Life and Times of Seed Beads

Hey Fort Fans,

You know what we find a lot of? Seed beads! Small, glass beads; so small they can slip through the smallest grate if you’re not careful wet-screening. They are small, but not insignificant. As you know, once Fort St. Joseph was established it became a place for trade. Because Europeans had the infrastructure to manufacture beads quickly and cheaply and of similar quality to the hand-crafted beads of Native Americans, they realized they could use these items as trade goods.

An assortment of donut and cylindrical
seed beads. My hands are small,
so these things are seriously small.

Although the seed beads were brought over by the French, the beads were usually not made in France, but in Italy. In factories, glass bead manufacturers would heat up a glass rod and extrusion a hole in it, then cut it into beads with a machine. Then the beads would be ground into various shapes. At Fort. St. Joseph, we mostly found cylindrical beads. Although we have found a few faceted and square beds. They are most often white and black, but can also be blue, green, and red. Unlike wampum beads which usually have a beautiful natural pattern because its made from a shell, seads beads are more often one color and do not have a patterned design.

Among cloth and metal tools, beads were a popular item to be traded with Native Americans. They were also used by Europeans and the inhabitants of Fort St. Joseph. So in my opinion, these small adornment items represent not just trade patterns and manufacturing techniques, but also human connection. They are a glimpse into hearts and minds of people during the 17th and 18th centuries.

- Evin