Name/Title
PouchEntry/Object ID
2017.3.8bDescription
Small pouch with long, beaded strap and beaded decoration. The strap is loom beaded with tiny glass beads in green, red, pink, and blue in a repeating geometric pattern. The pouch is constructed of black silk velvet over heavy linen or cotton. Remnants of a green ribbon are around the edge, where it once was bound. The center front of the pouch is decorated with a stylized flower made of tiny glass beads in white, red, blue, green, and yellow. The center back of the pouch is decorated with a leaf or fleur-de-lis made of tiny glass beads in green, blue, and red.Context
This pouch was made to hold a Louis XIV medallion (2017.3.8.1) by Abenaki or Innu people.Acquisition
Accession
2017.3Source or Donor
Wiseman, Frederick M.Acquisition Method
GiftCredit Line
Gift of Frederick M. WisemanMade/Created
Time Period
19th CenturyPlace
Country
CanadaContinent
North AmericaEthnography
Cultural Region
State/Province
VermontCountry
United States of America, CanadaContinent
North AmericaCulture/Tribe
Innu
Native American, First Nation
Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
PouchNomenclature Class
ContainersNomenclature Category
Category 07: Distribution & Transportation ObjectsDimensions
Dimension Description
OverallHeight
3-1/2 inWidth
3-1/4 inLength
25 inMaterial
Linen, Silk, Beads, RibbonRelationships
Related Places
Place
Town
ChesterCounty
Windsor CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaInterpretative Labels
Label
Bead-Work Pouch, 19th Century
Innu (Montagnais)
Nitassinan
Silk, linen, glass beads
Gift of Frederick M. Wiseman, #2017.3.8.2
This bead-work pouch was created by an Innu craftsman to hold a French medallion offered in trade at some point after 1643. The Innu inhabit Nitassin (Our Land), an unceded area on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the Canadian-defined provinces of Quebec and Labrador. The Innu share a related language and allied with neighbors the Atikamekw, Maliseet, and Algonquin peoples, including the Abenaki.
Samuel de Champlain interacted extensively with the Innu and established Quebec City within Nitassin. Innu guides directed him throughout much of travels, including the trip to what is now called Lake Champlain where he helped defeat an Iroquois war party at Ticonderoga.
This pouch, and the medallion it contained, made its way to an Abenaki family and represents the interplay of various indigenous cultures as well as with French "habitants."