Winter counts are pictorial calendars, originally on buffalo hides, by which Plains Indians kept tract of their past. Each year was marked with a picture of a memorable event, and they cover some 200 years of Lakota or Western Sioux history. The pictures are arranged sequentially in spirals or rows. Contact with Europeans brought the introduction of new materials like paper and pens, and artists like George Catlin and Carl Bodmer introduced new drawing techniques.
The Smithsonian Institution has the largest and most complete collection of winter counts, and 14 are presented in detail in this volume. All of them include the “year the stars fell,” the spectacular Leonid meteor shower of 1833-34. The images served as mnemonic devices for community members and for the winter count keeper, who was responsible for recording and remembering events. At various times throughout the year he would unroll the calendar and retell the stories of the past. The group used this device to keep track of their history as well as to index events in their lives like the birth year. Since some winter counts span more than 100 years, it is clear that they were often passed down from one keeper to another. By the 1870s, copies of winter counts were being commissioned by non-Indian collectors and a thriving cottage industry developed into the 20th century.
The Smithsonian collection is a core winter count resource, and this volume is the first time it has been published. Candace Greene, Russell Thornton, Christina Burke, and Emil Her Many Horses are noted scholars of winter counts and provide generous background and commentary. Individual illustrations are shown and explained in the context of winter count knowledge. Richly illustrated, The Year the Stars Fell is an outstanding contribution to the understanding of the cultures of the Plains Indians.
