This container is made of birchbark with quillwork designs, silk, cotton, and grosgrain ribbons, and possibly black pitch.

The birchbark bag has eight curved sides/panels (octagonal), a round lid, and a long handle with red loops at the sides. The is possible black pitch on seams, and the interior is lined with a smooth layer of birch bark.

The decoration of the sides and lid of the birchbark bag consists of embroidered white, green, blue, yellow, red, and orange porcupine quills that form flower motifs; lilies, primrose, rosehips, blue forget-me-nots, and berry design with three colours. Intricate flower on lid with 16 petals; special French knots in center of flower like pistil. Even the little flowers have eight petals, and the colours are still vivid. The borders of the bag are lined with silk and cotton ribbons, with grosgrain ribbon going up on the sides.

Height of handle: 15.5 cm
Diameter of lid: 11.2 cm

EXCERPT from France Golob’s “Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum),” pp. 263:

The bag was made by a Native American woman.

Museum documentation.

THE PIRC DONATION: History of its origin and outline

Excerpt from "Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum),” France Golob; p. 237-39.

In a letter Friderik Baraga wrote to his sister on December 3, 1836, he informs her that a crate has been shipped to Trieste in which there are Native American objects, and he asks that her husband have it sent to him as soon as he receives word of its arrival. This crate also contained an ancient Native American stone axe donated to the Carniolan Provincial Museum by missionary Franc Pirc. It is likely that Baraga had told Pirc that he was looking for Native American objects for the museum and that Pirc gave him the axe.

The stone axe is first mentioned in the handwritten list covering the ethnographic objects of the Baraga Collection. The list comprises three sheets, sized 240 x 228 mm, and is written in Gothic cursive script in the German language. The text under number 238/214 at the end of the list reads: "(Donated) by Father Franc Pirc (Franz Pirz), missionary in Sault Ste. Marie at Lake Superior and Lake Michigan: one ancient stone axe (WAGAKWAT) made of green sandstone, 12" excavated in Arbre Croche. The next list, written by curator Heinrich Freyer on April 14, 1837, is based on Urban Jerin's list. The entry under number 238/214 at the end of the list reads that missionary Father Pirc from North America donated one stone axe (WAGAKWAD) made of green sandstone.

In 1836, Illyrisches Blatt published a notice (no. 214) stating that Father Franc Pirc, a missionary born in Kamnik (correct: in Godič near Kamnik), had donated an ancient stone axe.

In early 1838, the museum's annual report for the year 1836-1837 was published. The report mentions that countryman Father Franc Pirc, missionary, had donated an ancient stone axe from the savages on Lake Superior.

Illyrisches Blatt of 1884 concludes a description of African objects from the Lavrin Collection by mentioning that the first exhibition of the Baraga and Lavrin Collections had been held. Among the donors, Franc Pirc is also mentioned.

In the Guide to the Carniolan Provincial Museum published by the museum's curator and conservator Karl Deschmann, Franc Pirc is also mentioned. The entry under number 23 reads "ancient stone axe from the Indians of Lake Superior," and a new object is mentioned here for the first time, a spearhead made of flint. The stone axe donated by Franc Pirc (on the groove of the handle a piece of paper is attached and the surname of the donor Pir(z) is visibly written in brown ink) was not entered in the National Museum's Inventory Volume I, 1895-1914 nor in the Ethnographic Museum's Inventory, Volume II, 1923-1928.

Without reference to a donation or to their origin, other Native American objects in the Slovene Ethnographic Museum—that is, in its Section for Non-European Cultures are also attributed to missionary Franc Pirc.

Besides the bag with a handle (cat. no. 21), the following objects were also attributed to Pirc: women's moccasin (cat. no. 29), men's embroidered moccasins (cat. no. 36), girl's (women's) moccasin (cat. no. 37), and a round woven basket with lid (the object is missing).

Since there are no written sources on Franc Pirc's donation of these Native American objects, he can only have been their indirect donor. It is my [author’s] belief that the Native American objects mentioned were first given to acquaintances and benefactors by Pirc and were later donated to the Provincial Museum.

"Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum)," France Golob. Ljubljana: Library of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 1997.

"Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum)," France Golob. Ljubljana: Library of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 1997.

Maker, Name unrecorded. Birchbark bag. GRASAC ID 59236. Slovene Ethnographic Museum, E 2945.

This record was created as part of a Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) research trip GRASAC visit to the Slovene Ethnographic Museum (Ljubljana, Slovenia), December 3-5, 2024.

Researchers present: Maureen Matthews, Cary Miller, Pamela Klassen, and Amanda McLeod.

This record was created by Amanda McLeod, 05/24/25.