1. Teachers Newsletter
Eiteljorg
Museum
This activity will show you how to make a flat
bag inspired by those used by the Nez Perce.
Flat Bag Weaving
Visit the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art to learn more about Native American games and culture.
www.eiteljorg.org
Step 1
Cut the flap off
of your envelope.
Step 2
Fold the envelope in half and
make 4 vertical cuts in the
front and back sides, being
careful not to cut all the way
through to the top or bottom.
Stop cutting about 1/2-inch
from the edge, then unfold the
envelope.
Step 4
Repeat step three with another strip
of paper, this time starting under,
over, under, over, until you reach the
edge of the envelope. Cut the excess
and tuck in the end. Continue this
pattern until you’ve reached the top.
Turn the envelope over
and repeat steps 3 and
4 until you’ve reached
the top.
Step 5
Using a glue stick, secure all
the loose ends on the bag.
Materials
{ Small coin envelope
approx. 2” x 3”
{ Scissors
{ Strips of paper
{ Raffia
{ Hole punch
{ Glue stick
Step 3
Using a strip of paper, begin
weaving it through the slits on
one side of the envelope; over,
under, over, under, until you
come to the edge of the envelope.
Then, cut off the excess.
Step 6
Punch a hole in each side of the bag
and string a piece
of raffia through.
Step 7
Add designs to your bag.

2. Teachers Newsletter
Eiteljorg
Museum
Focus: Flat Bags of the Nez Perce
Flat bags have been used for many years. There are
several ways to find out more about them and you can
see real ones on exhibit at the museum or when talking
to a primary resource like Rosa Yearout (Nez Perce), the
museum’s March artist in residence, about her family’s
history and how they live today.
Flat bags FAQ:
the what, who, when, where of flat bags.
What:
Flat bags, also known as corn husk bags or flat twined
bags, have been created as a clever solution by the North
American Plateau culture area peoples. The containers can
lie flat, store well and are easy to transport. The flexible
sides can expand to hold food and other valuable items.
Who:
Nez Perce, Umatilla, Shoshone and other Plateau-area
weavers gathered dog bane, a plant material, processed
it and wove it. Depending on the era, they added designs
and decorations, originally made from plant materials. By
1840, corn husks from farms and purchased wool thread
were used to decorate the bags. Flat bags are still being
made by a few talented people.
Sacagawea (c. 1788-1812 or 1848), guide for the Lewis
and Clark expedition, may have used one of these bags.
She was originally from the Shoshone Plateau people
who had a similar lifestyle as the Nez Perce.
When:
According to archaeological evidence, flat bags have
been used for more than nine-thousand years.
Where:
Flat bags were used and are currently made in the
Columbia River Basin in the Plateau Cultural Area.
Bag fact:
Members of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery
asked for flat bags to carry the root foods they were
given by Nez Perce peoples they met on June 7, 1806.
The Nez Perce women were reluctant, because one bag
could represent hundreds of hours of labor and four to
six months of weaving. That was long before people
lived with time-saving equipment like electricity, hot
water in homes and household appliances.
IDOE Academic Standards Connections:
5th grade Social Studies
5.1-.4: Include this activity with units on the Corps of
Discovery and Lewis and Clark in fifth-grade history, gov-
ernment, geography and economy.
5th grade Visual Arts
5.1: Discuss the manner in which different cultures have
similar design solutions for similar functions, using the
Nez Perce flat bag example.
5.8: Integrated studies
Academic Standards correlations:
Additional Academic Standards may be met in math/
geography and visual arts/creative production by looking at
the geometric patterns on traditional basketry and flat bags.
Consider English/Language Arts connections and reading
comprehension with the comparison of fictional and non-
fiction works.
For more information check these references:
Columbia River Basketry: Gift of the Ancestors, Gift of the
Earth by Mary Dodds Schlick, 1994
University of Washington Press, Seattle.
ISBN 0-295-97289-0
Kaya books; Kaya: An American Girl 1764 (Boxed Set)
by Janet Beeler Shaw
store.americangirl.com
PBS information on Lewis and Clark:
www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/nez.html
Speeches by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce:
www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/six/jospeak.htm
Sites of tribes and nations:
www.lemhi-shoshone.com; www.easternshoshone.net;
www.nezperce.org; www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/idahonatives/nez/
Additional connections—Cultural and Physical
Geography long ago and now
Depending on the grade level, maps, orienteering and land
use over time will be of interest to students. Talk about how
Native peoples are still here, and how they have continued to
live in an area referred to as the Plateau Cultural Area. Help
your students find major Plateau physical geographical features,
like the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades. They should
investigate the placement of the Columbia River, Columbia
Basin, Snake River and Bitterroot Range and the trade
relationships over time that developed with neighbors to the
west (Northwest Coast), the east (Plains peoples) and the
south (Great Basin) areas. Have your students locate cities,
states and partial states and Canada’s provinces within the
Plateau region (British Columbia, Alberta, Oregon, Washington,
Montana and Idaho). They can also research the origin of
place names, such as Oregon and Idaho. Discuss how the
Plateau cultural area is an invention of anthropologists and
how regions are compared.
Questions in American history within the Plateau
Cultural Area, 18th century to the present:
How and when did the Nez Perce get horses? How did
having horses change the Plateau cultures? What were the
Native trade routes that involved the Plateau peoples and
region? What brought non-Natives to the region? What was
the search for a “Northwest passage” that brought Lewis and
Clark into the home of the Nez Perce and Shoshone? Later,
who was Chief Joseph and what was the relationship between
the Nez Perce and the US government in the 1870s? What is
this area known for today? What traditions are followed by
contemporary Plateau Native peoples?