At this time many artifacts were lost or destroyed. The most significant were the sacred birch bark scrolls. The scrolls disappeared for seven decades, until a passing reference in some of Hallowell's writing raised the possibility of finding them. Researcher Leanne Simpson was commissioned to lead the search. D.C. A dozen of the scrolls wound up there, acquired from a private American collector.
Smithsonian officials say they are extremely rare.
They say most of them were destroyed when the missionaries came - seen as the work of the devil, for pagan rituals. The Smithsonian Institution plans to help the Ojibwa of Hollow Water to bring the scrolls home.