ILLt '.:brary AT URu vNa-CHAMPAIGN BOOKSTACKS NOTICE: Return or renew all Library Materialsl The Minimum Fee for each Lost Book is $50.00. The person charging this material is responsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of boolts are reasons for discipli- nary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN JA^J 1 3 2000 L161— O-1096 :o. Anthropology The Simms Collection of Southwestern Chippewa Material Culture .lies W . VanStone n\ 29, 1988 il)lication 1.^87 1)1 It -HEiDB^ I lilL. D MU:^j '' RAL HISTORY lili!" i I u'luuma FIELDIANA Anthropology NEW SERIES, NO. 1 1 The Simms Collection of Southwestern Chippewa Material Culture James W. VanStone Curator, North American Archaeology and Ethnology Department of A nthropology Field Museum of Natural Historv Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496 Accepted for publication September 22, 1987 April 29, 1988 Publication 1387 PUBLISHED BY FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY © 1988 Field Museum of Natural History Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 87-83459 ISSN 0071-4739 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Table of Contents Abstract 1 I. Introduction 1 II. The Collection 2 Introduction 2 Dwellings 3 Subsistence 3 Transportation 4 Household equipment 4 Clothing 6 Personal adornment 6 Objects associated with religion 7 Musical instruments 12 Games 13 Warfare 13 Raw materials 14 III. Conclusion 14 Acknowledgments 15 Literature Cited 15 Appendix 17 Illustrations (figs. 1-48) 19-64 List of Illustrations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11, Map of Wisconsin and Minnesota 19 Model tipi 20 Bows 21 Rice threshing stick, arrows 22 Bow horns 23 Woman's snowshoes 24 Man's snowshoes 24 Mortars and pestles 25 Ladles 26 Net shuttle, mesh gauge, box, weaving needles, torches, bundle of bark for torches 27 Skin bags 28 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. Cradle board 29 Woven bag 30 Woven bag 31 Woven bag 32 Woven bags 33 Woven bags 34 Woven bags 35 Woven bags 36 Breechcloth, tobacco tray 37 Tobacco tray, pipe, pipe bowl, necklaces 38 Pipe, leg bands 39 Medicine bags 40 Medicine bags 41 Medicine bags 42 Loon skin with bellows whistle, medicine bag 43 Medicine pouches, medicine bags, bone tubes 44 Carved wooden birds, wooden pegs, beaded collar 45 Birch bark record 46 Birch bark record (detail) 47 Birch bark record 48 Birch bark record 49 Birch bark record 50 Birch bark record (detail) 51 Birch bark record 52 Birch bark record (side 1) 53 Birch bark record (side 2) 54 Birch bark record 55 Birch bark record (side 1 ) 56 Birch bark record (side 2) 56 Birch bark record 57 Water drums 58 Tambourine drums ; . . . . 59 Tambourine drum and stick 60 Rattles and flute 61 Plate game, bowl for plate game 62 Coil of split spruce root, counters for hand game, fungus, stick game 63 Muskrat skin on drying frame, war club 64 •T^^BWV^i i JJ.I.ili* '•>/■. . . . iMA : ■/ The Simms Collection of Southwestern Chippewa Material Culture Abstract The collections of Field Museum of Natural History contain 1 14 ethnographic objects collect- ed in 1903 by Stephen C. Simms from the South- western Chippewa on the Leech Lake reservation in north-central Minnesota. These objects are de- scribed and illustrated. Information from previous studies of the Southwestern Chippewa, particu- larly those dealing with material culture, is in- cluded for comparative purposes. I. Introduction The Chippewa, or Ojibwa, is, at the present time, the largest tribe north of Mexico (Ritzenthaler, 1981, p. 743). When first encountered by Euro- peans about 1640, the Chippewa lived north of Lakes Superior and Huron. During the 17th and 18th centuries the French and British established trading posts in their country to engage in the fur trade, resulting in a major expansion of Chippewa territory. By the beginning of the 19th century, four main tribal divisions had emerged, occupying a vast territory between the lower peninsula of Michigan, adjacent parts of Ontario, and the plains of eastern Saskatchewan. The most western of these divisions, the Plains Ojibwa, adopted a bison- hunting economy and resembled other northern Plains tribes. The Northern Ojibwa occupied the forested regions north of the Great Lakes and re- sembled other northern forest Algonkians, with a total emphasis on a hunting-gathering-fishing economy. The Southeastern Chippewa, farmers, hunters, and fishermen, occupied the lower pen- insula of Michigan and adjacent Ontario. I The territory of the Southwestern Chippewa in the 19th century was bounded on the north by the south shore of Lake Superior; it extended around the west end of the lake to the mouth of the Pigeon River, which forms the international boundary. Their territory extended west through the border lakes region as far as the Lake of the Woods and then south on the east side of the valley of the Red River, then southeast, east, and northeast through Minnesota and Wisconsin as far as Lac Vieux Des- ert on the Michigan-Wisconsin border, then north to Lake Superior through the central part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (fig. I). This area was largely within the Great Lakes transitional forest zone (Hickerson, 1962, pp. 2-3). Anthropological fieldwork among the South- western Chippewa, although obviously confined to the reservation period which began in the 1 850s, has provided valuable information on virtually all aspects of native life. Outstanding in this respect are monographs by Frances Densmore (1910, 1913, 1928, 1929), who worked in Wisconsin, Minne- sota, and Ontario between 1905 and 1925. Her general ethnography (1929) provides the most de- tailed account available of material culture, al- though Lyford's (1943) study of arts and crafts is also useful. Other scholars who have made sig- nificant contributions to our knowledge of various aspects of Southwestern Chippewa culture are Landes (1937, 1938, 1968), who worked on the Minnesota-Canadian border in the early 1930s; Hilger (1951), who undertook fieldwork in Wis- consin, Minnesota, and Michigan, also in the 1 930s; and Barnouw ( 1950, 1 9(3 1 ), whose research in Wis- consin spanned the 1940s. For the prereservation period, William Warren's History of the Ojibways ( 1 885) and Hickerson's ( 1 962, 1 970) ethnohistor- ical studies are significant. VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION One of the earliest investigators among the Southwestern Chippewa to collect items of ma- terial culture was Stephen C. Simms, who visited the Leech Lake reservation in north-central Min- nesota in the fall of 1903. Simms, who had no professional anthropological training, joined the stafTof Field Columbian Museum (later to be called Field Museum of Natural Histor\) in 1894 during the institution's first year, as Assistant Curator of Industrial Arts. Beginning in 1898 he was a staff member of the Department of Anthropology, a position which he held for 14 years. In 1912 the N. W. Harris Public School Extension, forerunner of the museum's Department of Education, was established, and Simms was appointed Curator in the new department. In 1928 he was selected by the Board of Trustees to be Director of the mu- seum, a position he held at the time of his death on January 28, 1937 (Anonymous, 1937, p. 2). At the time of Simms's appointment in the De- partment of Anthropology, George A. Dorsey was the curator-in-charge, having joined the museum staff in 1896. He was to hold that position for 20 years, during the first 10 of which he concentrated on buildmg the North American Indian collec- tions. He accomplished this through a series of expeditions and collecting trips which he under- took himself or entrusted to various assistant cu- rators, of which Simms was the first (Rabineau, 1981, p. 32). Simms appears to have made his first field trip for the museum to the Iroquois on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario in 1900. Early the following year Dorsey sent him to Arizona for three months to collect primarily among Athapaskan-speaking peoples who were not previously well represented in the museum's collections. In late 1901 and in the summer of 1902 Simms made two collecting trips to the Crow and Cheyenne reservations in Montana. On the second of these visits he obtained a fine collection of Crow shields, documented with histories, symbolic interpretations, and owners' names. This was one of the most noteworthy ad- ditions to the museum's Plains Indian collections. In 1 903 Dorsey instructed Simms to make a trip to the Plains Cree reservations of Saskatchewan. In the summer of that year he spent a little more than a month in Plains Cree country and made a small collection of ethnographic material (acces- sion 851; VanStone, 1983). Before his departure from Saskatchewan, Dorsey had suggested in a telegram that Simms collect in northern Minne- sota on his way home. Simms apparently spent about a month on the Leech Lake Chippewa reservation near Bemidji, making the collection described in this study. Although Simms's trip to Saskatchewan is reasonably well documented as a result of his correspondence with Dorsey pre- served in the archives of the Department of An- thropology, there is no correspondence related to the Minnesota segment of his trip. The depart- ment's catalog contains only the information that each object was collected on the Leech Lake reservation (VanStone, 1983, pp. 2-6). II. The Collection Introduction In the catalog of the Department of Anthro- polog>. Field Museum of Natural History, the Simms collection of Southwestern Chippewa eth- nographic specimens (accession 851) is assigned 119 numbers representing the same number of specimens. Some objects, such as bows with ar- rows, mortars and pestles, and drums and