THE NATIVE AMERICAN COLLECTION OF
FRIDERIK BARAGA:
THE MISSIONARY AS ETHNOGRAPHIC
COLLECTOR!
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
IZVLEČEK
Kot utelešenje kulturnih pomenov in
vrednot so predmeti vedno igrali pomembno
vlogo pri interakciji med Indijanci in krščan-
skimi misijonarji, ki niso hoteli doseči samo
verske, ampak tudi kulturno spreobrnitev. V
tem prispevku raziskujem razmerje med
misijonarskim delom in etnografskim zbira-
njem in skušam umestiti zbirko Friderika
Barage v širšem kontekstu misijonarskega
diskurza o materialni kulturi, s poudarkom
na Baragovem odnosu in na odnosu drugih
misijonarjev do indijanske umetnosti in
materialne kulture, s katero so se srečali.
Prispevek išče vzporednice z gradivom v
drugih misijonarskih zbirkah in z gradivom
z zahoda Velikih jezer v depojih evropskih
muzejev; tako bi Baragovo zbiranje lahko
ocenili v primerjavi s podobnimi prizadevanji
drugih misijonarjev.
ABSTRACT
As embodiments of cultural meanings
and values, artifacts have always played an
important role in the interactions between
Native peoples and Christian missionaries,
who not only aimed at religious but also at
cultural conversion. This paper explores the
relationship between missionary work and
ethnographic collecting and attempts to place
Friderik Baraga's collection in a broader
context of missionary discourse on material
culture by focusing on his and other
missionaries' attitudes toward the indigenous
arts and material culture they encountered.
Parallels are also drawn to other nineteenth-
century missionary collections of western
Great Lakes material in European repositories
in order to evaluate Baraga's collecting
activities by comparison with similar
missionary efforts.
Objects created by human hands are much more than simply things to
satisfy physical needs or to serve the specific purposes they were made for. They
may be regarded as statements about how people conceive the universe around
them, how they define their place and that of others within this universe, and
1 Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Third North Americanist Conference, Museum für
Völkerkimde, Berlin, 28 to 30 September 1996, and at the symposium "Slovenski misijonar Irene) Friderik Baraga
(1797-1868) in njegov prispevek k etnologiji," Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana, 16 to 20 June 1997. Thanks to
Christian F. Feest for his critical comments and for providing some of the photographs used in this article.
331
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
how they interact with their natural environment, their fellow beings, and the
supernatural world. As such, artifacts are visible and tangible expressions of
personal and cultural identities. It is not surprising therefore that material things
have always played an important role in cross-cultural encoimters, and especially
so in the interactions between Native peoples and Christian missionaries.
Missionary writings provide ample evidence for the significance attributed
to the material manifestations of religious beliefs and cultural practices by the
messengers of Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant). Material symbols
fimctioned as potent sources of information on the "Other" and were interpreted
by each party according to their own cultural codes. Thus, missionaries perceived
and judged many aspects of Native culture on the basis of their artifactual
expressions and shaped their efforts accordingly. They aimed at religious
conversion, but since their ideological categories were identified with specific
material forms (or the absence thereof), it is not surprising that the changes they
effected manifested themselves most often and most visibly in the material
domain. Christianity was inseparable from a "civilized" lifestyle and its attributes,
and indeed, the success of missionary endeavors was often measured by the
extent to which Native peoples had appropriated Western forms of dress, houses,
or subsistence technologies.
Missionary collecting activities can be imderstood as one aspect of this
continuous and intensive concern with indigenous material culture. One has to
keep in mind that to collect objects always means to extract them from their
original contexts of use and meaning in order to make them serve one's own
interests and needs - whether it be curiosity, science, or missionary propaganda.
While it is true that some missionary collections were professedly assembled in
the interests of scholarship, their composition and the subsequent use made of
them often reveal underlying motives, especially when viewed within the broader
context of the missionary discourse on Native material culture.
