bag

bag

bag

top image
Images
Introduction

Rectangular basswood bag with four pairs of red, vertical stripes. Originally used as a shopping bag. Wekwemikong Reserve, Manitoulin Island. Purchased from Victoria Shawana.

Nation of Maker: Anishinaabe
Place of Origin: Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory
Date Made or Date Range: Mid 19th c.
Materials

basswood fibre, four paired red dyed basswood warps on the right and left

Techniques or Format

Very coarse basswood (Lewis Debassige); fibres not twisted very well. Stains and dark spots from food that went bad.

Motifs and Patterns

Four pairs of red vertical stripes

Original and Subsequent Uses

shopping bag

Dimensions: 0 × 0 × 0 mm
Condition: poor; one side fair; one side has holes; stained and dirty
Current Location: Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa, Canada
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: III-G-463
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: September 1961
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Victoria Shawana
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: Summer 1961
Collection Narratives and Histories

From Victoria Shawana, Wekwemikong Reserve, Manitoulin Island. This bag made by a women (sic) in Wikwemikong who had come up from Michigan. Made approx 1900. Across Wekwemikong and West Bay res. All recognize it as the kind of bag popular til 50 years ago. Fiber used has been inner bark of the basswood pulled in strips from tree, boiled in ashes for 4-5 hours, rinsed well, and then rolled between hand the knee, into the cord of either width shown. Red colour may be dye from bark of red oak, but this not conclusive. Bag shows mending with commercial string. Big used by V.S. as general shopping bag, and for carrying daughter when she baby. Not in use at time of purchase."

GKS Reference Number: 26117
Approximate Place of Origin

45.7171, -81.6848

Source of Information about Places

From Wekwemikong Reserve

Do You Have Knowledge to Contribute? Share with Us.