drum- sticks, have one number and are counted as single specimens. At the time this study was begun, all but five specimens were located in storage and on exhibit (see Appendix); two of these had been sold and the other three are apparently lost. The present condition of the Simms South- western Chippewa collection is generally good, al- though a number of skin objects, especially med- icine bags, have been damaged by insects. Many objects show considerable signs of use, indicating that they either were part of the cultural inventory at the time the collection was made or perhaps represent family heirlooms retained as souvenirs of the past. Simms appears to have cataloged his collection himself Provenience, together with some very brief information concerning materials and use, is to be found in the book catalog and on the catalog cards. When such information is included in the follow- ing pages without other documentation, it should be understood to have been derived from the cat- alog. Objects in the Simms collection are described here within the following 1 1 use categories: dwell- ings, subsistence, transportation, household equipment, clothing, personal adornment, objects associated with religion, musical instruments, games, warfare, and raw materials (see Appendix for catalog numbers). The brief descriptions of ar- tifact types which follow should be read while ex- FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY amining the accompanying photographs. For com- parisons, I ha\ e rehed heavily on Densmore ( 1 929). although other ethnographic accounts are cited when relevant. Dwellings According to Densmore (1929. pp. 22-28), the most common form of Chippewa dwelling was the dome-shaped wigwam consisting of a pole frame- work covered with birch bark and cattail matting. Also in use was the peaked or ridgepole lodge, which was covered with bark; instead of being dome-shaped, it had a long ridgepole with flat sides that sloped to the ground. A simple bark-covered house was used as a temporary structure in sugar camps. A fourth type of structure, the widely dis- tributed tipi. consisted of a conical framework of poles with a covering of birch bark or cloth. The Simms collection contains a model tipi in rather poor condition, 80 cm high and approxi- mately 52 cm in diameter, consisting of nme spruce poles, only one of which has a short crotch at the upper end. The end of a single pole is fitted into this crotch and the remaining poles are laid against them and tied with string. The upper part of the pole framework is covered with three "birch-bark rolls" (see Densmore. 1928. pp. 389-390), each consisting of two rectangular strips sewn together in a single running stitch with basswood fiber. Split cedar sticks are sewn across the ends to prevent tearing. The lower part of the tipi is covered with a mat of bulrushes consisting of long strips of the material placed vertically, folded over at the lop, and held together by lengths of cord passed hor- izontally through the bulrushes in four places (see Densmore, 1929, pp. 154-155. pi. 60a). The sec- ond length of cord passes over the poles to hold the mat in place. A single broad strip of curved cedar with the ends lap-spliced is tied to the poles around the base to provide some rigidity to the model. A piece of patterned cotton cloth with a cedar stick, originally tied horizontally at the bot- tom, hangs over the entrance and serves as a door (fig. 2). Subsistence According to Densmore (1929, pp. 124-125), fishing was an important subsistence activity that continued almost throughout the entire year. The use of nets was the general method of taking fish. In aboriginal and early historic times, nets or seines were made of nettle-stalk twine, but manufactured twine was available to the Chippewa early in the contact period (Densmore. 1929, p. 154). The collection contains a badly tangled section oi Vwmt fishnet which is described in the catalog as a "model," along with a wood shuttle which carried the twine (fig. 10a). There is also a square piece of smooth wood around which the twine was passed before making the knot, and this served as a mesh gauge [fig. 10b). The shuttle is flat, pointed at one end, slightly concave at the other, and made of birchwood. A portion of the center has been removed to leave a narrow spike of wood extend- ing from near the center of the needle almost to the tip. Both the shuttle and the gauge are de- scribed as models. The forms may be European introductions. Similar full-sized implements are illustrated by Densmore (1929, pi. 59b). The Simms collection contains four self bows. Densmore (1929, pp. 146-147) described bows of finished workmanship as being made of hickory or ash, the former being preferred for hunting large animals and for war. The length of a bow varied with the stature of the owner, a typical bow being about 48 inches (122 cm) long. Two of those in the collection are approximately this length, the other two being shorter. The longest bow is approximately 127 cm in length. Both the back and the front of the stave are flat and 3.5 cm wide at the center. The horn at the upper end is notched in a half diamond pattern, while there are paired V-shaped notches at the lower horn. Both edges of the stave are decorated with incised, recessed triangles at either end; the triangles were apparently painted alter- nately red and purple, but the colors are badly faded. The upper horn is slotted and, according to the catalog, contained an iron lance point when purchased, but it is now missing. The point was held in place with sinew lashing, into which short red, purple, and white feathers are inserted. Ac- cording to the catalog, the lance point was for "thrusting." The string consists of two strands of twisted sinew (fig. 3b). According to Densmore (1929, p. 146), bows with "sides cut in scallops" were used when hunting squirrels, but this bow would appear to have been a weapon for war. The second bow is also 127 cm in length. Both the front and the back of the pine stave are flat, and the stave, which is undecorated, measures 4.5 cm at the grip. Paired V-shaped notches are cut near the end of each horn for attachment of the string, which consists of two twisted strands of VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION sinew. Accompanying this are four blunt arrinvs with pine shafts of the type used for birds or small game animals. The pro.ximal ends of the shafts are notched to receive the bowstring. The four arrows are fletched with small, whole jay feathers attached to the shaft at each end with sinew (fig. 4d-e). The third bow, 106 cm long, also has a stave that is flat on both sides. It is thinner than the previously described bows and the grip is some- what narrower than the limbs. A single side notch is cut at the end of each horn, and the bowstring is a double strand of twisted sinew. The bow is undecorated. Accompanying this weapon are 12 arrows. According to the catalog, six were painted with green pigment and six with yellow pigment, but only the green paint remains. All the arrows are notched 6 cm from the distal end and worked to a point. It seems likely that they were intended to have a bone or metal tip held in place over the notch. All the arrows are fletched with feathers split in half. The barbs have been removed from each end of the vane, exposing about 2 cm of the shaft or spine. Each arrow shaft is feathered with two vanes placed approximately 2 cm from the notched proximal end. Each vane is lashed with sinew parallel to the long axis of the shaft and is not spiraled. In general, the feathers are in very poor condition (fig. 4c). The stave of the fourth bow, approximately 92 cm long, is flat on the back and slightly rounded on the front. One side is crudely painted with green commercial paint. The grip, which is sinew- wrapped, is not noticeably thinner than the limbs. Paired V-shaped notches have been cut near the end of each horn for the attachment of a bowstring of two-strand, twisted sinew (fig. 3a). The end of one horn, above the notch, is carved to represent a human face, while at the other end a human foot is carved (fig. 5). Densmore makes no reference to bows decorated in this manner. There are eight arrows accompanying this bow, all of which have bone points inserted in slits in the distal end and lashed with sinew. These arrows are fletched in the same manner as those described with the pre- vious bow. except that there are three vanes. The shafts and points of four arrows are crudely paint- ed with commercial green paint (fig. 4b). According to Densmore ( 1 929, p. 147) and Coo- per (1936, p. 3), arrow points of bone were used for shooting deer and moose. A good arrow would travel about 500 feet (152 m), but was most ef- fective for deer hunting when loosed at a distance of about 50 feet (15 m). Wild rice was and continues to be important to the Southwestern Chippewa, and the Simms col- lection contains two ncc-lhrcshing sticks of wooc which are slender and taper to a point. There arc knobs at the proximal ends (fig. 4a). Sticks like these were used by men and women to beat the rice stalks they bent over the sides of a canoe so that the ripe kernels would fall into the vessel (Densmore, 1928, pi. 40c; 1929, p. 128). Transportation The only objects in the collection associated with transportation are two pairs ofsnowshocs. one pair identified in the catalog as having been used by women and the other by men. According to Dens- more (1929, pp. 148, 170), the frames of snow- shoes were usually made of ash, the wood being bent by placing it in hot water or holding it near a fire. The pair of woman's snowshoes has a one-piece frame with a pointed heel where the two ends are lashed with rawhide. The form of this pair of shoes is the