As a number of recent theoretical studies on the role of material culture in
the processes of missionization have demonstrated, missionary collecting
activities and attitudes toward Native manufactures cannot be divorced from
the wider agendas of evangelization, nor from existing relations of power in a
colonial setting. Missionary rhetoric can be shown to oscillate between two
imperatives: to represent indigenous peoples as caught in a state of "savagery"
and "heathen darkness" and thus in need of nüssionary intervention, but also to
portray them as potentially capable of spiritual improvement and progress in
civilization, thus justifying missionary efforts on their behalf. Representations
of indigenous material culture are made to serve both these ends. On the one
hand, we find praise of all those t3^es of artifacts which for the missionaries
docvimented Native ingenuity, intelligence, industry, or simply creativity - in a
word, aU those things which could be subsumed under the categories of "beauty"
or "usefulness." Such objects were often put forward as basic proof of the Native
332
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
peoples' ability to learn and to be "civilized." Other classes of artifacts, on the
other hand, were described as evidence of "primitive" or "barbaric" customs
(as, for example, in the case of weapons) or "pagan" practices (as in the case of
religious paraphernalia). For the missionaries, these artifacts represented cultural
domains which needed to be transformed by Christianity. Once this goal was
achieved, such objects figured as relics of a past eventually overcome with the
help of the missionaries and could thus be valued as some sort of "trophies" of
missionary success. In the final analysis, both positive and negative evaluations
served to legitimize the missionary project: They "proved" that Native peoples
were evidently in need of the double benefits of Christianity and civilization,
but also that they were worthy of them.^
It is imder these aspects that I would like to discuss the small but important
ethnographic collection acquired by the Slovenian missionary Friderik Baraga
in the early 1830s among the Ottawa and Chippewa of the western Great Lakes
region and today preserved at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum in Ljubljana.^
By situating Baraga's collecting activities within the context of the prevailing
missionary discourse on Native material culture, insights may be gleaned into
Baraga's own appreciation of the artifacts assembled as well as into the principles
guiding his selection of objects. This analysis, which aims at a fresh perspective
on the quality, composition, and motivation of Baraga's ethnographic collection,
draws on an examination of written records and their reflection of missionary
attitudes toward indigenous artifacts and the cultural domains represented by
them, as well as on comparisons of this particular material with other nineteenth-
century missionary collections from the western Great Lakes region.
As one of the missionary pioneers in the vast regions west of the American
Great Lakes, then only sparsely populated by White settlers, Friderik Baraga
became a role model for successions of missionaries who followed in his footsteps.
Bom in 1797 and ordained a priest at the age of twenty-six, Baraga arrived in the
United States early in 1831. After spending several months in Cincinnati (then
seat of the diocese comprising the present states of Ohio, Michigan, and
Wisconsin), he was sent in May of the same year to take charge of the Ottawa
mission, where he served first in Arbre Croche and later at Grand River in
Michigan. A man of extraordinary ambition and missionary zeal, he saw his
calling more in the challenges of converting the Native peoples to the Christian
faith than in the routine tasks of a backwoods parish, and he was soon eager to
expand his field of labor. Only four years later, in July of 1835, he moved further
west to establish a mission among the Chippewa at Lapointe, and later at L'Anse,
2 Cp., for example, Thomas (1991: 151-162), Lawson (1994), Kasprycki (1996), and Eves (1998) for
more elaborate presentations of these arguments.
3 On Baraga's ethnographic collection, cp. Orel (1954), Štrukelj (1974,1979), Golob (1997). Feest (1998)
provides a critical evaluation of the collection in comparative perspective and discusses problems of attribution
not considered here.
333
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Figure 1: Map of the western Great Lakes region, showing the locations of Friderik Baraga's
mission stations among the Ottawa and Chippewa of present-day Michigan, Wisconsin, and
Mirmesota. ¦ Slika 1: Zemljevid zahodnega območja Velikih jezer z lokacijami misijonarskih
postaj Friderika Barage pri Otavcih in Očipvejcih v današjnjem Michiganu, Wisconsinu in
Mirmesoti.
on Lake Superior (qp. Fig. 1). Since Baraga's ethnographic collection was acquired
during the first five years of his missionary activity and was shipped to Europe
in 1836 to be donated to the predecessor of today's Slovene Ethnographic Museum
in Ljubljana, I need not be concerned here with Baraga's subsequent career, which,
as is well known, culminated in his becoming bishop of Sault Ste. Marie and
later Marquette.^
The history of Baraga's collecting activities, recently summarized by Golob
and also critically discussed by Feest, can be traced through a number of
documents.' Although his collection is first mentioned in a letter written by the
missionary to his sister Amalia Gressel on 3 December 1836, when he had already
arrived ki Europe to gather financial support for his mission, we know that the
first impetus for collecting Native American ethnographic objects for the
Camiolan Provincial Museum established in 1821 had come as early as 1833
through a request by Count Franz Joseph von Hohenwart, chairman of the yoimg
museum's board of trustees. While Baraga initially pleaded lack of time and
pastoral priorities to excuse himself from this responsibility, it carmot be ruled
out that one or the other artifact came into his possession before he decided to
act upon Hohenwart's request. Immersed in the daily life of their Native
conmumities, missionaries acquired artifacts for a niunber of different reasons:
4 Detailed ii\f ormation on Baraga's biography and clerical career can be found, for example, in Jezemik
(1968); cp. also Golob (1997: 210-211).
