Authenticated American Indian Recipes

Pawhuska, Oklahoma: Sam McClain, 1955. Very good +. 8¼” x 7¼” (at widest). Stapled wrappers inside a three-ring binder with wooden boards cut and painted to resemble a Native American profile. Pp. [46]. Very good plus: slight chipping and a few soil spots to boards; small Indian Shop sticker inside rear wrap; a few scattered spots.

This is a cookbook of traditional indigenous recipes from the Osage Nation featuring both wild game and store-bought ingredients. Photographically illustrated, with Native lore and tips on surviving in the wild, the book was compiled by a longtime Osage Chief and his Cherokee-born wife, Sylvester and Alice Tinker.
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Sylvester Tinker was born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in 1903. He won a seat on the Osage Tribal Council in 1966 and became Principal Chief in 1970, a role he held until 1982. An outspoken leader, Tinker campaigned across the country on the importance of sovereignty and reservation rights. He helped create the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission and the Pawnee Health Benefit Package, and donated one of the largest known collections of Osage ceremonial clothing and musical instruments to the Kansas Historical Society. He was also a relative of Clarence L. Tinker, the first Native American to attain the rank of Major General in the United States Army, and in whose honor Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City was named.

This book, which was published by the Tinkers' son-in-law, Sam McClain, was dedicated to the memory of Fred Lookout. Lookout was Principal Chief of the Osage Nation at the time, and had inspired Tinker out of alcohol abuse and into Native ritual and tribal politics. The book holds 79 recipes used by the Osage for generations, with tips on preparing, cooking and storing wild game and other foods. The book also advises on what to do if you become lost in the wilderness: “If you keep your head cool and your body warm, you are sure to come out okay.” Along with instructions for “wild grape dumplings,” “Indian chutney,” game, duck and fish, there are “camp recipes” such as “Dutch oven batter bread” and a page of “suggestions on out-door cooking with aluminum foil.” Four photographic images show Lookout, young Frankie McClain in his “Osage dancing costume” and the daughters of Osage Chief Paul Redeagle.

Interestingly, this copy features a small sticker for the Tony Reyna Indian Shop in Taos, New Mexico. Now closed, Reyna's Indian Shop was a fixture at Taos from 1950 through at least 2016. Born in 1915, Reyna served twice as governor of Taos Pueblo and was a lifetime member of the Tribal Council. He was also a Taos police commissioner, a member of the school board and an art museum trustee. He helped bring a health clinic to the pueblo and was instrumental in its being designated an official United Nations World Heritage site.

Reasonably well-represented in institutions, this a clean copy with a nice Native American association. (Inventory #: 8445)