so-called bent-toe type (Davidson, 1 93 7, pp. 88-93). There are two straight crossbars mortised into the frame. The netting between the crossbars consists of thick rawhide thongs. According to Densmore (1929, p. 148), horsehide was preferred for the netting in this area because it does not stretch or shrink when wet. The frame between the crossbars was wrapped with red wool cloth on each side prior to being laced. Netting in the toe and heel areas is made of twine. The harnesses are made of twisted two-strand rope (fig. 6). The second pair, said to have been used by men, has a two-piece frame with the pieces joined at the heel and toe and lashed with rawhide. This is the "Athabascan type" as described and illustrated by Davidson (1937, pp. 70-78, figs. 29-30). The two crossbars are straight with heavy rawhide webbing in between. The sides of the frame between the crossbars were wrapped with white cotton cloth before lacing. In the heel and toe areas the webbing is of heavy twine. The harnesses are made of strips of white cotton cloth (fig. 7). Household Equipment The collection contains two mortars and pestles. Both mortars are birch logs from which deep rect- angular sections have been hollowed out horizon- tally with an adz and crooked knife (fig. 8a-b). The FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY pestles, made of the same material, are round and enlarged toward the distal end. On one of them some bark remains at the distal end (fig. 8a). Ac- cording to the catalog, these implements were used for "grinding corn and medicine." Ladles and bowls were carved from burled por- tions of hardwood such as maple and birch, and are noted for their attractive grain (Densmore, 1929, p. 170). There are six wooden ladles oi vary- ing sizes in the collection (fig. 9), all of which have shovel-shaped, ovoid bowls and, with one excep- tion (fig. 9a), sharply upturned handles. Two ladles have suspension holes at the proximal end (fig. 9c, e), and one has notched decoration along both sides of the handle (fig. 90. All closely resemble the ladles or spoons illustrated by Densmore (1929, fig. 1 7b). None is small enough to have been used for eating, but probably served to dip broth and meat from a large container (Densmore, 1929, p. 41) or in granulating maple sugar (Densmore, 1928, pi. 34), The collection contains a pair of bone weaving needles which are flat and spatulate-shaped at the distal end, with a hole near the center (fig. lOd). Such needles were used for making rush and cattail mats for covering the wigwam or tipi. Similar needles are illustrated by Densmore (1929, pi. 9a [g]). The most common form of torch used by the Chippewa was a piece of tightly twisted birch bark. The collection contains a single example that is wrapped at the proximal end with split root (fig. lOg). Another type consists of a flat, oblong piece of birch bark inserted in the split end of a stick (fig. lOe). There are also six flat pieces of bark tied with split root to be used with this type of torch (fig. 100. Densmore (1929, pp. 149-150, pi. 56) described and illustrated similar torches which were used around camp and when traveling. The collection contains two bags, both made from the skin of moose heads. The smaller consists of two panels of skin, from which most of the hair has disappeared, sewn with sinew to a separate piece of softened hide with the hair removed. There is another piece of the same material at the neck, with slits for inserting ties (fig. 1 lb). The second bag, much larger and with the hair in good con- dition, is constructed in the same manner (fig. 1 la). Sewing throughout is with sinew. Simms collected bags of similar construction but made of buflalo hide among the Plains Cree, who used them for storing pemmican (VanStone, 1983, p. 16. figs. 22a, 23, 27). A cradle board, in which most of an infant's first year was spent (Ritzenthaler, 1981. p. 749). con- sisted of a cedar board with a curved piece of wood which served as a foot brace and a hoop at right angles at the other end to protect the head. This hoop was covered with a blanket in winter or with a thin cloth in summer. Small charms or articles for the child's amusement were hung from the hoop (Densmore. 1929. p. 49). Both the foot brace and the hoop are attached to the board with heavy twine. The ends of the hoop extend through the board and are joined by a crosspiece. This served to raise the head area when the board was placed on a flat surface. A narrow rod is fastened to one side of the cradle board and to this were attached the wrappers of buckskin or cloth which bound the baby to the board (fig. 12). The infant was placed on a bedding of sphagnum moss. Densmore (1929. pp. 48-49, pi. 22a-b) illustrated and de- scribed such a cradle board in some detail. As Densmore has noted (1929. p. 158). one of the most useful articles in a Chippewa family was the woven yam bag which served to contain a great variety of personal possessions. The earliest yarn bags were small, being about 23 cm square, but later they were larger and replaced bags made of cedar bark. Lyford (1943. p. 81) believed that the first yarn bags were probably made of buffalo hair, but commerical yams and woolen goods made their appearance during the 1 7th century and were substituted for native products. The earliest ma- terial used was cord, made by raveling blankets and cast-off" trade clothing which was respun and redyed so that it could be used as the weft thread in weaving bags. Local fibers such as nettle and basswood continued to be used as the warp (Dens- more. 1929. p. 158; Lyford, 1943, pi. 81; White- ford. 1977, p. 40). Densmore (1929, pi. 66) and Whiteford (1977, figs. 1 D. 5) illustrated bags made of a raveled blanket with fiber warp. The fine yam that was obtained from the traders was twisted into coarse yarn by means of a distaff"(Densmore, 1929, p. 154, pi, 9a [d]). The fine yam was passed over a nail above the head of the worker and then wound on the distaff Native dyes were first used but were later replaced by commercial dyes. Yam bags were woven on a frame which con- sisted of two smooth sticks approximately 90 cm in length and 3 cm in diameter. These were placed upright in the ground at a distance slightly wider than the width of the bag (Lyford. 1943. pi. 40). The weaving method is described in detail by Ly- ford (1943, pp. 81-83). A loop of heavy cord to which the necessary VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION number of warps of the desired lengths were previously attached was then stretched around the top of the rods. Care was taken to space the warp threads evenly as they were attached to the cord. The warps were left to hang unattached at the bottom, no tension being applied in the weaving. The weaver began her work just below the cord at what was to be eventually the bottom of the bag, and worked downward. She twmed a pair of variously colored wefts around each warp, one at a time, or around two if the warp thread was very thin, all the way around the bag, placing each round close below the previous one. . . . Several varieties of twin- ing were used. When the warp threads had been covered for almost their entire length, and the bag was the required size, it was removed from the supporting rods and the edge which was uppermost was sewed to- gether in a seam to form the bottom of the bag. The loose ends of the warp were folded over and wrapped to form a corded edge at the top of the bag. Below the cord a space of open work was left, through which a cord was laced in and out to close the bag when it was filled. Densmore ( 1 929, pi. 67) illustrated such a weaving frame. The Simms collection originally contained 23 woven bags that have been identified as containers for personal possessions, but one bag is missing. Two small bags are identified in the catalog as having contained medicine and will be described in the section on objects related to religion. The 22 bags described here range in size from the largest, approximately 50 cm square, to the smallest, which is 9 cm square. Bags of the largest size are the most common and exhibit the char- acteristic three broad bands of geometric decora- tion with two minor bands between them (Lyford, 1943, p. 85, pi. 45; Whiteford, 1977, fig. lA-D). There is also an intermediate size with two major bands of decoration. Of the smaller bags, some have two bands and others three. Geometric de- signs include zigzags, rectangles, elongated hexa- gons, various combinations of angles, and what appear to be stylized flowers. According to Lyford (1943, p. 83) and Densmore (1929, p. 158), con- ventionalized figures of animals as well as figures of men were characteristic of the old nettle fiber bags and the earliest woven bags. Unfortunately, the only bag described in the catalog as depicting a human figure is the one that is missing from the collection. Many of the bags in the Simms collec- tion show considerable signs of wear. Not all have finished tops as described by Lyford but all bottom seams are sewn with twine. According to Lyford (1943, p. 81), yarn bags have been made for sale in recent times, especially by the Lac du Flambeau Indians in Wisconsin. It is possible that some of the bags in the Simms collection were made for that purpose, and this ready availability might account for the large num- ber collected. However, the fact that so many show obvious signs of use and repair would seem to indicate that most if not all these bags were in use at the time they were collected. A variety of sizes and decorative motifs are illustrated (figs. 13-19). Clothing The only item of clothing in the Simms collec- tion is a hrei'chcloth made from two rectangular pieces cut from blue wool blankets and sewn to- gether with heavy thread. This garment measures 