Birch-Bark Scroll
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Jun 1913
name: label: Collector
content: Miss Frances T. Densmore
label: Donor Name
content: Miss Frances T. Densmore
notes: label: Notes
content: PROVENIENCE NOTE: FROM ACCESSION RECORDS: "THE ROLL WAS PURCHASED AT WHITE EARTH RESERVATION FROM A WOMAN RECENTLY REMOVED TO THAT RESERVATION FROM MILLE LAC, MINNESOTA." From card: "Sheet of heavy birch bark, bound with cleats at the ends. Upon this scroll is scratched a Mide record. (This very old specimen has been described by Miss Densmore. See papers.) Mide Bark Record. (Portion of letter from interpreter) 'This roll contains a history of the origin of the Grand Medicine and has been kept for years as a reference by the Mille Lac band of Chippewa Indians. Every illustration has a meaning. The first round or long circle at the end of the roll is the earth, or rather a large island created by the Manide for the sole use of the Indians, as a dwelling place. The long straight mark which runs to the other circle at the other end of the roll is the path of life which leads to the Spirit Land. The marks and drawings seen on the east side of the path (or line) are the ways and means of prolonging life, and there are symbols of the herbs used for the healing of sickness. The bark was bought of a woman in whose family it had been for four generations. The woman (Mrs. Hanks) stated that the roll was given to her great grand-mother by the Mides because she was one of the greatest advocates of their belief and 'had great success with her medicine.' This woman lived to extreme old age. When she died it was given to Mrs. Hanks grandfather who was a great medicine man who died of old age. From him it came to Mrs. Hanks' mother who died in the fall of 1911 at the age of ninety. She was the last person living who could fully interpret the entire roll. The roll is estimated as 200 years old. The roll is sewn with spruce root. To unroll it - warm but do not moisten it. The roll was purchased at White Earth, Minnesota from a woman recently removed to that reservation from Mille Lac, Minnesota."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 25 Apr 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, Mille Lacs Lake / Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Chippewa (Ojibwe, Anishinaabe), Mille Lacs
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 055524
label: USNM Number
content: E278127-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bark Scroll