5 Cp. Golob (1997:218-228); Feest (1998).
334
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
Apart from intentionally collecting them, they often received objects as presents
from their converts, or they utilized Native manufactures for their own
convenience. It can be documented, moreover, that Baraga provided his superior
Vicar-General and later Bishop Frederick Rése with ethnographic objects for the
latter's collection.^ For the purposes of the present paper it should be emphasized,
however, as Feest has already pointed out, that Baraga's decision to donate a
collection of artifacts to the Camiolan Provincial Museum coincided with his
intended fund-raising trip to Europe and thus reflects motivations shared by
many other missionary collectors: to promote evangelical work by drawing public
attention to the life-ways of indigenous peoples and the achievements of the
missionaries in their midst.^
Of immediate interest not only for the cultural contextuaUzation of the
objects but also for clues to Baraga's own categorization of the artifacts are the
two surviving manuscript inventories of the collection drawn up in 1837, one of
which was annotated by Baraga himself and served as the basis for a list of
acquisitions published only slightly later in the lUyrisches Blatt.* Baraga's book
History, character, manners, and customs of the North American Indians likewise
appeared in 1837 in a German, French, and Slovenian edition,' and while some
of the ethnographic descriptions contained in it are not based on personal
experience but lifted from the published literature, the book is a valuable source
reflecting Baraga's general attitudes toward the indigenous cultures he
encountered. Closer to his personal observations are his many letters published
in the Reports of the Leopoldine Foundation in Vienna, which financially
supported his and other missions in North America. Even though edited for
publication and designed to represent his activities to his benefactors in the best
possible light, these letters provide a wealth of ethnographic information and
convey a detailed picture of daily life in the mission stations. Apart from these
and other writings, Baraga also became known for his linguistic works: He
produced a prayer-book and catechism in Ojibwa and Ottawa, followed by an
Ojibwa grammar and an Ojibwa dictionary, which were published in various
editions.'"
The following discussion of Baraga's collecting activities wül draw parallels
^ Frederick Rése (or Friedrich Rese), who had been instrumental in the establishment of the Austrian
Leopoldine Foundation for the financial support of the Catholic missions in the United States, systematically
encouraged the missionaries in his diocese to send him ethnographic items and is known to have collected
objects himself during his visits to Native communities. Some of the artifacts acquired by Rése in this way
ended up in the collection of Johaim Georg Schwarz, the first American consul in Vienna and secretary of the
Leopoldine Foundation, and are today preserved in the Museum für Völkerkimde in Vienna; cp. Kasprycki and
Krpata (1988); Feest and Kasprycki (1993:16-17).
7 Cp., e.g., Kasprycki (1994: 95); Uwson (1994:32-33); Eves (1998: 50-51).
8 Cp. Golob (1997:219-224); Feest (1998: esp. note 6); Illyrisches Blatt (1837).
5 Cp. Baraga (1837a, 1837b, 1837c).
1" Cp., e.g., Baraga (1850,1853,1973). For a comprehensive bibliography of the huge corpus of Baraga's
published and unpublished writings, see Ceglar (1991-1992); cp. also Šmitek (1993).
335
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
to siinilar efforts of other nineteenth-century missionaries in the western Great
Lakes region, and will attempt to evaluate them in the context of his and other
missionaries' writings. In this connection, reference wülbe made to a substantial
collection of Ottawa material in the Musemn für Völkerkimde in Vienna, which,
while not compiled by a missionary, at least derived from a missionary context.
It was acquired by the Austrian church painter Martin Pitzer, who visited the
Ottawa villages of Arbre Croche and Cross Vulage in the early 1850s (about two
decades after Baraga had been stationed there), at a time when the Slovenian
Fathers Franc Fire (Franz Pierz) and Ignac (Ignaz) Mrak were the resident priests.
Employed to embellish the Native churches with his art. Pitzer also foimd the
time to collect a considerable number of artifacts which he displayed back home
in a traveling exhibition in order to collect money for the Ottawa mission. He
also published a catalog to accompany the show, which offered additional
information on the cultural context of the objects as well as their indigenous
terms, which were actually provided for him by Baraga."
A collection of ethnographic objects resembling Baraga's in terms of size
and content was acquired between 1859 and 1862 by the Swiss Capuchin
missionary Antoine-Marie Cachet among the Menominee of Wisconsin. The
Catholic mission among the Menominee, who are culturally related to the Ottawa
and Chippewa, had been established about a quarter of a century earlier by the
Italian Dominican priest Samuele Mazzuchelli, for whom Baraga had been a
role model. During the three years of his missionary labors among the
Menominee, Cachet systematically collected ethnographic information and, like
Baraga, also devoted himself to linguistic studies and the drafting of a Menominee
grammar. In a book published late in his life and in part based on his diaries, he
provides extensive commentaries on Menominee life and material culture and
also details some of the actual circumstances of his coUecting activities. His
collection of Menominee artifacts was donated to the municipal museum of his
native city of Fribourg in Switzerland and is today preserved in the Ethnographic
Museum of the University of Fribourg.'^
Cachet was not the first missionary among the Menominee, however, to
collect ethnographic objects. One of his predecessors, tiie Belgian priest Horimond
Bonduel, who served the Catholic Menominee congregation between 1846 and
1853, had already assembled a small collection of mostly religious paraphernalia,
of which only a few artifacts have survived and are presently housed in the
Vatican Museum." Decidedly smaller in scope than either of the previously
mentioned collections, these artifacts reflect Bonduel's somewhat different
approach to collecting. Salvaged from among the ceremonial objects surrendered
" Cp. Pitzer (1854); Feest and Kasprycki (1993; 17).
