IMPORTANT: As of this writing, I am unable to locate a research document that lists or otherwise documents a "scalp belt" as an artifact made or used by a Native person or Native tribe. I have found many references to it in works of fiction by authors who are not Native. It appears, for example, in Zane Gray novels (a reader of the blog wrote to me with that information).


This is the illustration of the "scalp belt" in the 1973 edition of Caddie Woodlawn, with illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman. It is on page 152. The illustration from the older edition, with Seredy's illustrations, shows Indian John and Caddie and the "scalp belt" (see May 9th, below).













This is a close-up of the belt itself.

Above is a scan of page 147 of the 1969 printing of Caddie Woodlawn. The illustrations are by Kate Seredy.

This illustration is not in the later edition of the book in which illustrations are by Trina Schart Hyman.

Below is a scan of just the scalp belt. On page 150 is a description of it:

"It was a simple buckskin belt ornamented with colored beads, and from it hung three long tails of black hair, each with a bit of shriveled skin at the end."

This is a "scalp belt" from Carol Ryrie Brink's book Caddie Woodlawn. The book won the Newberry Medal in 1935. See more discussion of the "scalp belt" at my blog American Indians in Children's Literature. Look specifically at the entry dated May 6, 2007.