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wampum belt
wampum belt
wampum belt
This relative, a wampum belt, is made of purple and white shell beads woven on natural fibre with straight leather wrapped selvedges. Fibres are braided into tassels on both ends of the belt. The beads are tubular in shape and opaque. They are slightly irregular in length and diameter but have an overall consistent look typical of wampum beads made using metal tools. The design consists of an alternating pattern of two small off-set diamonds and a doubled circle motifs made of white beads on a purple ground. On each end there are 4 lines made of 2, 3, or 4 white beads. Although the origins of this relative are unclear, it has been dated to the 1700s and may have connections to the Huron-Wendat and Five Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
This relative currently resides at the Bank of Canada Museum.
Possibly Haudenosaunee.
Frères de Sainte-Croix operated the Collège Saint-Laurent, a vocational school that had a museum. This wampum belt was part of the museum's collection. The sister organization Soeurs de Sainte-Croix also ran a college and a museum. An inventory of objects from the Musée des Soeurs de Sainte-Croix at Saint-Laurent was published in le naturaliste canadien vol XLV no. 1, July 1918. The list includes mention of 2 wampum belts described as "ceintures d'esurgny (wampum) des Iroquois d'Oka" (p. 8). More information is available via Societé d'histoire d'Oka, 2017 Chemin Oka, Oka, Quebec J0N 1E0.
Bank of Canada catalogue records were provided to GRASAC.
Read More About This Relative
Shell, clam, shell, whelk, skin, leather, fibre / coquille, palourde, coquille, buccin, peau
9 rows of beads.
Alternating pattern of two off-set diamonds and doubled circles with white lines at each end. It is difficult to ascribe meaning to different motifs without knowing the full history of the belt, but many sources describe that generally circle and diamond shapes represent the council fire, a clan, or a nation.
Circle motif resembles a wampum belt at the Musée de la civilisation (1992.1288), ID'd as a Huron-Wendat belt given as an invitation to join the Five Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The off-set positioning of the 4 circular motifs alongside the central circle, as well as the rows of white beads at the end of the belt resemble another belt from the Musée de la civilisation (1992.1292) ID'd as possibly Huron-Wendat. See also McCord Museum M1914 and M1909, both ID'd as Eastern Woodlands.
During a gathering at the Bank of Canada Museum on May 3, 2024, Fred Kabooniishin McGregor, an Omaamiiw-ininii (Algonquin) from Kitigan Zibi, remarked on the different colouration of some beads, especially a very light purple one towards the left end of the belt. He noted that the different colour might mean that parts of the belt were rewoven to mark changes over time to the agreement that the wampum belt describes.
For more information regarding details from this Bank of Canada Museum gathering, contact the Bank of Canada Museum.
Provenance
Dick Robinson, a numismatic dealer, acquired the belt in 1975 as part of the so-called St. Croix collection from the Collège de Saint-Laurent. The college, founded in the 1840s by the Frères de Sainte Croix was established to teach industrial arts. It had a large museum of botanical, mineralogical, numismatic, art works and other materials and welcomed donations from students and other interested parties as recorded in Collège bulletins published in the late 19th century. The college today is known as Cègep de Saint-Laurent.
Notice of the sale of the collection to Robinson appeared in the Canadian Coin, Stamp and Antique News, Dec. 20, 1975, p. 18. The article refers to the Bank of Canada purchase this wampum belt. Robinson is quoted as describing the wampum belt as "one of the nicest Wampum belts ever seen in Canada."
In a letter from Cyrille Tessier to David Ross McCord dated April 29, 1919, Tessier reminds McCord, "tu ne peux pas ignorer le frère Cyprien des Frères de Ste-Croix de Montréal est aussi possesseur de bandes de wampums tres précieux." (Archives nationales de Quebec, fonds Cyrille Tessier, cited in Lainey, 2004, p. 116).
Bank of Canada Museum collection records provided to GRASAC.
Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy, McCord-Stewart Museum, Montreal, October 20th, 2023 to March 10th, 2024.
Note: This wampum belt was part of a gathering hosted in Ottawa, Ontario, by the Bank of Canada Museum with elders from Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabe First Nation on May 3, 2024. The purpose of the gathering was to welcome the wampum belts in the National Currency Collection back to Algonquin territory after their loan to the McCord-Museum in Montreal for the exhibition Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy.
Participants of the May 3, 2024 wampum gathering included members of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabeg First Nation, Elder Peter Decontie, Elder Claudette Commanda, Elder Verna McGregor, and Elder Fred McGregor; participants of the Bank of Canada Museum included Director Stacy Wakeford, Janik Aubin-Robert (Collections Manager), Krista Broeckx (Assistant Curator), Patricia Measures (Conservator), and Stephanie Shank-Munro (Collections Specialist).
Bank of Canada Museum, permanent exhibit, July 2017-present.
Currency Museum, Gallery III "History of Canadian Money" [permanent exhibit], 1980-2013.
For further details about the Bank of Canada Museum's wampum gathering on May 3, 2024, contact the Bank of Canada Museum.
Nikolaus Stolle, Talking Beads: The History of Wampum as a value and Knowledge Bearer, From its Very Beginnings Until Today. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac, 2016, p. 327, cat. 214.
Jonathan Lainey. "La monnaie des sauvages." Les colliers de wampum d'hier. aujourd'hui. Sillery, Quebec: Les editions du Septentrion, 2004, p. 116.
"Collection sold," The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, January 20, 1976, p. 35.
"Fathers of St. Croix Collection Acquired By Montreal Firm," Coin, Stamp & Antique News, Dec 30, 1975.
About This GRASAC Record
Maker, Name unrecorded. Wampum belt. GRASAC ID 59178. Bank of Canada Museum 1976.2.1.
This record was created by Dana Murray on July 29, 2024. This record draws on images and information provided by the Bank of Canada Museum.