12 Cp. Cachet (1890); for a summary account of Cachet's mission among the Menominee and the history
of his collection, cp. Kasprycki (1994:94-96).
13 On Bonduel's biography and the fate of his collection, cp. Kasprycki (1994:94-95).
336
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
to him by his Native converts, as was the usual and widespread practice, these
artifacts were explicitly regarded by Bonduel as tangible proofs of the victory of
Christianity and civilization over the Menominee's former "superstitions" and
"heathen" practices."
While Bonduel is perhaps more articulate in relating his collection to the
missionary agenda, the present paper intends to demonstrate that a similar (if
less obvious) rhetoric is underlying Baraga's and other missionary collections of
this period.
The first group of artifacts mentioned in the 1837 inventory of Baraga's
collection*^ are "objects of industry, all made of the bark of the North American
birch tree."'** Birchbark furnished the raw material for a variety of household
articles and utilitarian objects used in the daily life of the Native peoples in the
western Great Lakes region. Smaller birchbark objects of various kinds, carefully
decorated with dyed porcupine quills in geometiic or representational designs,
were, however, predominantly made for sale to Whites. They were produced in
huge quantities and are frequently fotmd in missionary and other collections
from the area. A fairly common type of artifact were the small boxes folded from
a piece of birchbark, ornamented with quillwork, and filled with maple sugar, of
which there are several examples in Baraga's collection (Fig. 2)}'^ Mostly sold as
souvenir items, they were sometimes also given away as presents to family and
friends within the Native commimity.
Missionary appreciation of such quill-decorated objects was generally quite
pronoimced. They commended the artistic creativity displayed in the manufacture
of these artifacts by the Native women, and they usually encouraged their
production. Cachet, whose collection likewise contains two maple sugar boxes,
described Menominee quill embroidery as having a "particular charm" and
stiessed the visual appeal of these objects:
"Nothing more pleasant than the littie boxes of maple sugar which they
cover with embroideries of this kind to make presents of them."**
Such praise was, however, not solely based on the artifacts' aesthetic
qualities. While favorably impressed with their workmanship, missionaries
especially applauded the patience and diligence required by their manufacture
- virtues that were not only valued in Native culture but were considered
14 Cp. Bonduel (1855); Kasprycki (1996:46).
15 In the following, I will refer orüy to the published list of artifacts (lUyrisches Blatt 1837), since neither
of the manuscript lists was available to me at the time of the writing of this paper
16 "a) Industrial=Objecte, sämmtUch aus der Rinde des nordamerikanischen Birkenbaumes" (Illyrisches
Blatt 1837: 67).
1'' Cp. Colob (1997: 249-252, figs. 1-6). There is some confusion today as to which of the various quill-
decorated bark vessels in the collection of the Slovenski etnografski muzej was collected by whom, a problem
Feest (1998) has tried to sort out.
18 "tuen de plus gentU que les petites boites a sucre d'érable qu'elles couvrent de broderies de ce genre
pour en faire des cadeaux" (Cachet 1890: 261); cp. also Pitzer (1854:18).
337
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Figure 2: Small birchbark box decorated with
porcupine quills. Height 5.5 cm, length 7.5 cm.
Southwestern Chippewa, collected in 1835-
1836. Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana,
cat. no. E 2892 (Friderik Baraga coll.) (photo
F. Golob). ¦ Slika 2: Majhna škatla iz
brezovega lubja, okrašena z bodicami ježevca.
Višina 5,5 cm, dolžina 7,5 cm. Jugozahodni
Očipvejci, 1835-1836. Slovenski etnografski
muzej, Ljubljana, kat. št. E 2892 (zbirka
Friderika Barage) (foto F. Golob).
Christian virtiies as well. Thus, missionaries often presented objects like these to
visitors to the mission or to their superiors as tokens of the accomplishments of
their charges.'' Skills of this kind were moreover directly related to the Native
peoples' potential for progress in "civilization." This inference is made very
explicit in the following quotation from Pitzer's little catalog:
"These present works of birchbark [...] immistakably reveal their sharp
intelligence and patience at monotonous work, which makes one wish to do the
utmost to furnish them with schools as the means to achieve a better lot."^°
In addition, the small maple sugar boxes were representative of a branch
of Native economic activity which met the missionaries' decided approval.