127 cm by 46 cm. The breechcloth was attached to the body with a length of buckskin cord. Across I one end, presumably the end that hangs down in \ front, is sewn a woven rectangular beaded band consisting of a geometric pattern of blue and white i seed beads with a border of red and white pony J beads, also in a geometric pattern. Fine linen or ' silk thread has been used for the warp and weft. This separate beaded band is attached to the wool cloth with heavy black thread (fig. 20a). Beaded bands like this one were woven on a simple rect- angular wood frame (Lyford, 1943, pp 123-P5 pi. 72). Personal Adornment The Simms collection contains two necklaces. The first is a braided band of multi-strand buck- skin from which hang short single strands of the same material ornamented with blue, black, trans- lucent pink, and clear rectangular beads with spht deer hooves at the ends (fig. 2 Id). The second necklace is very similar except that the buckskin band is a single folded strip. Most of the split deer hooves are attached to short strips of buckskin, but every fourth strip is also strung with rectan- gular translucent blue and yellow beads (fig. 21e). A necklace of bear claws is missing from the col- lection. FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY A pair of leg bands, described in the catalog as "old style." are made of narrow strips of skunk skin. They were tied around the legs with rect- angular strips of red. yellow, and brown ribbon (fig. 22b). A beaded to/Za/- consists of a rectangular beaded band sewn on a heavy rectangular strip of cotton drilling. The beaded design consists of a white background with a stylized floral design in dark blue, light blue, pink, translucent pink, yellow, and green seed beads. There is a border of blue pony beads. At one end of the drilling strip is a rein- forced button hole, at the other end a metal button (fig. 280- According to the catalog, this collar was "worn by Chief Flat Mouth," who is shown in a photograph of a Leech Lake band delegation to Washmgton in 1899 (Ritzenthaler, 1981, fig. 7). His father, also known as Flat Mouth, was 78 in 1852 when he visited William W. Warren while Warren was compiling the History of the Ojihways (Warren, 1885, pp. 17, 19). Objects Associated with Religion As Ritzenthaler has noted (1981. p. 754). reli- gion permeated every aspect of Chippewa daily life and was highly personal. The supernatural world contained a great many spirits, both benign and malevolent, but of particular concern to the individual were his guardian spirits acquired as the result of vision quests. Dreams were also im- portant and were carefully considered for their possible significance. The spirits were placated and manipulated through offerings of tobacco and food or through the mediation of shamans. Tobacco was extremely important in religious life and was regarded as virtually a sacred substance. The smoking of to- bacco opened all religious and ceremonial occa- sions, and accompanied an invitation to a feast. Warriors accepted an invitation to join a war party by smoking a pipe that was offered to them (Ritz- enthaler, 1981, p. 754). The Simms collection contains two complete pipes and a pipe bowl. The first complete pipe has an undecorated bowl of black pipestone which, according to Densmore (1929, p. 143), was ob- tained from deposits in central Wisconsin. The long wood stem has three spiral twists, near the center, decorated with a single mcised line. Above the spirals, toward the proximal end, are a series of incised triangles and lines. All these incisions are filled with red pigment. Extending along the upper surface of the stem is a row of unpainted incised triangles. The stem, which is a solid piece, has not been drilled and the pipe is thus not ca- pable of being smoked (fig. 22a). Densmore ( 1 929. p. 144) noted that ceremonial pipes frequently had stems in excess of 3 feet as this one does. Cooper (1936, p. 15) noted that catliniie pipes were still in use at Rainy Lake in 1928. The second pipe is small, with a dark stone bowl and a short wood stem; it shows signs of consid- erable use (fig. 21b). According to Densmore (1 929, p. 144, pi. 52a), this style of pipe was smoked by women. The pipe bowl is made from a very heavy, fine grained stone and shows signs of use (fig. 21c). According to the catalog, there was a stem with this pipe but it is now missing. In aboriginal times the Chippewa smoked the dried roots of plants and two types of willow bark. When plug tobacco was first available, it was dif- ficult to obtain and was mixed with powdered bark. Densmore (1929, pp. 144-145. pi. 52c-d) noted that the tobacco was cut in a small wooden bowl and then mixed and offered in an oblong tray if a number of people were smoking. The collection contains two wood tobacco trays. The first is rectangular in shape with a shallow oval excavation. Around the edges is incised dec- oration of straight lines and a zigzag pattern filled with red pigment. There are an incised gun and a pipe in diagonally opposite corners and four-leaf floral designs in the remaining comers. These dec- orative elements are filled with green pigment (fig. 2 1 a). According to the catalog, this tray was owned by Flat Mouth. The second tray, which is described in the cat- alog as "very old," is a hollowed-out piece of wood carved in the shape of a beaver (fig. 20b). It shows signs of considerable use. A widespread religious rite in the Great Lakes region was the Midewiwin or Medicine Dance, an important ceremony of the Midewiwin (or Mide) Society, a curative society to which membership was obtained through instruction, the payment of fees, and formal initiation. The ritual and instruc- tional aspects of the Midewiwin were conducted by Mide priests. The rite has been described in some detail for the Minnesota and Wisconsin Chippewa by Hoffman (1891), Densmore (1929, pp. 86-96), Ritzenthaler (1953. pp. 182-184; 1981, pp. 754-755). Landes (1968. pt. II), and Blessing (1977. pt. II). Each member of the Midewiwin Society owned a special bag made of an animal or bird skin, which VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION was his most valued possession and was usually buried with him; the bag contained medicinal herbs and charms. Each degree of the society had its special bag which designated the degree attained by the owner (Densmore, 1929. pp. 93-94). In describing the ceremony on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation in Wisconsin in the 1940s, Ritzenthaler (1 98 1 . pp. 754-755) identified mink, otter, muskrat. or beaver bags as being associated with the first degree: owl or hawk with the second degree; snake, fox, or wild cat claw with the third; and bear paw or bear cub with the fourth degree. Blessing (1963, pp. 109-110) listed some of the same animal species for the lower degrees of the Midewiwin among the Minnesota Chippewa and further noted that mythical spirit animals were associated with the fifth to eighth degrees. Writing in the early 1 850s, Warren ( 1 885. p. 68) noted that the Chippewa's medicine bag contains all which he holds most sacred; it is preserved with great care, and seldom ever allowed a place in the common wigwam, but is generally left hanging in the open air on a tree, where even an ignorant child dare not touch it. The contents are never displayed without much ceremony. The Simms collection origmally contained 13 Mide hags, but two were sold to a private collector in 1949. Each of the 1 1 bags currently in the col- lection is different and will be described individ- ually. There are two bags made of the whole skin of otters. Both skins are slit down the underside be- tween the front paws. The first has a pair of feath- ers passed through the nose, and the underside of the tail is ornamented with a strip of flannel edged with brown cotton cloth. Rectangular strips of red flannel are attached to the hind legs. There is a single line zigzag pattern of white beads on each piece of flannel (fig. 23b). The second otter bag has red dyed downy feath- ers passed through the nose. The legs are wrapped with rawhide and flattened porcupine quills dyed yellow and orange. Paired strips of quill-wrapped rawhide ending in metal dangles and fringes of red yarn hang from three legs. The underside of the tail is lined with blue cotton cloth and edged and decorated with rows of white beads (fig. 23a). Four bags are made of whole mink skins, have slits on the underside, and are relatively undecor- ated. One bag is completely without ornamenta- tion; a second has downy feathers dyed red and purple passing through the nose (fig. 24c). The underside of the tail of the third bag is lined with a rectangular piece of blue cotton cloth orna- mented with blue and white beads (fig. 24b). Ac- cording to the catalog, the head of this bag contains a small bundle of "medicine"; no attempt was made to remove this. The legs of the fourth bag are wrapped with blue, yellow, and translucent pink beads (fig. 24a). The catalog notes that the head contains a shell wrapped in cotton; this has not been removed. The two bags of whole weasel skins are unde- corated and have slits on the underside between the front paws (fig. 25a). According to the catalog, in the head of one of these bags is a "sacred bun- dle" containing "two megis shells and two glass beads." The body contains a "package of herbs for medicine." According to Densmore (1929, p. 93). the shells "were 'shot into the candidate' and into members of the society at a ceremony of ini- tiation." The catalog describes the second weasel skin bag as containing "a small shell wrapped in cotton cloth" (fig. 25d). Megis (Cypraea moneta) IS native only to tropical waters, but its use as currency or for ornamentation has been almost worldwide. These