Browse Exhibits (27 total)
Four Views of a Columbine Quillbox
Observe the design and detailed of the quillbox. Not all of the lid is covered with quills, exposing the birch bark. The seam of the lid contains sweetgrass sewn in by sinew. Every quill has been strategically placed, and not a single one is broken or obscured. The inside of the box is much barer. There are no quills, just simple yet beautiful birch bark. On the bottom of the quillbox, lightly carved are the words “Chimookaamon Kwe”, “2013”, and “White Woman”.
Upon first glance of this quillbox, I recognized the distinct shape of the red and blue flowers. The trunk-like shape of the red flowers, their compound leaves, and the ever-noticable yellow stamen peeking between red petals. They were Eastern Columbine. The small blue flowers accompanying them on the quillbox were Forget-Me-Nots, easily recognisable by their curled inflourescence.
Four Views of a Flowered Quill Box
This is a quill box created in 1985 by Delia Beboning of the Ojibwe. She lives on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada, and her has been displayed across the globe. The box is made from birch bark, dyed porcupine quills, and sweetgrass, and is in the shape of a heart with two flowers on the lid. The designs are tight and fluid and are made with a high level of skill. It is in remarkable shape for its age, which also displays the skilled craftswomanship of Delia Beboning.
Four Views of a Haudenosaunee Beaded Glengarry Cap
This item is a Haudenosaunee crafted beadwork hat featuring organic designs and a wide array of raised floral beadwork over a velvet base with a butterfly or dragonfly at the back. The hat has a height of 4.5 inches and a diameter of 6 inches. It has been in the MSU Museum Native American Collection since 2013 (MSU Museum, 2013). Likely created by a Haudenosaunee woman, the hat is a piece of Indigenous women's history and illuminates their ideas and knowledge. As written history often overlooks the perspectives of women, especially Indigenous women, artistic works such as this beaded hat preserve their history (Racette, 2009, 285).
Four Views of a Mush Paddle
"This is a hand-carved, solid wood mush paddle. The paddle features two sets of carved grooves, one on the shaft and another near the throat. The grip of the paddle is carved into the shape of a heart. The blade of the paddle has a heart shaped removed from it. The tip of the blade is squared. Paddles like this are used to lift from kettles where corn bread is being boiled. The Iroquois call these paddles 'gatgun'yasshuwa'ne.'" (MSU Museum 2013). It is 40.5" long and 3.5" wide at the blade.
Four Views of a Painted Birch Bark Box
The MSU Museum describes this box as a "Michigan Indian rectangular birch bark box." The creator is unknown and it was acquired in about 1919 by the MSU Museum. This box has a painted birch bark flower design on top and decorative trim all around the top and sides. Soft leather hinges in the back attach the lid to the box and sweet grass is sewn around the top and bottom. Its dimensions are 11" x 16.5" x 4.5". Because this box is so unusual and little is known about it, we used our imagination and reference to the four "parts" of human life that the Native American Medicine Wheel signifies to describe it.
Four Views of a Pincushion
This item was purchased by Katherine C. Vail from an individual in 1979 in Cross Village, Michigan. It has a circa date of 1850, but also an inscription possibly reading “yr 1814,” and some other illegible writing directly on its surface. The item is a pincushion, a tool used in sewing, that closely resembles at least two other known similar items from this area, and likely represents the “ways in which the meanings of things were negotiated in everyday cultural practice” in the relationships between Indigenous peoples and Christian missionaries (Kasprycki, 1996: 49).
Vail had a summer home in Indian River, Michigan and collected works by many Michigan Native quillworkers. This may be one of the first items she collected which she continued through 2016. Her collection now constitutes the largest group of quillwork items in the MSU Museum’s collections.
Four Views of a Quill Box
This intricately designed "quill box" is birch bark completely covered with porcupine quills and decorated with sweetgrass. It was created by Yvonne Walker-Keshick who is a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa, in 1994. She uses the natural colors of the porcupine quills to create the fantastic images on the box. She titled this piece, "To My Sisters" and the images illustrate the stages of a woman's life. It was made for a project in collaboration with the Nokomis Learning Center called "Sisters of the Great Lakes."
FOUR VIEWS OF A QUILL BOX
Within the Indigenous culture many individuals, clans, tribes, and communities subscribe to the worldview that all creation is linked together with an interdependence among humans and nonhumans alike. This affinity with all creation establishes and provides the foundation and lifeways integral to Indigenous cultures. Ms. Candice Worthington’s rainbow quill box reflects this philosophy with the sky, sun, water, rainbow, and wildlife all interacting and living in harmony together.
Four Views of a Square Quill Box
This exhibit gives four in depth views on Rose Williams’ Maple Leaf Quill Box. The maker of this birch bark box is Rose Williams, whose native name is Kinnewon and she is a member of the Ojibwa tribe. The box itself is fairly small, only 8 inches by 3 ½ inches. The box was made on Manitoulin Island in Canada in the early 1980s. It is part of a large collection of quillwork that was donated to the MSU Museum in 2017 by Katherine C. Vail. She collected objects between 1980 and 2016 (MSU Museum).
Four Views of a Trout Quillbox
A box created by Yvonne Walker-Keshick, made out of porcupine quills, birchbark, and sweetgrass depicting a leaping trout.