadwork styles of nimiipuu (Nez Perce) and Columbia River Plateau American Indian tribes during the 1900s. Nimiipuu, Palouse, Walla Walla, Cayuse, Umatilla, and Yakama peoples first beaded floral designs in the 1860s when mass-produced European goods bearing floral patterns and pressures of acculturation flowed into the region with European American settlers. Early 1900s Columbia River Plateau beadworkers refined these floral beadwork styles and applied them to popular shapes of the period. Heart-shaped bags and designs were particularly fashionable during the 1930s, a trend reflected in this bag. Nimiipuu beadwork continues today, a tradition sustained by Nimiipuu culture and teachings. This heart-shaped bag is also featured on the DVD cover for Nez Perce National Historical Park's Visitor Center movie, “Na:qc Tf mine Wisi·x: Of One Heart”.