Anishinaabe community buys back birchbark scrolls at auction

It cost the Bay Mills Indian Communitya substantial sum to buy backbirchbark scrolls from a private collectorbut they are being returned to the Anishinaabecommunity in Michigan.

Whitney Gravele, president of Bay Mills, located near Sault Ste. Marie,saidthe Anishinaabeare record keepers, historically, and that's why it was imperative she see the return of these scrolls to her people.

"We are keepers of the stories, which is keepers of the teachings, keepers of the birchbark scrolls, and soit's almost our obligation as part of the Three Fires Confederacy to make sure that we're taking care of these items," she said.

Birchbark hasmany practical uses for theAnishinaabe,including canoes and basketry. Birchbark scrolls used Anishinaabe syllabics, geometric symbols and patternsto carryculture andhistory,including migration stories,on to the next generation.

The scrolls are believed to date to about 1900. They were beingsold by an auction site for a private collector from Ohio.

Little is known about the scrolls. Gravele said several tribal members fromthe area recognized the provenance of the scrolls to be Michigan.

She said she could only make out certain details from the photographs of the scrolls posted on the website:one scroll was related to a migration story and another scroll was labelled Ghost Lodge.

Gravele saidinterest in the scrolls drove the price up and pre-bids started at $4,500 USwhen they typically start at a couple dollars, according toTribal Historic Preservation Officers.

The final bidding price was $7,500 US andBay Mills Community Indian Band paid a total of$10,500 US which included the buyer's premium, a processing fee and sales tax.

An online fundraiserto support the purchase of the scrollsraised $5,664 USbut Gravele said because the final bidding price exceeded the funds raised, Bay Mills Indian Community paid the entire amount.

Brennen Ferguson, who is Tuscaroraand works with the Haudenosaunee External Relations Committee, hasoverseen the repatriation of artifacts and sacred items to the Haudenosaunee from museums and galleries.

He saidmany items were taken from his people by hobbyists, collectors, and anthropologists through various means.

"In our communities, we have this understanding that this history did happen and it wasn't always coercive. Some of our people just sold these things," said Ferguson.

But Ferguson said grave robbing so affected the Haudenosaunee that traditionallythey were discouraged from being buried with things of value such as beadwork and silver so their graves would not be desecrated. Ferguson said sacred items such as masks that are in the hands of private collectors are accounted for in ceremony because they are more than simply a collector's item.

Private collections not included in NAGPRA

The U.S. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Actdoesn't apply to items held in private collections, only items owned by institutes that receive federal funding.

But Gravele said according to U.S. law "objects of cultural patrimony are to be held by a tribal nation and so no individual, whether they be tribal or not, can actually go out and simply buy or sell a tribal nation's cultural patrimony."

She said the burden of proof rests with the nationto determine chain of ownership.

Gravele said Tribal Historic Preservation Officers contactedthe auction house to see if the scrolls had a chain of ownership.

"They were told that that was not information the auction house needed to keep nor needed to provide,"said Gravele.

In an email to CBC Indigenous, Cottone Auctions said ithad been contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was informed it wasfree to proceed with the sale.

"We did not own these but sold them on behalf of a well respected collector," the email said.

"We are pleased to hear they are heading home."

The FBI did not respond to a request for commentbefore time of publishing.

Gravele said someone from their nation will be personally transporting the scrolls to ensure their safe return to her community where they will be welcomed back through ceremony and authenticated.

She said she thinks it will be emotional to have them back and to "share their story with the other tribes because we have had so much taken from us."

"I don't consider these just to be property of Bay Mills Indian community," she said.

"I consider them, you know, communityculturalpatrimony and so it is my intent that once the scrolls are returned, our tribal nation will share those with other tribal nations."