shells were probably available to the Chippewa eariy in the 19th century. Ac- cording to Dewdney (1975, p. 71), the megis sig- nified initiation into an unspecified degree of the Midewiwin. A single bag made from a whole skunk skin is slit on the underside between the front paws, and at least part of the inside is lined with cloth sewn to the skin with string. In the head is a smafl cloth sack which, according to the catalog, contains "medicine." This bag is in very poor condition (fig. 25c). An undecorated bag made from a whole squirrel skin is slit on the underside in the usual manner. Inside is an oval piece of cedar bark on which is incised a circular design with radiating lines and two beavers (fig. 25b). According to the catalog, the bag also contains "three small bags of medi- cine." The last of these bags made from whole skins is that of a black bear cub. The slit on the underside is lined with patterned cotton cloth. Rectangular metal plates are attached to each of the hind legs, and strips of rawhide, to which are attached metal dangles, hang from holes in these plates. The lower part of each leg is wrapped with a narrow strip of red flannel (fig. 26b). According to the catalog, the FIELDIANA; ANTHROPOLOGY bag contains "red paint for face and medicinal herbs." Blessing (1963. pp. 109-110) noted that the black bear, frequently depicted on birch bark records, was a powerful and active guardian spirit who attended the candidates throughout Mide rit- uals. Although a cub skin or bear paw bag was specifically associated with fourth degree Mide members, a candidate was said to spiritually as- sume the form of a bear as he progressed through all degrees of the Mide Lodge. In addition to the whole skin bagsjust described, there are four small containers described in the catalog as medicine pouches or bags. One of these is now missing from the collection. Of the re- maining three, one is a square pouch of buckskin made of a single piece sewn up the sides with string. The flap is a separate piece, on the front of which is a floral design in blue, green, pink. grey. white, translucent red, and yellow pony beads. This design, which is spot-stitched and thread-sewn, is not worked on a separate piece but sewn directly to the flap. On the back of the pouch is a loop of buckskin for attachment to a belt (fig. 27b). .Ac- cording to Lyford ( 1 943. p. 123), translucent beads were first used by the Chippewa in the 1860s. A small bag of black velvet was associated with a medicine bag of otter skin which is now missing from the collection. The bag is made of two pieces sewn together with thread. A narrow separate piece is folded and sewn around the opening. On the front of this small bag is an embroidered floral design in yellow, green, pink. red. blue, translucent yellow, and translucent green seed beads. Around the seam are loops of translucent yellow beads (fig. 27e). A small, crudely made cloth bag with flap is made of black and red cotton cloth sewn with thread. On the front is an embroidered floral de- sign in yellow, red, blue, and translucent yellow seed beads. Inside are two small bundles of "med- icine" wrapped in rawhide, each covered with a rectangular piece of birch bark on the inside of which are incised crude human figures. The bag also contains a small piece of root (fig. 270- Two small woven yam bags are also identified in the catalog as having contained medicine. In method of construction and design, these resemble the larger yam bags pre\ iously described (fig. 27a.c). A small rectangular wooden box has a sliding lid that is badly warped and fits poorly (fig. 10c). Inside are three paper packages which, according to the catalog, contain medicinal herbs. Shamanism was of considerable importance to the Chippewa, and shamans were feared and re- spected for their supernatural powers. Of the three classes of shamans described by Ritzenthaler (1981, p. 757), the "sucking doctor," who was also a Mide priest, was exclusively a curer. A characteristic feature of the treatment involved the swallowing and regurgitation of small bone tubes, which were then placed against the body of the patient so that the illness could be blown or sucked out (Dens- more, 1910, p. 120, fig. 8, pi. 10; 1928, pi. 46g; 1929. pp. 44-46). The Simms collection contains four hollow bone tubes which the catalog indicates were used for this purpose (fig. 27d). The collection contains three objects which are simply described in the catalog as having been used in the Midewiwin. The first is a so-called hawk fetish, which is actually the skin, head, and feet of a great homed owl sewn onto a strip of heavy wool. There is a loop of string around the neck. A "turtle fetish" is the desiccated body of a small snapping turtle. It does not appear to have been altered in any way to serve as a fetish. A complete red-throated loon skin contains a small bellows whistle of wood and rawhide in the body cavity (fig. 26a). It is not possible to determine how these objects were used in connection with the Midewiwin. Densmore (1929. pp. 107-111) noted that the Chippewa relied heavily on the use of charms, but the majority of those she described are herbal. There are two sets of four pegs which are de- scribed in the catalog as having been used in the Midewiwin. It seems likely that they were used in the construction of a sweat lodge, a small conical tent in which steam was created by throwing water on hot rocks. Steam baths were taken for individ- ual therapy and for ceremonial purification at the Midewiwin rites (Densmore, 1929, pp. 95-96; Ritzenthaler, 1981, pp. 748-749). The pegs in the larger set have a knob and groove at the proximal end and taper to a point (fig. 28e). The pegs in the smaller set have knobs at the proximal end and are narrower for about half their length before ta- pering to a point (fig. 28d). Three crudely car\ed wooden birds, one painted red which was in a yam bag now missing from the collection, are described in the catalog as being used in the Midewiwin (fig. 28a-c). Densmore (1929. p. 76, pi. 29b) described and illustrated carved birds on posts aboNe the graves of Cana- dian Ojibwa. According to her interpretation, a Midewiwin bark record indicated that a carved VANSTONE; SIMMS COLLECTION hawk on a post was associated with the second degree and a carved owl with the third. These posts, provided by the candidate for initiation, were eventually placed on the graves of members of the society who had taken these degrees. Serving an important ritualistic function in the Midewiwin and in the wider context of Chippewa shamanism were birch bark records or cylinders. The bark to be used for these records was removed from the white birch (Betula papyrifera) in late spring, the time of the year when the bark was easily removed from the trunk. Trees of 6 to 8 inches in diameter provided the most desirable thickness of bark, which could easily be rolled up. Several rectangular sections were sewn together with split spruce root or bast cord to obtain the desired length. For stability and to prevent split- ting as the bark dried, these sections were framed at each end with cedar sticks approximately 0.5 inch in diameter which were split lengthwise and attached with basswood or spruce root cord. Smaller records were usually oval in shape and consisted of a single bark panel. They rarely ex- ceeded 8 inches (20 cm) in length. Larger records could measure up to 20 inches (51 cm) in width and 9 feet (3 m) in length. Although birch bark records in museum collections are frequently stored flat, they were stored by their Indian owners in tightly rolled cylinders. The inner, or cambium, surface of a bark record was inscribed with pictorial representations which ranged in style from representational, through symbolic, to abstract images, and in size from large- scale to miniature images. Some records were in- scribed on the outer, or paper, side as well. The inscribing of a record was accomplished with a pointed bone tool or, in more recent times, a nail set in a wooden handle. Most records are not col- ored, but a few have red pigment rubbed in the incisions (Blessing, 1963, p. 106). The most important birch bark records were those which described the origin, history, and rit- uals of the Midewiwin. The records served as mne- monic aids, both for the instruction of new mem- bers in the various degrees of the Medicine Lodge by Mide priests and to record oral traditions and correct ceremonial procedures. The extent to which ideographic symbols on the records could be understood by the uninitiated depended on the artistic abilities of the craftsman who made the incisions. According to Blessing (1963, p. 107), the majority of records were inscribed in a well- defined manner, but a few crudely incised records made even representational characters difficult to interpret. There were no set rules for the number of de- grees that a record could contain or the extent to which it was inscribed. This was a matter of con- venience for the priest who used it. According to Blessing (1963, pp. 107-108), the most common number of degrees found on records was four; the highest was eight. Priests, who were capable of instructing the higher degrees, were believed to possess exceptional memories and could some- times remember every phase of the requisite rit- uals without using the records as a reminder. The records used by these priests were usually not as detailed as were those used by men who were less capable of remembering details and might make mistakes. Instructors with remarkable memories were considered to be holy men and usually spent much time contemplating their records. A number of investigators have attempted to classify the birch bark records according to their specific functions within the complex Midewiwin ceremonial cycle. Although objections have been raised to all these attempts. Blessing's (1963, pp. 110-111) classification at least has the advantage of simplicity. According to this author, there were three types of records: 1) The "instructional" record was used in pre- paring a candidate for the initiation ceremony. This type of record contained a number of rect- angular figures representing the Medicine Lodge but was otherwise incised with a minimum of characters to avoid confusing the candidate. 