The Art of Storytelling: Plains Indian Perspectives
For countless years before the arrival of the first Europeans in North America, Plains Indians chronicled their histories in magnificent pictorial styles. Early explorers and fur traders introduced new artistic tools and techniques into the region in the early 1800s, and native artists incorporated these new mediums into their traditional styles of pictographic histories.
Based on a temporary exhibit of the same name, this multifaceted curriculum provides you with all the tools necessary to bring ledger drawings and other pictographic art from the permanent collections of the Montana Historical Society into your classroom and to engage your students both in the study of a vibrant art form and to gain new insights into Indian peoples’ adaptability and resilience during a period of rapid change.
The Art of Storytelling Curriculum grew out of a temporary exhibit displayed at the Montana Historical Society (MHS) in 2012. In cooperation with the Indian Education Division of the Montana Office of Public Instruction, MHS created curriculum packets, which included all the resources on this website as well as prints of selected images from the exhibit. These packets were sent to all Montana public school libraries in October 2012. While supplies last, you can request your personal packet by emailing dmitchell@mt.gov.
This web-based version of the curriculum includes the following:
Background Information for Teachers
- Information (in brief) about ledger art and the concepts covered in this unit, as well as links to additional resources.
Sample Templates
- Printable Templates teachers can reproduce as "canvases" for art projects, created with reproductions of pages from a ledger book used at Fort Keogh
- A drawing of a buffalo hide, also for use as a "canvas" for art projects
- Background information on the ledger book pages
Lesson Plans
- The Winter Count: Marking Time (Grades K-3) and (Grades 4-6)
- Personal Storytelling Oral Traditions, and Narrative Art (Grades K-3) and (Grades 4-6)
- Exploring Influences and Perspectives through Ledger Art (Grades 7-12)
PowerPoint Presentations
- Yanktonai Dakota (Sioux) Winter Count PowerPoint
- Lesson Plan for Using the PowerPoint (K-6)
- The Art of Storytelling PowerPoint for Grades K-6
- Lesson Plan for Using the PowerPoint (K-6)
- The Art of Storytelling PowerPoint for Grades 7-12
- Lesson Plan for Using the PowerPoint (7-12)
Maps
Selected Images from the Montana Historical Society Exhibit
