This container is made of birchbark with quillwork designs.

The vessel is decorated with dyed porcupine quills. On the front the decoration consists of stylized leaves and a flower, on the back of stylized leaves; the lid is decorated with rhombi. The porcupine quills are white, blue, orange, red, brown, and green.

Width of mouth of container: 9 x 4 cm
Lid: 9.5 x 4 cm

EXCERPT from France Golob’s “Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum),” p. 251:

The vessel (box with a lid) is a standard product of the Ojibwa.

Museum documentation.

THE ČEBUL DONATION: History of origin and outline

Excerpt from "Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum),” France Golob; pp. 242-45.

Missionary Ivan Čebul traveled from America to visit his homeland in 1873. On January 27th he was in Kranj and later in Ljubljana (he gave a sermon in the Ljubljana Cathedral). In August 1873 he returned to the American missions. These known dates allow us to conclude that missionary Ivan Čebul must have donated the Native American objects to the Provincial Museum in the period between late January and August 1873.

The donated Native American objects are first mentioned in the handwritten list "New Acquisitions of the Carniolan Provincial Museum.” The list is written in the German language in Gothic cursive script. The sheets are size 210x335 mm. The translation of entry number 41 reads: "(Received) from Father Johann Čebul, missionary in North America: 1) Queen conch (Strombus gigas), that is, a conch (mollusk) from the tropical seas, with a hollowed end. The conch was used to call believers (the Native Americans, author's note) to prayer. 2) Sandals (correct: moccasins, author's note) made of buckskin, excellent footwear in the severe winters of North America. 3) Little basket (correct: vessel, author's note) with lid made of bark (so-called MOCKEOCKS) with ornaments of dyed straw. 145 The basket contains sugar the Indians make from the juice of the sugar maple (Acer saccharatum). 4) Indian bag made of black cloth (wool) and embroidered in beads. The front shows an embroidered flower. The bag contains a flint. 5) Tobacco bag owned by an Indian chief. Made from the skin of a Canadian beaver (Castor canadensis). The ends of the beaver's legs are decorated with embroidered beads. The bottom part of the tail is also decorated. The aperture on the belly is covered with a woven patch embroidered in rough lines with the figures of a North American and an Indian. The Indian is holding an enormous peace pipe. The American and the Indian are together supporting the heavens. Above the pair a bird is depicted.”

In 1876 the newspaper Laibacher Zeitung published a "List of Acquisitions of the Carniolan Provincial Museum between June 1870 and December 1875." Section B of this list, "Antique and Ethnographic Objects," refers to the same objects as in the handwritten list of new acquisitions.

In 1888 the Guide to the Provincial Museum written by curator and conservator Karl Deschmann was published. In this list the objects are mentioned under numbers 17 to 21 with a note stating that they were donated by missionary Čebul. However, only three objects from the written list and from the list published in Laibacher Zeitung in 1876 are mentioned:

- no. 18: Indian basket with lid made of bark, decorated with porcupine quills.

- no. 19: Sandals (correct: moccasins, author's note) made of buckskin, excellent footwear of the Indians in the severe winters of North America.

- no. 20: Indian tobacco bag, made of black cloth. The shoulder strap is woven from tiny glass beads. Embroidered flower on the front. The bag contains a flint.

Two objects mentioned and described in the handwritten list of acquisitions and in the Laibacher Zeitung of 1876 are missing from this list: the queen conch (Strombus gigas) and the tobacco bag made of the skin of a Canadian beaver (Castor canadensis).

To this list dating from 1888 new Native American objects were added, presumably donated by Ivan Čebul:

- no. 17: Indian pipe (calumet) made from red stone with curved wooden stem

- no. 21: tobacco bag made of blue cloth. The bag is thickly trimmed with glass beads and has a long shoulder strap

- no. 22: piece of cloth trimmed with multicoloured silk ribbons

In 1888 the Provincial Museum had in its possession of the objects donated in 1873 only the sugar vessel, the tobacco bag, and the tobacco pouch. The queen conch that was used to call to prayer and the chief's tobacco bag of beaver skin are no longer mentioned. On the other hand, several new objects are listed: a Native American pipe, a tobacco bag, and a piece of cloth, making a total of six objects. These six objects were entered in the National Museum's first Inventory Register (catalogue of holdings) from 1895-1914 with the following inventory numbers: 1090 - red stone pipe; 1091 tree-bark bag; 1092-1093 buckskin moccasin; 1094 embroidered tobacco pouch; 1095 tobacco bag; and 1906 piece of cloth trimmed with silk ribbons. A new object is listed under inventory no. 1097: a wicker basket with a belt. At the end of the list a new donor is mentioned, a certain M. Topolansky who in 1890 donated one object listed under inventory no. 1098: a mat. The mat was presumed to be from North America.

On the occasion of the division of the Provincial Museum's collections between the National Museum and the Ethnographic Museum in 1924-25, the latter received all the objects mentioned in the National Museum's Inventory Register from 1895-1914. All the Native American objects attributed to the Ivan Čebul Donation were entered in the Inventory Register of the Ethnographic Museum, Volume II, 1923-1928.

"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 container. GRASAC ID 59223. Slovene Ethnographic Museum, E 2891.

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, 05/21/25.