box, birchbark and sweetgrass

box, birchbark and sweetgrass

box, birchbark and sweetgrass

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Nation of Maker: Anishinaabe Odawa
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular nation(s)

Listed as "Ottawa" on tag.

Place of Origin: Michigan (Northern Michigan), USA
Date Made or Date Range: before 1914
Materials

birchbark; sweetgrass; black thread; porcupine quills natural and dyed green, pink, purple and blue.

Techniques or Format

The bottom of the box is a circular piece of birch bark. The sides are built up with rows of bunched sweetgrass wrapped with dark thread, followed by a panel of birch bark decorated with floral motifs, followed by more sweetgrass. The top two centimetres of the box is slightly smaller than the rest, acting as a lip upon which the top sits. The birchbark panel is sealed together with four tacks of natural quills.

The lid is a circular piece of birchbark decorated with floral motifs and double tacks of natural quills, edged with sweetgrass bunches wrapped with dark thread. The first row of sweetgrass contains coloured quills.

Motifs and Patterns

Floral

Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Gottschall collected betwen 1880 and 1914

Current Location: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: L-84-142
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1914
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: 1880-1914
Collection Narratives and Histories

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP)

GKS Reference Number: 26008
Record Creation Context

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, May 6 2010.

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