Plains Indian Studies - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 30
It is possible that still other uses, perhaps even
including corn shellers, were cataloged by H.J.
Boekelman who wrote an article in 1937 with the
tantalizing title "Archeo- and Ethno-conchology:
The Study of Man's Use of Shells" (Boekelman,
1937). Unfortunately Boekelman's article is only
a brief summary of his world-wide research and
as such does not add much to the information
contained in the previously mentioned papers.
Boekelman reported that he had assembled 6000
typewritten pages of literature, bibliography, abstracts,
and translations from French, German,
Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. Furthermore,
he stated that he had deposited his collection of
specimens at Tulane University for further study.
Apparently Boekelman did not publish any further
on this subject. At the present time my
inquiries have not verified that Boekelman's archival
materials and shell collections are still
housed at Tulane University.
Historic and Ethnographic References to the
Use of Mussel Shells as Corn Shellers
Among the tribes of the northeastern United
States and the Atlantic seaboard there is an apparent,
and I think real, paucity of data for the
use of mussel valve corn shellers. However, one
finds a definite pattern for this usage in searching
through the historic and ethnographic literature
on American Indian tribes of the Prairies and
Plains. The available references which span
nearly 300 years identify this practice among
eleven groups, but further search will undoubtedly
reveal more. The tribes now documented
stretch west from the Great Lakes to central
Nebraska and from Kansas into North Dakota,
and represent three separate and distinct linguistic
groups: Algonkian (Illinois, Prairie Potawatomi,
Sauk, historic Fox, and contemporary Mesquakie),
Siouan (Winnebago, loway, Oto, and
Hidatsa), and Caddoan (Pawnee and Wichita).
The earliest archival reference for the use of
clam shells in processing green corn in the Prairies
and Plains appears to be a late seventeenth-century
document pertaining to the French occupation
of the region around Fort St. Louis and
139
Chicago. This document, often incorrectly referred
to as the "De Cannes Memoir," is attributed
to Pierre-Charles DeLiette, a cousin of and
assistant to Henri Tonty (Hayne, 1969:435-436;
Quaife, 1947:110-111). An observation among
the Illinois, apparently in July of 1687 (in Pease
and Werner, 1934:343-344), reads as follows:
To return to the occupations of the women, at the end of
July they begin to mix or dry the corn. They make two
kinds. That which they roast gives them more trouble than
that which they boil, for they have to make large griddles
and exercise particular care to turn the ears from time to
time to prevent their burning too much on one side, and
afterwards they have to shell off the kernels. They therefore
make very little of this kind. The kind which they boil they
gather just as tender as the corn for roasting, and with shells,
which they find more convenient than knives, they cut all
the kernels, throwing away the cobs, until they have about
the quantity they wish to cook for that day. They never keep
any for the next day because of the excessive care needed to
prevent it from turning sour. After this, as soon as it has
boiled for a few minutes, they spread it on reed mats ....
The drying process usually takes two days. They make a
great store of this kind.
According to this document, the Illinois processed
the early green corn in at least two ways—one of
which involved the use of shells to remove the
kernels from the cobs. The DeLiette Memoir also
notes a still different manner of preparing the
corn which ripened later in the summer (Pease
and Werner, 1934:344).
As regards the large ears which are ripe at the end of
August, after they have gathered it they husk the ears and
spread them on mats. In the evening they gather them into
a heap and cover them well; when the sun has risen they
spread them again, and they keep this up for a week; then
they thresh it with big sticks six or seven feet long, in a place
which they surround with matting to prevent the flying
kernels from getting lost.
The Illinois, as most Prairie and Plains horticultural
groups, raised distinct varieties of corn,
which ripened at separate times and were processed
differently for various purposes.
Among the Sauk, Alanson Skinner (1925:137-
138) reported that maize was eaten in the form of
boiled corn, parched corn, pop corn, hominy,
bread, cake, soup, dumplings, and ground meal.
More specifically he (1925:137) reported that
sweet corn, wisko'piminuk, is eaten green after boiling or
roasting in the embers. It is also prepared by parboiling,