Detailed explanations of the procedures in maple sugar production are seldom
missing in missionary accounts.^' Indeed, they could hardly fail to comment on
this important part of indigenous subsistence, since the Native people left their
villages in early spring to move for a few weeks to their maple sugar camps, so
that this season usually constituted a kind of holiday for the missionaries who
were left behind. Maple sugar was produced by making incisions in the tiees,
collecting the sap, and boiling it down to granulated sugar. Whue the missionaries
generally attempted to change the Native subsistence pattern of hunting, fishing,
gathering, and horticulture to large-scale agriculture, which they considered
indispensable for sedentary, stable, and independent communities, they
1' Cachet, for example, once sent a maple sugar box made by a Menominee woman of his congregation
to his superior Bishop Martin Henni (Cachet 1861).
20 "Die hier vorliegenden Arbeiten aus Birkenrinde durch Ausschmückung von Weißfedem, den Stacheln
des Stachelschweines &c. vereinigt mit ihrer Weise, ohne alle Kenntniß von Chemie aus gesottenen Steinen,
Wurzeln imd Kräutern glänzende Farben und Farbenmischungen auf Binsen zu Matten &c. überzutragen,
lassen unverkennbar ihren Scharfsiim und eine Ausdauer bei einförmiger Arbeit erblicken und den Wunsch
entstehen. Alles aufzubieten, um ihnen durch Schulen das Mittel zur Erreichung eines besseren Looses zu
verschaffen" (Pitzer 1854:10).
21 Cp. Baraga (1837a; 72-75); Pitzer (1854:16-17); Cachet (1890:224-225).
338
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
Figure 3: Feather fan with birchbark handle, decorated with porcupine quills. Length 57 cm.
Ottawa, Michigan, collected in 1851-1853. Museum für Völkerkunde, Wien, cat. no. 131.766
(Martin Pitzer coll.) (photo S. S. Kasprycki). ¦ Slika 3: Pahljača iz perja z ročajem iz brezovega
lubja, okrašenim z bodicami ježevca. Dolžina 57 cm. Otavci, Michigan, 1851-1853. Etnološki
muzej, Dunaj, kat. št. 131.766 (zbirka Martina Pitzerja)(foto S. S. Kasprycki).
Figure 4: Lidded birchbark box decorated with •
porcupine quills and velvet and silk ribbons. |
Height ca. 17 cm. Menominee, Wisconsin, ^
collected around 1860. Musée d'Ethnographie,
Université de Fribourg, cat. no. 2008 (Antoine- j
Marie Cachet coll.) (photo C. F. Feest). ¦ i
Slika 4: Škatla iz brezovega lubja s pokrovom, i
okrašena z bodicami ježevca, žametom in
svilenimi trakovi. Višina ca. 17 cm. Menomini,1
Wisconsin, okrog 1860. Etnografski muzej i
univerze v Fribourgu, kat. št. 2008 (zbirka ,
Antoine-Marie Cacheta) (foto C. F. Feest). i
recognized maple sugar production as a labor-intensive pursuit and valued it
for this reason. The sometimes enormous amounts of sugar produced in one
season were often brought forward by the missionaries in evidence of Native
industriousness and work morale .^^ Since the maple sugar surplus was sold or
exchanged for food and other goods, missionaries likewise perceived and
encouraged its production as a means for Native people to become integrated in
a market economy. Missionary judgments on the culinary attraction of maple
sugar differed; while Baraga thought that Europeans needed to get accustomed
22 Cp., e.g., Baraga (1837a: 73).
339
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
to it because it caused stomach bum and a bitter aftertaste when consumed in
pure form, Cachet, whose collection also contains several pieces of maple sugar
formed in a mold, favorably compared it even to Swiss candy
While the small, quUl-omamented birchbark boxes correspond in their form
and construction to the larger, mostly undecorated bark containers used for
storage of maple sugar or wild rice, the function and shape of other types of
quilled artifacts specifically designed for sale to White tourists more obviously
reflect Euroamerican expectations. Pin-cushions, needle books, feather fans, bags,
trays, or cigar cases made favorite souvenir items by adding a semblance of
practicality to their aesthetic appeal. Apart from two nicely made but
comparatively simple bark bowls,^^ Baraga's collection does not include any such
artifacts, but numerous examples of this sort were collected, for example, by
Pitzer (Fig. 3). A lidded birchbark box acquired among the Menominee by Cachet
can likewise be regarded as fairly typical and indicative of the endeavor to adapt
the outward form of these objects to Euroamerican tastes (Fig. 4).^^
Missionary appreciation of this branch of Native manufacture is perhaps
best reflected in the use they made of it for the embellishment of their churches
and in the context of Christian rituals. Articles of church equipment and the
material apparatus required by the Catholic liturgy were often difficult to procure
in the frontier settlements. Since the missionaries prided themselves in their
"holy religion, which tries so hard even in outward things to do due honor to
our Lord and God,"^' indigenous materials and techniques were employed to
make up for this lack. Thus, the missionaries encouraged the emergence of a
specific material culture of Native Christianity, one of the most intriguing
examples of which certainly is the magnificent altar arrangement made of
birchbark and lavishly decorated with porcupine quills used by the Catholic
Ottawas of Cross Village in Michigan and collected by Martin Pitzer.^^ Holy
water containers of birchbark, of which there are two in Pitzer's collection, were
at the time in use in the Catholic Ottawa households (Fig. 5).^** The above
mentioned Italian missionary Samuele Mazzuchelli is even known to have sent
a Chippewa bark box designed to hold communion wafers to the Pope.^'
