Cha-Ki-Shi

Object NameBook

Artist / MakerIllustrations by Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)

Date1936

Dimensions7 3/8 × 5 3/8 × 5/8 in. (18.7 × 13.7 × 1.6 cm)

ClassificationsBooks, Manuscripts, Documents, Personal Symbol & Correspondence

Credit LineGift of Katherine (Strong) Bolander. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM2009.205

Status

Not on view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: Cha-Ki-Shi is a children’s book that depicts a year in the life of a young Meskwaki girl in the 19th century. It was written by Halla Rhode (1883−1941) and Bessie Coon (1891−1942) and published by Charles Scribner and Sons in 1936. Around 1933 or 1934, artist Christian Petersen was invited by Halla Rhode, the Director of Indian Studies at the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of the State of Iowa, to contribute illustrations for this children’s book. Undoubtedly, Edgar R. Harlan (1869−1941), Director and Curator of the Historical Department of Iowa, and one of Petersen’s earliest patrons in Iowa, also encouraged the authors to enlist Petersen as their illustrator. To ensure his illustrations were as accurate as possible, Petersen was granted access to the collections at what is now the Historical Museum for the State of Iowa. He may also have spent time studying artifacts and speaking with people in the Meskwaki settlement near Tama, Iowa. The lore and the dress of the Meskwaki and other Indigenous peoples in his research later served as sources of inspiration for Petersen in the early 1940s when he created the Iowa State Memorial Union’s Fountain of the Four Seasons.

Locations