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11. Child's Charm Bag

Small beaded charm bags held an individual's most scared and private possessions--the medicine from which they derived their personal power. Part of the importance of the charm bags comes from their size--they are small enough to worn under any clothing and even concealed under European-style clothing. They served in this way at the end of the nineteenth century as a means of holding on to one's Meskwaki identity in the face of government attempts to stamp this out through Indian boarding schools.

12. panther charm bag

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