Next to birchbark products, the male domain of woodcarving was a craft
highly praised by the missionaries, especially in view of the often very simple
23 Cp. Baraga {1837a: 72); Cachet (1890: 225).
24 Cp. Golob (1997: 253-254, figs. 7,8).
25 Cp. also two comparable bark boxes of unclear collection history in the Slovenski etnografski muzej
(Golob 1997:261-263, figs. 20,21); Feest (1998:301, fig. T). Cachet's collection also contains two quill-decorated
pincushions and originally included a feather fan now lost.
26 "Welch eine hohe Idee wird ihnen alles dieses von unsrer heiligen Religion geben, die sich sogar in
allem Äußeren so sehr bemühet, unserem Herrn und Gott die gebührende Ehre zu bezeugen" (Baraga 1836:52).
27 Cp. Feest (1968; 53-54, pl. 6).
28 Cp. Pitzer (1854:23); Feest and Kasprycki (1993: 70, fig. 55).
29 Cp.Crepeau(1932:73).
340
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
Figure 5: Holy water coi\tainer of birchbark,
decorated with porcupine quills. Height 28.5
cm. Ottawa, Michigan, collected in 1851-1853.
Museum für Völkerkunde, Wien, cat. no.
131804 (Martin Pitzer coll.) (photo
S. S. Kasprycki). ¦ Slika 5: Posoda za
blagoslovljeno vodo iz brezovega lubja,
okrašena z bodicami ježevca. Višina 28.5 cm.
Otavci, Michigan, 1851-1853. Etnološki muzej,
Dunaj, kat. št. 131804 (zbirka Martina Pitzerja)
(foto S. S. Kasprycki).
Figure 6: Wooden spoon. Length 14.5 cm.
Southwestern Chippewa, collected in
1835-1836. Slovenski etnografski muzej,
Ljubljana, cat. no. E 2888 (Friderik Baraga coll.)
(photo F. Golob). ¦ Slika 6: Lesena žUca.
Dolžina 14,5 cm. Jugozahodni Očipvejci, 1835-
1836. Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana,
kat. št. E 2888 (zbirka Friderika Barage)
(foto F Golob).
tools with which Native carvers achieved impressive results. Baraga, whose
collection also comprises a group of wooden objects, remarks in his book that
such artifacts were skillfully made by the Indians.^" Similar examples to the spoons
and small wooden bowls collected by Baraga^' can also be found in Pitzer's and
Cachet's collections (Figs. 6, 7). Pitzer stressed in his catalog that these nicely
made objects were created merely with the help of an old knife; Cachet likewise
commended the skills of the Menominee carvers and mentioned that much of
their woodcarving was still made with a tool consisting of a beaver tooth .^^
It has to be emphasized, though, that this recognition of manual skills
applied to the manufacture of "useful" artifacts only and usually had in mind
the advance of the Native craftsmen in "civilized" trades as carpenters, tool
makers, and the like. Religious sculpture, for example, though often of remarkable
30 "b) Haus= und Holzgeräthe" (Illyrisches Blatt 1837: 68); cp. Baraga (1837a: 67).
31 Cp. Golob (1997:254-256, Hgs. 9,10,12,13,14).
32 Cp. Pitzer (1854:19); Cachet (1890: 261).
341
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Figure 7: Wooden bowl. Length 20.5 cm. Ottawa, Michigan, collected in 1851-1853. Museum für
Völkerkunde, Wien, cat. no. 131.787 (Martin Pitzer coU.) (photo S. S. Kasprycki). ¦ Slika 7:
Lesena skleda. Dolžina 20,5 cm. Otavci, Michigan, 1851-1853. Etnološki muzej, Dunaj, kat. št.
131.787 (zbirka Martina Pitzerja) (foto S. S. Kasprycki).
workmanship, was usually condemned by the missionaries because of its
"heathen" connotations and could not be jugded according to the same criteria.
