Albert Heath was a Chicago area artifact collector who also maintained a second home at Cross Village, Michigan, where he became vitally interested in Odawa people and collected a number of objects. Following his death, Bud Whiteford of the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College attempted to secure the entire collection, but they could not afford all of them, so Whiteford contacted other buyers (Milwaukee Public Museum, the Museum of the American Indian, etc.) to dispose of the other pieces. Heye bought about 25 pieces in 1955. A small book about the Heath collection was also published by the Loan Museum (Ann McMullen).