Square pouch or bag constructed of skin and cloth, the front covered with a large panel of loomwoven glass imitation wampum, black ground, white details, with a strap also of imitation glass wampum, 18th century, made by the Algonquian people.

Square pouch or bag constructed of skin and cloth, the front covered with a large panel of loomwoven glass imitation wampum, black ground, white details, with a strap also of imitation glass wampum, 18th century, made by the Algonquian people.

Materials:
glass
deer hair (Odocoileus virginianus)
metal
skin
cotton (?)
linen (?)
fibre
wool (?)
porcupine quill

Dimensions:
Height: 18 centimetres (of bag)
Length: 90.50 centimetres (display board)
Length: 74 centimetres (with strap)
Width: 30 centimetres (display board)
Width: 19 centimetres (of bag)
Depth: 5 centimetres (display board)
Depth: 2 centimetres

The Algonquian are one of the most widespread North American native language groups. Historically, the peoples were prominent along the Atlantic Coast and into the interior along the Saint Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes.

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Square pouch or bag constructed of skin and cloth, the front covered with a large panel of loomwoven glass imitation wampum, black ground, white details, with a strap also of imitation glass wampum. The bag face, of 26 horizontal rows of beads on 27 warps, has three white heaxagons at the bottom, and six white diamonds at the top. The sides of the bag are edged in orange quillwork in zig-zag line technique, followed by a row of imitation-wampum, five beads deep, three black in the middle and one at either end of white: these may have been woven on the bias and applied as a strip, or may be spot-stitched onto the bag. The bottom of bag is also edged with a row of imitation-wampum, on the bias, eight beads deep, white at the ends with six black beads in the middle. The top cloth edge of the bag above the panel was formerly decorated with a row of alternating black and white imitation-wampum beads, and 4 small crosses of four white and one black bead each, of which two on the right hand side survive.
The outer edge of the bag was originally decorated with rows of orange hair-filled metal cones, most of which are now missing, except at the bottom. The strap has six warps, for five rows of black imitation-wampum, with nine white diamonds evenly spaced along the length. The warps are of skin, and wefts perhaps of a native wool or vegetal fibre. A substantial number of beads are missing from the strap.