Thus, while articles of daily use like bowls, ladles, or cradleboards, of which
Baraga's collection likewise contains a specimen (Fig. 8), could be considered
"artfully carved," religious sculpture was mostly rejected as "hideous."^'
Baraga, whose ethnographic interest in indigenous religion was virtually
non-existent and who was content to indiscriminately characterize such beliefs
as "absurdities" and "silly nonsense," did not care to collect any artifacts relating
to Native religious practices, even though scattered references to "wooden idols"
and other "superstitious things" can be found in his writings.^* That this is not
necessarily typical of the missionary outlook is documented by the sometimes
profound fascination with Native belief systems voiced by some of his fellow
workers in the field. Since converts were generally expected to surrender all
their ritual paraphernalia before or after baptism, missionaries, moreover, had
ample opportunities to get hold of such artifacts. There are numerous references
in Baraga's writings to the ritual burning of ceremonial paraphernalia brought
to him by his converts; other than some of his colleagues, however, Baraga did
33 In connection with the wooden dishes and ladles it is interesting to note, however, that in the inventory
of his collection Baraga could not refrain from adding a critical conunent on indigenous eating customs, which
he perceived as irregular and lacking proper ceremony (Illyrisches Blatt 1837; 68). Cp. Colob (1997:293-294, fig. 54).
34 Cp. Baraga (1832:11; 1834b: 21; 1837a: 132).
342
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
Figure 8: Detaü of wooden cradleboard, chip-carved, painted, and decorated with file brand
marks. Height 64.5 cm. Southwestern Chippewa, collected in 1835-1836. Slovenski etnografski
muzej, Ljubljana, cat. no. E 2948 (Friderik Baraga coll.) (photo C. E Feest). ¦ Slika 8: Detajl lesene
zibelke, zrezljane, pobarvane in okrašene z vžganimi znaki. Višina 64, 5 cm. Jugozahodni
Očipvejci, 1835-1836. Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana, kat. št. E 2948 (zbirka Friderika
Barage) (foto C. F. Feest).
not choose to rescue any of them from destruction.^^
Other missionaries preserved some of the material expressions of Native
religious life, if for differing reasons. It has already been mentioned that the
small ethnographic collection assembled around 1850 by the Belgian missionary
Florimond Bonduel is almost exclusively made up of Menominee ceremonial
objects, including various anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures carved of
wood (Fig. 9). Bonduel's primary goal in collecting these "hideous objects" seems
to have been his desire to display them as tangible evidence of the vast progress
the Menominee had made from being "committed to magic and all the
superstitions of paganism" to representing true "models of virtue and Christian
piety," thus underscoring "the force of grace" as well as his own achievements.^^
Another conspicuous object in Bonduel's collection (and one of the very few still
extant today) is a wooden board, whose engravings relate to the personal vision
of a Menominee religious specialist. A similar board was also collected by Cachet,
whose interest in Menominee ceremonial art was apparently inspired by curiosity
and a desire to better imderstand their religious views and customs .^^ This interest
35 Cp., e.g., Baraga (1832:11; 1833:16).
36 Cp. Bonduel (1855: 6).
37 Cp. Kasprycki (1994).
343
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Figure 9: Ceremonial objects carved of wood. Menominee, Wisconsin, collected by Florimond
Bonduel around 1850. After Bonduel (1855: pi. facing 7). ¦ SUka 9: Obredni predmeti, izrezarü iz
lesa. Menomini, Wisconsin, Florimond Bonduel okrog 1850. Po Bonduelu (1855: plošča nasproti 7).
344
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
did not, however, favorably influence his aesthetic judgments, nor can it be
separated from his missionary priorities, since it has to be borne in mind that
knowledge about indigenous cultures was one of the most important prerequisites
for changing them?* The Pitzer collection likewise includes a few items of religious
significance, among them an Ottawa medicine bag used for storing various
medicines and paraphernalia and related to the rituals of the Medicine society;
obviously alienated from its original purpose by its Catholic owner, this object
had come into Pitzer's possession as a "arrow quiver" or "storage bag."^'
A segment of Native material culture which impressed missionaries and
other White visitors to the area alike were means of transportation. While quilled
birchbark manufactures or carved wooden objects were appreciated for their
beauty or skillful making, indigenous means of transportation were admired
simply for their practicality or their ingenuity in coping with environmental
conditions, and they were often also adopted by White people who recognized
their superiority. Listed under the category of "household and wooden utensils,"
Baraga's collection includes a pair of Chippewa snowshoes of the "swallow tail"-
type, the construction of which is also described in his book.*" Baraga availed
himself of this "ingenious and useful invention" on his winter travels, and that
his example was followed by his successors is documented by a pair of snowshoes
in the Pitzer collection, which had been used by the Slovenian missionary Ignac
Mrak." Both Baraga and Pitzer commented on the ease and speed with which
Native people covered long distances on snowshoes, even though Baraga had to
admit that effective walking on snowshoes required a lot of practice and severely
taxed his strength. Similar descriptions of the manufacture of snowshoes among
the Menominee (including their ability to construct provisional ones when
surprised by snow on their travels) are likewise offered by Cachet, who was
especially taken by Native survival sküls.^^
Another means of transportation widely used in the eastern Woodlands
were the birchbark canoes, whose advantages were also valued by many White
people on the frontier. These boats combined considerable carrying capacity
and speed with light weight, which made them easy to transport over portages
and thus optimally suited to the terrain. Missionaries seldom failed to describe
the construction of birchbark boats, and Baraga, who termed them an "artistic
production," declared that they would "arouse admiration in any stianger who
saw them for the first time."''^
38 Cp. also Eves (1998; 52-53).
35 Cp. Pitzer (1854; 15); Feest (1968; 46, pi. 5).
« Cp. Golob (1997: 292-293, fig. 53); Baraga (1837a; 84-85).
