Great Lakes Porcupine Quill Boxes from the Collection of Jane A. Raymond and Robert Mougin

June 1 – August 31, 2012

On display is a private collection of 26 porcupine quill boxes on loan from Jane A. Raymond and Robert Mougin.  The majority of the boxes were created by Woodland Indians, primarily Canadian First Nation people living in the Great Lakes region of North America.  Native American tribes represented include Ojibwa, Ho-Chunk, Odawa, Chippewa, and Iroquois.  An early Mi’kmaq box from Nova Scotia (c1860) and a Northern Cree box are also on display.  Design motifs of birds, flowers, animals, and geometric patterns adorn the colorful and intricately-made boxes, some of which are created using a tufting technique.  The exhibition also documents the process of the craft through samples of raw materials (quills, sweet grass, birch bark, and sinew) and a variety of tools used when making porcupine quill boxes.  Porcupine quill boxes are primarily marketed to tourists, collectors, and museums and can be acquired at Native American Pow-wows and trading stores.

This exhibit was curated by Jane A Raymond, Robert Mougin, and Lyn Korenic.

Image:  James family (attributed to).  Porcupine Quill Basket (ca. 1950s).