Stocking Stuffer

In the 1950’s, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Staff member William F. Stiles spent a significant amount of time among the Innu people of Quebec, Canada.  Stiles worked as a field collector but spent a lot of time building relationships with Innu community members, snapping photographs of their daily lives. These photographs are a part of the William F. Stiles collection of negatives, slides and photographic prints, 1938-1974 at the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. As I was looking through the photographs in his collection, these particular images caught my eye. As a knitter myself, I couldn't help but admire the colors and patterns used in these hand knit stockings. 

Girl (Innu) knitting stockings, Quebec, Canada, 1958. Photograph by William F. Stiles. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, (S02040).

Although Innu community members have visited the NMAI Archive Center and identified family members, this young knitter has not yet been identified. The pattern on her knitting needles looks very similar to a pair of stockings in the NMAI Ethnology Collection.

Pair of Innu stockings. Collected by William F. Stiles, 1958. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (22/7550). Photo by NMAI Photo Services.

Here are some additional photographs of stockings, to get you in the knitting spirit!

Handmade stockings (Innu), Quebec, Canada, 1958. Photograph by William F. Stiles. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, (S02109).

Handmade stockings (Innu), Quebec, Canada, 1958. Photograph by William F. Stiles. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, (S02111).

Handmade stockings and seal skin moccasins (Innu), Quebec, Canada, 1958. Photograph by William F. Stiles. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, (S02111).

For more information on William Stiles and his photograph collection you can read this post by Heather Shannon, NMAI Photo Archivist. Happy knitting!

Rachel Menyuk

Archives Technician, National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center