2) The "ritual" record was well illustrated and served as a reference for priests who conducted the Grand Medicine ceremonies. 3) The "master" record, in addition to its reg- ular instructive function, served as an historical document. It was profusely illustrated and con- tained four to eight of the degrees which might be attained by members of the Medicine Lodge. Equally important as these instructional records were the song records which recorded the personal songs "owned" by individual Mide members. These songs, derived from Chippewa mythology or from a personal vision quest, were both sacred and profane. The contents of a song record could be interpreted only by the composer or the owner (Dewdney, 1975, p. 5). Song records were usually short, consisting of a single panel of bark, and were curved at the ends to minimize the tendency of 10 HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY the bark to split as it dries. They did not have end sticks, although, as Dewdney (1975, p. 21) em- phasized, the absence of end sticks is not a reliable way of telling a song record from an instruction record. A number of investigators have pointed out that the individual records in museum or private col- lections may not be of great age. Like the illumi- nated manuscripts of medie\ al Europe, the bark records were copied when worn out or damaged, or when additional copies were required. It is pos- sible, therefore, that the contents of a particular record could be very old, perhaps several hundred years old. Although reliable dates for most records generally cannot be determined, a radiocarbon date of 390 ± 70 B.p. (A.D. 1560) was obtained for a record fragment found in an archaeological con- text in Quetico Provincial Park. Ontario (Kidd, 1965, pp. 480-483; 1981, pp. 41-43). Dewdney ( 1 975. p. 18) has pointed out that there are no descriptions in the literature of how a copy was made from a worn-out record. He has noted that the nature of the bark and the recopying of records affected the style of the pictography. Re- copying encouraged abstraction, which could either lead to the disappearance of certain symbols or to their elaboration into new forms. The Simms collection originally contained 1 1 birch hark records, one of which could not be lo- cated for this study. Data in the catalog and acces- sion records do not include interpretation of these records. Interpretations of the bark records in oth- er museum and private collections have been at- tempted by Hoffman (1891). Densmore (1929). Blessing (1963). and Dewdney (1975). but many scholars consider their efforts to be fragmentary and unreliable in certain respects. Four of the records in the collection are multi- paneled and thus presumably either "instruction- al" or "master" records according to Blessing's (1963) classification. They will be described in- dividually. 84372— This record consists of four panels, three of equal length and a shorter panel at one end. The total length is 180 cm, the width 36 cm. The overlapping panels are sewn in a running stitch with split spruce root and finished off at the edges with an anchor stitch. At each end the panels are framed with cedar sticks split lengthwise and at- tached with basswood cord. Splits in the bark at several places on the record have been repaired with basswood cord. This record is inscribed on both sides, but the inscriptions on the outer, or paper, side are more detailed. The inscriptions include the following "natural" symbols defined by Blessing (1963, pp. 96-97); bear, beaver, bear tracks, and represen- tations of Mide priests. Other animals, including snakes, are also represented. "Invented" symbols which had to be identified for the uninitiated (Blessing, 1963, pp. 98-99) include the path of life followed by Mide members as well as detours in the path of life (figs. 29-30). Inscriptions on the inner, or cambium, side are much less detailed and include representations of Mide priests and bear tracks. The paper side of this record is illus- trated by Dewdney (1975, fig. 83). He identified some of the symbolism as signifying the owner's tenure of office as grand shaman and his local med- ical practice as a visionary shaman. 84415 — Three panels of equal length comprise this record, which is 191 cm long and 30.5 cm wide. The overlapping panels are sewn in double running stitch with split spruce root and the edges are framed with split cedar sticks. The record has been repaired in several places and is badly dam- aged at one end. It has been inscribed on the cam- bium side only; the inscriptions include represen- tations of Mide priests, presumably the path of life followed by Mide members, and a variety of what appear to be symbolic and abstract figures. The incisions and surrounding areas are painted with red pigment (fig. 31). 84458— This record consists of three panels of unequal length; the total length is 120 cm, the width 28.5 cm. Overlapping panels are sewn in a running stitch with split spruce root and finished off at the edges with an anchor stitch. There are split cedar end sticks at each end. Repairs have been made with basswood cord and the edges of two panels reinforced with stitching of the same material. The inscriptions on this record are on the paper side only. Of the records which Blessing e,\amined, none had inscriptions on the paper side only (Blessing, 1963, p. 106). The inscriptions include representations of Mide priests, a number of un- identified animals, the path of life, and possibly an "underground lion," an "invented" symbol which was a powerful guardian spirit characteristic of the higher degrees (fig. 32) and was believed to represent grave danger to a Mide member who neglected the teachings of the Mide Lodge (Bless- ing. 1963, pp. 98-99). 84383— This record is in the best condition of any in the collection. It is 126 cm long and 27 cm VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 11 ■STWaS fU\- CCB3SSS CE is™e are scssr f^iv sccss sraoiKC liD " piass "ilk snacff rjrc iisssiS- 1 rssissi OQL 'se psner saae -ST ITS is 2 ^TT-.TiilT V- - - CEir gTiT. Tie ZDS~30r.T ~rebo«- Z'3 - - ^ ri rade. HEKSEE 35)!. S.£Mil ii_^, A¥- 2l LEsnas _■«- .j^-\r- VL 3, 1929, PPL -:-2t biscov. : r:e of taonsd - ' - - " : t~ sinch Tbc SEHSBS oi" ife- Maos rsEreseEn: lOE. liKlSSaMvl)2SS»OOG- Ii s 12 FIEUXAMA: ANTHROPOIXKJi' I fci.; ; ' - ' - : , . ■ ■ . . .:■.:. vTTfr St- :■; ..-■:;,• > :■; aE liiie djnsali ffrm^i ((fill. -- - '- 1 " ■ ; " • - " : " '" ;.- ECU CEBBSDroEaiiicai 130: tt'i ' " - ' ; " - " 1 ia efiec- ar. : ■.-.-. . . - : pannjetr Srr: - "- -. - ;•_ - %.436i)l L ^c . - " - - :rdks,. one at'w&icfi: cEe ^ - - , - " " ; ' - , - " ■ ; -e.. wwifc ai Ixa," r ; "■;- ;•:■: :'._;.; . __- -nrp aurof Dense: ; " : ■ : - . 5. Sa. I - t? ?^)^ F' ; - 7 _ - _ (, ];^2S-_ pEK. n E5-E Eg_ pL -Wg tmCKf tfiat fofr"^? SOSaie was lecv rfrflfrnTfr ffif-w^trr I IJZIf. PEL. L-fti— Mil)) (fencirfftEti S ■*iiniTM' gsme pt^efi 65 ISarrra T&e cMCeclijQni oanimiis i raundL saiEBcnJr-finQt- mvnssi woecfacL bowt scaf 14- snail Ifgnrea.. T&e raT!jr>rOT ncnEs rfrar w&SI rtriy ctttti*- was cnileoiBtL Tifit? pfoigTiTg 'BFIT rmmmqpKfi ctF j trrrnJT FirTwtt rrrTg truTi- 'fflrfflT (ffflff,. -•HTri' a. nnxnanire eflr wnn-rarr cmice. ;?Trrf WTgw.TrrT TTri^ ftrftfrTrnna^l rTrprt-s^ rrrrfnifi^ rfrn';^ ininiiHiirp- irgrmiPt *ii^*»ailX_ -Trrrf mr rflc -JjJT t&E pisesss are of SHUe ^SE^C rftip' Prrrfajt rfmg;;fmf one bEBOe camie (')% 4^b)1. Ittt Jrii-fiTTrTn- in Tfrro rnrrgrfpTt- gyrrrp. tfre caDJBCXDGai comiEnis t&ree 'wacder 'acwEs ffinr die ^ane ^^rrm^ Jyi are s^mmancaL. Eaumi. and: &Fse Sac bcniniiia- Qne ^lerv AaQJDw Imiwl was. accanfing tn t&e caaljag. fiannjEEfe pant: afi gwrup but sufisaEjuHiEfc n^ssE as a tEfrffmr- &crwL Knrfp' nrtrrif^ are Tisfife gul tfe rn«giTt» ' fig.. Jgfe):. T&e jsiA gzmur was ptoef wrdr ifnur wcaaiasa: scicks wtnfc rnarin^a Emmiesi cnn oiie mfr .Tmf a iimitiFtpt- of igmuilns- TT^e [7^;^^»e^'^^ were ^SHBsf anromf a Manfeec *j_ii wnf rm- tfte scaanict t&e rmfr- v:diial ciiLYTiig; fedGi tiie fijiir idi±3 or ins r^^ and. drapged rrrtfrrr art cfte biaaftEC Ef die ^tm-it'^ tejl n^iE aifc op (ar^ Gifdjair ME wtrang sife uns. tfle pfctyer ~'::" t — r~::i "" — : : ' :~" rr ami scBitfiar Nil il .L : -.' :":... - _. . ; . r TrprTims^ .^titt- E)iiiM-l inns-rifmi^i-Ttrrrr .>ni7 v»/.n.tn^ lEg OTrtT atg score waa .. . : .: mcks wmdr were scack m tfie grouroi besiiir Off ^ii^ers { Densnnace- - 1 - 7- E E5)> Tfie coiTe-rntar camams a sc at'ZUl . - " r-^asBcfinrtfcBiHnignneamiw&iE&iareQiaS pewa^naes lOEfiHinL Lpp. Eypeare was -.:'»E QH^SSB) fa— nifl ; The ■> ; :•. - ■ , - ; .' of" iPTtf OHnnigtE tni a wmr (ifemciE- TTfe Miaffi iis maodfteii -ifur -ri; r:;::^ rr.f ir.f •fnat u^ecs m a peint. ■ . : "itss. or diidi 1 1^ - " -'.■-.-. .■!