This collection contains content identified by the library as Culturally Sensitive to Indigenous People(s): Descriptions of Pawnee ceremonies and dances. For more information please see the Newberry Library’s policy on Access to Culturally Sensitive Indigenous Materials.

Field notes mainly documenting the economic year cycle of a Skidi Pawnee village in Nebraska in 1867, compiled during the summer of 1935 by Gene Weltfish through oral interviews with older Pawnee in Oklahoma.

Notes on the seasonal economy discuss typical household routines in the early spring, a tribal wood-gathering expedition, organizing for the summer hunt, the buffalo hunt and the activities of those who stayed behind, the summer encampment, the harvest, and the winter hunt. Also documented are ceremonies including the Big Doctor performance and dances (Iruska war dance, whistle dance, buffalo dance, bear dance). There are also plans of the Skidi village; notes on the people in Mark Evarts' childhood household; descriptions of other village households; notes on suicide and other unbalanced mental states, doctoring, and the resolution of disputes; and a recounting of the illness, death, and burial of the head chief, and the succession of his son.