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Federal recognition is important to Indian tribes for several reasons.

First, when they are extended federal recognition, they can establish tribal governments that possess a measure of sovereignty. Non-recognized tribes can form tribal organizations but lack sovereign powers. Second, federally recognized tribes can have their reservation lands placed in trust. This means that their land is protected by the federal government from being purchased or taken by non-Indians.

Today's Stockbridge-Munsee tribe are descendants of Christian Indians who settled into a Christian farming community at Stockbridge, Massachusetts in 1734.

They were largely drawn from the Mohican (or Mahican) people living in that area. During the American Revolution, the Stockbridge sides with the colonists. In the 1780s, the Stockbridge moved to New York to escape encroachment by White settlers in Massachusetts and live alongside the Oneida tribe.

Miniature Canoe, Potawatomi

Collected by S.A. Barrett at Laona, Wisconsin, 1917. MPM E23266/6140

Twine, Potawatomi

Collected by S.A. Barrett at Laona, Wisconsin, 1917. MPM E23396/6140

Cornhusk Doll, Onondaga

Collected by S.A. Barrett in Onondaga Reservation, New York, 1918. MPM E24268/6084

Snowsnake, Menominee

Collected by S.A. Barrett at Menominee Indian Reservation, 1910. MPM E4286/2207

Great Lakes Tribes

The vast majority of American Indian baby carriers were made of hide and cloth, or woven from woody stems and shoots.

These are referred to simply as “cradles” and “cradle baskets.” While the term “cradle” better encompasses the variety present in Native carrier construction, it is also frequently used to describe carriers used by non-Native cultures.

Early Life
 

John Baptiste DuBay is believed to have been born July 10, 1810 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His father was John Louis DuBay, a French-Canadian fur trader from Montreal, rumored to be the first European in Portage County. His mother is thought to be a Menominee woman, possibly the daughter of Chief Pewatenot (Menominee). Little else is known about DuBay until his involvement in the fur trade in his early teens.
 

Fur Trading Years

North America was colonized by several European powers and these various nations brought a wide assortment of goods to the continent to be traded with native groups.

Many ordinary objects from Europe had a powerful market value for American Indian tribes. These items and their associated purpose were often adopted and adapted by native peoples. Such is the case with silk ribbons, which were used by Woodland Indians to create a form of appliqué decoration not seen before in Europe.

“Ouisconsin” (1640s-1763)