pin cushion

pin cushion

pin cushion

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Introduction

Heart-shaped pin cushion made of birchbark, porcupine quills, silk ribbon, and shredded fabric. Adorned with floral motifs. Collected by Martin Pitzer. Currently housed at the Weltmusem Wien, Vienna. Odawa.

Name of Maker(s): Anonymous Odawa artist
Nation of Maker: Odawa
Nation of Origin

In Martin Pitzier's "Index of Objects and Woks of an American Indian Tribe in the Far North, Together With a Description of the Same," he writes that the items in this book are from "the north ‐ eastern part of North America, and is called the tribe of the Otawahs, or Ottawas" (35).

Date Made or Date Range: Before 1854
Materials

Birchbark, porcupine quills, silk ribbon, stuffing appears to be shredded fabric (possibly wool).

Motifs and Patterns

Floral motifs

Dimensions: 8 × 7.5 × 1.5 in
Condition: Some quills are missing.
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Martin Pitzer collected this item, possibly when he travelled to the Great Lakes in the 1850s. In 1854 Pitzer published an exhibit catalogue with the items he collected at Arbre Croche and Cross Village.

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 131803
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: Mid 19 C
Previous Collectors: Martin Pitzer
Collection Narratives and Histories

Austrian church painter Martin Pitzer travelled to the Great Lakes region, to "the Ottawa villages of Arbre Croche and Cross Village" in the early 1850s. He collected a significant number of item and brought them back to Austria to be part of an exhibition to raise money for the mission.

Exhibition History

Martin Pitzer collected items during his trip to Arbre Croche and Cross Village in the 1850s and displayed them in a travelling exhibition upon his return to Austria. The Pitzer collection later went to the Weltmuseum Wien, Austria.

Publication History

In 1854 Pitzer published an accompanying catalogue for the show with additional information on each item.

Comment on Source of Exhibition & Publication Data

Kasprycki, Sylvia. "The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga: The Missionary as Ethnographic Collector." Etnolog 8(59). 1998. 331-354: Pitzer, Martin. "Index of Objects and Woks of an American Indian Tribe in the Far North, Together With a Description of the Same." Printed by the J. G. Weiss University Press Printing Office. Munich. 1854.

GKS Reference Number: 59036
How to Cite this Item

Unknown Odawa artist, pin cushion. Currently in the Weltmuseum Wien, Vienna, Austria, 131803. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip January 2016; GRASAC item id 59036.

Record Creation Context

In January of 2016, a small team of GRASAC researchers visited the collection to study and photograph it: Ruth Phillips, Lisa Truong, Naomi Recollet (Anishinaabe (Odawa/Ojibwe), Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory) and Wahsontiio Cross (Mohawk, Kahnawake). This GKS record was created in January 2022 by GRASAC RA Amelia Healey.

Record Creation Notes/Observations

Created using a spreadsheet with information made by Ruth Phillips, Lisa Truong, Naomi Recollet (Anishinaabe (Odawa/Ojibwe), Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory) and Wahsontiio Cross (Mohawk, Kahnawake).

Approximate Place of Origin

43.0612, -78.4489