-..; — ;- iciBitfGiEdnriiiK VAlNSrOiNiE: SMMS CCMJLBCITKHN: o the assembling of warriors for a war party, dances were held even,' night prior to their departure. Raw Materials Hides of small animals were turned and stretched on a wood frame, then removed when dry and sold in this form to the trader. If a hide were to be used for a medicine bag, it was not turned and put on a frame but dried with the hair side out and stuffed with grass (Densmore, 1929, pp. 163- 164). The collection contains a muskrat drying frame with a skin in place (fig. 48a). Densmore (1929. p. 164, fig. 15) illustrated such a frame. The Simms collection contains a coil of split spruce root (fig. 47a) and two pieces of fungus used as tinder when making fires (fig. 47c). There is also a large quantity of colored rush for making mats. The manufacture of rush mats by the Minnesota Chippewa is described in detail by Peterson ( 1 963, pp. 233-250). III. Conclusion The primary purpose of this study has been to place on record a collection of Southwestern Chip- pewa material culture of known provenience ac- quired by Field Museum at a relatively early date. It is a collection assembled by a man who, al- though not a professionally trained anthropologist, nevertheless had considerable previous collecting experience and worked under the direction of George Dorsey, an acknowledged authority on American Indian cultures. It is difficult, however, to escape the conclusion that, for Simms, collect- ing at Leech Lake was an afterthought. His trip to Saskatchewan had, to some extent, been planned in advance, but he was not directed to stop in Minnesota until nearly ready to leave the Plains Cree country in late August of 1903. The fact that Simms apparently had no communication with Dorsey during this phase of his fieldwork indicates the ad hoc nature of the enterprise. Nothing is known of Simms's collecting meth- odology at Leech Lake, but his correspondence with Dorsey while he was in Saskatchewan pro- vides a picture, admittedly incomplete, of the col- lecting rationale and methodology at Field Mu- seum during the early years of this century. Dorsey believed in concentrating money and energy in selected locations, chosen to fill the gaps in the museum's original collections from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Field Museum collectors were continually urged to "clean up" in the areas where they were sent. Although some- what less concerned with the research aspects of fieldwork, Dorsey nevertheless insisted on docu- mentation, an aspect of the work in which Simms was less successful in Saskatchewan and Minne- sota than he had been on his earlier field trips to the Crow and Cheyenne reservations (Rabineau, 1981. pp. 32, 34; VanStone, 1983, pp. 2-6). In Saskatchewan, Simms made a conscious ef- fort to avoid what he referred to as "Hudson's Bay things," thus hoping to obtain only "traditional" artifacts. Since, in 1903, this may have been dif- ficult among both the Plains Cree and the Leech Lake Chippewa, it is possible that some of the objects described in this study were not in actual use at the time the collection was made but were kept as heirlooms by Indian families who were doubtless persuaded to part with them for much- needed cash. It is fortunate indeed that Simms was at Leech Lake early enough to obtain items from the recent past that might soon have disappeared or been dispersed. Simms was directed to stop at Leech Lake be- cause Dorsey was following his own plan to have as many areas as possible represented in Field Mu- seum's collections. He was thus not particularly concerned about whether a collection from any one area was "complete" or perhaps even repre- sentative. Simms and other assistant curators in the Department of Anthropology during Dorsey's tenure were essentially collecting for exhibition purposes, and the objects they collected usually appeared in exhibition cases within a few months of the collector's return from the field. It IS certainly true that the Leech Lake collection fails to convey a comprehensive picture of South- western Chippewa material culture; most use cat- egories are very thinly represented. In Saskatch- ewan, Simms entered each object he purchased, together with the price paid, in a small notebook. Even this minimal record is absent for the Leech Lake material although, as noted in the Introduc- tion, he did make brief notes concerning material and use which were entered in the department's catalog. It is probable that he simply obtained whatever artifacts were available and offered to him. This being the probable method of Simms's col- lecting, it is all the more surprising to find objects associated with religion, specifically with the Mi- dcwiwin, well represented in the collection. There 14 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY are 1 1 Mide bags, each one of which was presum- ably a valued possession of its owner. Since the bags were usually buried with their owners, it seems likely that at the time they were collected they had lost their religious and supernatural significance. Of equal significance are 10 birch bark records, certainly one of the larger collections in American museums, yet Blessing (1963). in compiling a list of museums outside Minnesota holding birch bark records, makes no reference to Field Museum's collection. Since religion permeated every aspect of Chippewa daily life, it is likely that man> objects in the Simms collection described under other use categories were utilized in religious rituals and sha- manism. Religious objects similar to those collected by Simms were clearly in use in 1 903 and much later. Densmore (1929, pp. 74-75) described the Mi- dewiwin funeral and burial of the younger Flat Mouth at Leech Lake in 1907. indicating that he was still living at the time of Simms's visit. In the early 1 930s Landes worked with the Mide shaman Will Rogers (Pindigegizig). She illustrated his birch bark records (1968. pi. 7. figs. 1. 3) and observed their use. along with other Mide paraphernalia, during his performances. He is also listed among Densmore's informants (1929. p. 4). Half of the 12 practicing Midewiwin informants listed by Blessing ( 1 977. p. 1 1 5) were from Leech Lake, and he places this reservation at the center of his most intensive Minnesota Midewiwin "triangle" during the 1930-1960 era. If the bark records, Mide bags, and other reli- gious objects in the Simms collection were avail- able because of a decline of traditional Chippewa ritual, then it must have been a temporary decline. Although there is little information regarding the pattern of Christian conversion at Leech Lake, some residents, at the time of Simms's fieldwork. may have been in a stage of deliberate abandon- ment of Indian religious paraphernalia and re- garded the collector as a convenient means of dis- posing of these materials. Such over-rejection by new converts is not uncommon and. in fact, is known to have occurred among neighboring Chip- pewa bands during the first two decades of this century (Mary Black-Rogers, pers. comm.). Also significant is the relatively large number of objects associated with household activities, par- ticularly the woven yarn bags, of which there are 22 in the collection. These utilitarian household articles, no longer in use at the time of Densmore's fieldwork. may have been part of the cultural in- ventory at the time Simms visited the Leech Lake reservation. Most of them show considerable wear and were probably in the process of being replaced at that time by bags of cloth and canvas. Speculations such as these are especially pro- voked by the lack of documentation for the Simms collection. It seems likely that the collection from Leech Lake is representative of Southwestern Chippewa material culture at the beginning of the 20th century, but only comparison with other more extensive and better documented collections can resolve this question. Acknowledgments The photographs in this study are the work of Mr. Ron Testa and Mrs. Diane Alexander- White, Field Museum of Natural History. Figures 1 and 5 were drawn by Mrs. Linnea M. Labium. For a careful and critical reading of an early draft of this study, the author is grateful to Dr. Edward S. Rog- ers, Department of Ethnology, Royal Ontario Mu- seum. Several drafts of the manuscript were typed by Mrs. Loran H. Recchia and Ms. Hillary Lewis. Literature Cited Anonymous. 1937. Stephen Chapman Simms, March 26. 1863-Januar\' 28. 1937. Field Museum News, 8(3): 2. Barnouw. V. 1950. Acculturation and Personality among the Wisconsin Chippewa. American Anthro- pological Association Memoir. 72. . 1961. Chippewa social atomism. .American .Anthropologist, 63: 1006-1013. Blessing, F. K. 1963. Birch bark Mide scrolls from Minnesota. Minnesota Archaeologist, 29(3): 91-142. . 1977. The Ojibway Indians Observed. Min- nesota Archaeological Society, St. Paul. Cooper. J. M. 1936. Notes on the Ethnology of the Otchipwe of Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake. The Catholic University of America. Anthropological Se- ries. 3. Davidson, D. S. 1937. Snowshoes. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 6: 1-207. Densmore, F. 1910. Chippewa Music. I. Bureau of .American Ethnology Bulletin. 45. Washington, D.C. . 1913. Chippewa Music. II. Bureau of Ameri- can Ethnology Bulletin, 53. Washington. D.C. . 1928. Uses of plants by the Chippewa Indians, pp. 275-397. In 44th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for the Years 1926-1927. Wash- ington, D.C. VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 15 . 1929. Chippewa Customs. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin. 86. Washington, D.C. Dewdney, S. 1975. The Sacred Scrolls of the Southern Ojibway. University of Toronto Press. Toronto. Ont. HiCKERSON. H. 1962. The Southwestern Chippewa: .An Ethnohistorical Study. American Anthropological .As- sociation Memoir. 92. . 1970. The Chippewa and Their Neighbors: A Study in Ethnohistory. Holt. Rinehart and Winston. New York. HiLGER. M.I. 1951. Chippewa Child Life and Its Cul- tural Background. Bureau of American Ethnology Bul- letin. 146. Washington. D.C. Hoffman, W. J. 1891. The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa, pp. 143-300. In 7th .Annual Report of the Bureau of .American Ethnology for the Years 1885-1886. Washington. D.C. KiDD, K. E. 1965. Birch-bark scrolls in archaeological contexts. Amencan .Antiquit\. 