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Barnett, Homer G. The Coast Salish of British Columbia. University of Oregon Press, Eugene. 1955.

Bibby, Brian. Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions. Marin Museum of the American Indian, Heyday Books: Berkeley , CA. 2004.

Ho-Chunk Culture

The Ho-Chunk -- formerly called the Winnebago -- are members of a Siouan-speaking tribe who were established in Wisconsin at the time of French contact in the 1630s. The oral traditions of the tribe, particularly the Thunderbird clan, state that the Ho-Chunk originated at the Red Banks on Green Bay.

Welcome to the Milwaukee Public Museum's Wisconsin Indian Resource Project!

These pages were designed primarily to assist teachers in meeting the requirements of Wisconsin Educational Act 31, which mandates K-12 instruction in culture, history, sovereignty, and treaty rights of Wisconsin Indian tribes.

Iroquois Cradleboard

Collected by S.A. Barrett in western New York, 1918. MPM E24095/6084

Menominee Saddle with Horse Effigy

Collected by Alanson Skinner at Keshena, Wisconsin, 1921. MPM E28653/7027

Dawn Scher Thomae

Curator of Collections/Senior Collection Manager

Thomae@mpm.edu or 414-278-6157

Pregnancy, Birth, and Infancy

The Great Lakes tribes observed specific taboos during pregnancy which extended to both parents. Both expectant parents, but particularly the mother, were warned not to look at deformed animals or people for fear it might harm the child. Eating or looking at turtles or rabbits could cause the baby to develop the jerky motion of a turtle or rabbit-like fits.

Stockbridge-Munsee Culture

Originally, the Native people who made up the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe came from Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. During the 1770s, Stockbridge -- a mixed Native and White Christian community -- was formed in western Massachusetts, largely drawing on members of the Mahikan or Mohican tribe which occupied eastern New York, western Massachusetts, and parts of western Connecticut.

Arthur and Juanita Niehoff

Arthur Niehoff making friends with a Trinidadian prehensile-tailed porcupine. (MPM Neg.#: 80051A)