Indian Nations Indian Territory Archives Pawnee

Welcome to the Pawnee Tribe Archives of the state of Oklahoma!

Pawnee Tribe

The name Pawnee, found in historical records as Pani, Pana, Panana, Panamaha or Panimaha, was commonly applied to this Indian group by the French of the 1700's. The origin is probably  from the Choctaw words pana, meaning "a braid" or "a twist", and mahaia, "to curve" or "to bend up", referring to the scalp lock worn by Pawnee warriors. One study suggests their name came from the Pawnee word pariki, "horn", referring to the way Indians dressed their scalp lock with red ochre and buffalo fat to make it stand up and curve back like a horn.

The Southern Pawnee settlements originally spanned from the Rio Grand to the Arkansas River while the Skidi Pawnee lived along the Republican, Loup and Platte Rivers in Nebraska. Until 1770, the Southern Pawnee stayed in the Arkansas River area when, amid tribal friction, they migrated to Nebraska to join the Skidi Band of Pawnee. During the next 100 years, the Pawnee lived in permanent villages on the Platte River. Through a series of treaties in the mid-1800's, they were forced to surrender their homeland for a reservation along the Loup River. Despite losing their country, the Pawnee still served as faithful, courageous scouts for the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars and never made war against the U.S. By 1876, they had agreed to sell their native Nebraska reservation and move to Indian Territory.

Long noted for their tribal religion, rich in myth, symbolism and poetic fancy, the Pawnee Indians held elaborate ceremonies linked with the cosmic forces and heavenly bodies, believed to be created by a single deity named "Tirawa."

Pawnee Indian Tribe of Oklahoma
Pawnee Business Committee
P.O. Box 470
Pawnee, OK 74058
Telephone: (918) 762-3621, Fax: (918) 762-6446

  
Pawnee Tribe Archivist
Position open

Gene Phillips -State Archivist

Linda Simpson - Archivist-Indian Nations/Indian Territory 

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