30(4): 480—483. . 1981. .A radiocarbon date on a Midewiwin scroll from Bumtside Lake. Ontario. Ontario Archae- ology. 35: 41-43. Landes. R. 1937. Ojibwa Sociology. Columbia Uni- versity Contributions to .Anthropologv. 29. New York. (Reprinted 1969.) . 1938. The Ojibwa Woman. Columbia Uni- versity Contributions to Anthropology, 31 , New York. . 1968. Ojibwa Religion and the Midewiwin. University of Wisconsin Press. Madison. Lyford, C. A. 1943. The Crafts of the Ojibwa (Chip- pewa). U.S. Office of Indian Affairs. Indian Handi- crafts, 5. Washington. D.C. Peterson. K. D. 1963. Chippewa mat-weaving tech- niques. .Anthropological Papers, no. 67. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin. 186: 211-285. Wash- ington. D.C. Rabineau. p. 1981. North American anthropology at Field Museum of Natural History. American Indian Art Magazine. 6(4): 30-37, 79. Reagan. A. B. 1923. Rainy Lakes Indians. Wisconsin .Archaeologist, n.s., 2(3): 140-147. RiTZENTHALER. R. E. 1953. Chippewa preoccupation with health: Change in a traditional attitude resulting from modern health problems. Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee. 19(4): 175-257. . 1981. Southwestern Chippewa, pp. 743-759. /'( Trigger. B. G.. ed.. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 6. Northeast. Smithsonian Institution. Washington. D.C. VanStone.J. W. 1983. The Simms collection of Plains Cree material culture. Fieldiana: Anthropology, n.s., 6: 1-57. Warren. W.W. 1885. History of the Ojibways. Based upon Traditions and Oral Statements. Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, 5. Minnesota His- torical Society, St. Paul. (Reprint edition. 1984. His- tory of the Ojibway People. Minnesota Historical So- ciety Press. St. Paul.) Whiteford. A. H. 1977. Fiber bags of the Great Lakes Indians. Part II. American Indian Art Magazine, 3(1): 40-47, 90. 16 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY Appendix The Simms Collection of Southwestern Chippewa Material Culture (Accession 851) Following is a list of the Simms Southwestern Chippewa specimens described in this study. It is a virtually complete list of the collection as it appears in the catalog of the Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History, since only five specimens were not located. When museum catalog numbers are preceded by an asterisk (*), the specimens are nor illustrated. Identifications given here, with a few exceptions, are those provided by the collector. Dwellings 84412 woven bag 84463. 1-4 pegs 84396 model tipi *84413 woven bag 84420 carved wooden bird 84436 woven bag 84447 carved wooden bird Subsistence *84450 woven bag 84448 carved wooden bird 84353. 1 -3 model fishnet, shut- 84451 woven bag 84372 birch bark record tle, and gauge *84452 woven bag 84415 birch bark record 84424 bow ♦84453 woven bag 84458 birch bark record 84433, 1 -5 bow and four arrows *84454 woven bag 84383 birch bark record (bow not photo- *84455 woven bag 84449 birch bark record graphed) 84456 woven bag 84401, 1-3 birch bark records 84405. 1 -13 bow and 12 arrows 84414 birch bark record (bow not photo- Clothing *84398 birch bark record graphed) 84402 brccchcloth 84397. 1 -9 bow and eight ar- Musical Instruments rows Personal Ado ■nnient *84394 water drum 84385, 1 _-) rice-threshing sticks 84425 necklace 84411 water drum 84358 necklace 84434 water drum Transportation 84379 leg bands 84342. 1-2 tambourine drum 84366 woman's snowshoes 84362 beaded collar 84431, 1-2 tambourine drum 84367 man's snowshoes 84432 tambourine drum Objects Associated with Religion 84393 rattle Household Equipment 84400 pipe 84435 rattle 84364 mortar and pestle 84395 pipe 84350 rattle 84380 mortar and pestle 84346 pipe bowl *84429 rattle 84349 ladle 84363 tobacco tray 84438 rattle 84352 ladle 84444 tobacco tray 84392 rattle 84374 ladle 84351 medicine bag 84399 flute 84375 ladle 84417 medicine bag 84376 ladle *84423 medicine bag Games 84377 ladle 84426 medicine bag 84428, 1-15 plate game 84443, 1 _") weaving needles 84422 medicine bag *84373 bowl for plate game 84389 torch 84441 medicine bag *84384 bowl for plate game 84390. 1 _-) torch 84365 medicine bag 84430 bowl for plate game 84388 bundle of bark for 84442 medicine bag 84348. 1^ stick game torches 84421 medicine bag 84460. 1-21 counters for hand 84445 skin bag 84404 medicine bag game 84356 skin bag 84418 medicine bag 84378 cradle board 84357 medicine pouch H 'arfare 84347 woven bag 84403 medicine pouch 84345 war club 84359 woven bag 84440. 1-6 medicine bag 84360 woven bag 84354 medicine bag Raw Materials *84361 woven bag 84355 medicine bag 84344 muskrat skin on 84368 woven bag 84439 box containing me- drying frame *84369 woven bag dicinal herbs 84386 coil of split spruce 84370 woven bag 84382. 1-4 bone tubes root 84387 woven bag *84409 "hawk fetish" 84381. 1-2 fungus 84391 woven bag *844I9 "turtle fetish" *84457 colored rush for 84406 woven bag 84459 loon skin with bel- making mats *84407 woven bag lows whistle *84408 woven bag 84446, 1-4 pegs VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 17 Lac^ / c Vreux j\s qows\' ?^ ;^ s> Fig. 1 . Map of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The area above the dashed Hne indicates the region occupied by the Southwestern Chippewa in the mid- 19th century' (adapted from Hickerson, 1962, maps 1-2). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 19 Fig. 2. Model tipi (84396). 20 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY ■j-^w^ Fig. 3. a, bow (84397); b, bow (84424). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 21 I TO o o o 22 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY Fig. 5. Bow homs (84397). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 23 Fig. 6. Woman's snowshoes (84366). Fig. 7. Man's snowshoes (84367). 24 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY Fig. 8. a, mortar and pestle (84380); b, mortar and pestle (84364). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 25 Fig. 9. a. ladle (84352); b, ladle (84377); c, ladle (84349); d, ladle (84375); e, ladle (84376); f, ladle (84374). 26 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY Fig. 10. a, net shuttle (84353); b, mesh gauge (84353); c, box (84439); d, weaving needle (84443); e. torch (84390); f, bundle of bark for torches (84388); g, torch (84389). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 27 Fig. II. a, skin bag (84356); b, skin bag (84445). 28 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY I . I 1 1 . I i Fig. 12. Cradle board (84378). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 29 Fig. 13. Woven bag (84347). 30 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY uc»sEi»s»sa9sn»»»nsouw»-.w ~-*r«iwr«)--<«t--^«« =!5*^gi- '■'■-J'-^'-'S r-=.w6#*ifc Fig. 22. a, pipe (84400); b, leg bands (84379). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 39 Fig. 23. a, medicine bag (84417); b. medicine bag (84351) 40 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY ^ 41" Fig. 24. a, medicine bag (84441); b. medicine bag (84422); c, medicine bag (84426). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 41 I Fig. 25. a. medicine bag (84365); b, medicine bag (84404); c, medicine bag (84421); d, medicine bag (84442). 42 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY Fig. 26. a, loon skin with bellows whistle (84459); b, medicine bag (84418). VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 43 ' >''''> ,» '■- Fig. 27. a, medicine bag (84355); b, medicine pouch (84357); c, medicine bag (84354); d, bone tubes (84382); e, medicine pouch (bag?) (84403); t medicine bag (84440). 44 FIELDIAN-A: .ANTHROPOLOGY Fic.28. a. carvied wooden iNid (84447): h,caived wooden Ind (84448): c, carved «oodm pegs (S4463): e. wooden pegs (84446;^ t, beaded coDar (84362). \ AN STONE; SIMMS COLLECTION 45 •a u O 46 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY T3 O O d VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 47 ■a O 48 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY ■a O o VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 49 50 HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY ■a o o /ANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 51 o 52 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY •a o o VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 53 I o TI- TS o oa o IJU 54 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY o ■a o VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 55 ■o o J2 o •o t- o 56 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY VANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 57 # >. Fig. 42. a, water drum (84434); b, water drum (8441 1). 58 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY Fig. 43. a, tambourine drum and stick (84342); b, tambounne drum (84432). /ANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 59 A f I Fig. 44. Tambourine drum and stick (84431). 60 HELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY Fig. 45. a, rattle (84393); b, rattle (84435); c, rattle (84392); d, flute (84399); e. rattle (84438); f, rattle (84350). 'ANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 61 Fig. 46. a, plate game (84428); b, bowl for plate game (84430). 62 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOGY I'' '"1 ''I'll I .' I Fig. 47. a, coil of split spruce root (84386); b, counters for hand game (84460); c, fungus (84381); d, stick game M348). ANSTONE: SIMMS COLLECTION 63 Fig. 48. a, niuskrat skin on drying frame (84344); b, war club (84345). 64 FIELDIANA: ANTHROPOLOG p wm'^A Other Fhldiana: Anthropology liJit;-: Available Publication 1328, $7.00 Publicali( r ■ l3 lit ■It Road at Lake Shore Drwc Illinois 60605-2496