Important Ute Dispatch Bag - SOLD
Uintah Ute, artist, Utah
Circa 1865 -1875
Commercial leather, native tanned leather, glass beads, native pigment
Length 9 3/4" x 5 3/4" plus strap
Provenance: Chris Hedrick, Blanco, TX
Gaylord Torrence, Kansas City, TX
Wallace Stark, UT
This important dispatch bag was collected by Wallace Stark, who was employed as a U.S. Government Indian Service Carpenter on the Uintah - Our Ute Reservation in northeastern Utah from 1894 - 1924. Stark likely functioned as an interpreter as well; he accompanied the Northern Ute delegation to Washington D.C. in 1905 when tribal leaders sought to persuade the U.S. government to halt the allotment and sale of reservation lands. From his presence on the trip and appearance in group - photographs of the delegation, he was apparently regarded as a trusted friend by the Northern Utes and their leaders. This is further evidenced by a photograph showing Stark's participation in the Bear Dance.
Wallace Stark's collection was comprised almost exclusively of items of Ute manufacture dating 1865 - 1900 and it seems likely he formed the collection during his early years on the reservation. In addition two Bear Dance rasps, the collection included a variety of beaded items, two late Navajo weavings including a third phase chiefs blanket, favored by Ute women, a painted deer skin with pictorial imagery, a painted boys coat with a incredible depiction of Teddy Roosevelt (now in the collection of the Southern Ute Museum), and the photographs mentioned above. The collection descended in the Stark's family until it was sold in 2000 as part of an estate.