" Cp. Pitzer (1854:17); Feest and Kasprycki (1993; 66, fig. 50).
42 Cp. Baraga (1834a; 5; 1837a: 85); Cachet (1890; 264); cp. also comparable descriptions by Mazzuchelli
(1967: 77).
43 "...eine Art von Kähnen, welche, wenn ein Fremder sie zum ersten Mahle sieht, Bewunderung in
ihm errregen" (Baraga 1837a: 82). Cp. Baraga (1837a: 80-84); Cachet (1890:225-226,264).
345
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Figure 10: Miniature birchbark boat. Length 64 cm. Menominee, Wisconsin, collected in 1860.
Musée d'Ethnographie, Université de Fribourg, cat. no. 2066 (Antoine-Marie Cachet coll.)
(photo C. F. Feest). ¦ Slika 10: Miniaturni čoln iz brezovega lubja. Dolžina 64 cm. Menomini,
Wisconsin, 1860. Etnografski muzej univerze v Fribourgu, kat. št. 2066 (zbirka Antoine-Marie
Cacheta) (foto C. E Feest).
Models of such boats, like the one in Baraga's collection, were produced in
great quantities for the tourist trade and are present in many collections.^ Apart
from lacking the sail with which Baraga's model is equipped, a Menominee
miniature bark canoe collected by Cachet bears a strong resemblance to the former;
it was given him as a present by one of his converts (Fig. 10). While both of these
miniatures correspond in the details of their construction to the large boats, the
model canoes in Pitzer's collection are less realistically made and decorated with
colored quills, and thus maybe more typical of the average tourist item. Cachet's
collection also contains a model of the other boat type in use among Native
peoples of the region, a dugout canoe made from a hollowed tree trunk. The
dugout model is also furnished with a jacklight, i.e., a device for holding a torch
by the light of which one could spear fish in the dark. Paul Kane painted such a
scene in 1845 among the Menominee; its picturesque aspect was much admired
by Cachet, who also praised the dexterity which the Menominee displayed at
spearing fish in this way.*^
In stark contrast to the admiration for Native means of transportation
expressed by missionaries and other Whites, indigenous house forms usually
came under severe attack and constituted a focus of Euroamerican assimilation
projects. Next to subsistence patterns and forms of clothing, houses and building
techrüques were considered important markers of the extent of the Native peoples'
progress in "civilization." Baraga's harsh criticism of Native dwellings is quite
« Cp. Golob (1997:289-292, fig. 52).
« Cp. Cachet (1890:233,234,245,274).
346
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
Figure 11: Miniature wigwam covers of birchbark. Ca. 47 cm x 13 cm and 36 cm x 13.5 cm.
Southwestern Chippewa, collected in 1835-1836. Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana, cat. nos.
E 2870, E 18151, E 18152, E 18153, E 18154 (Friderik Baraga coll.) (photo E Golob). ¦ Slika 11:
Miniaturne kritine za wigwam iz brezovega lubja. Okrog 47 cm x 13 cm in 36 cm x 13,5 cm.
Jugozahodni Očipvejci, 1835-1836, Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana, kat št. E 2870, E 18151,
E 18152, E 18153, E 18154 (zbirka Friderika Barage) (foto F Golob).
t3rpical of missionary civilization programs, which aimed at persuading the local
people to give up their traditional homes in favor of European-style houses.
This part of indigenous material culture figures in Baraga's collection in the
form of five pieces of birchbark representing miniature wigwam covers, which
were used for the conical as well as for the dome-shaped structures built by the
Chippewa (Fig. 11).*^ In his book, Baraga commented on the difference between
traditional house forms and the dwellings built by the Christianized Indians
and described the former thus:
"The only difference is that the Indians already converted to Christianity,
whom one guides in every way to a decent and civilized life, buUd themselves
decent houses like the civilized country folk in this part of the world. Only the
pagan Indians still make for themselves very miserable little huts, in the way of
their forebears. They plant long thin poles in a circle in the ground, and bend
and bind them together in the form of arches; then they cover this weak structure
with large pieces of birchbark or mats, which they manufacture from a kind of
rushes, or with buffalo hides, and fasten them all around to the poles. On top
they leave an opening, which serves them at the same time as window and
« Cp. Golob (1997:264-266, figs. 24-28).
347
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
chimney. On one side they leave another opening, through which they go in and
out. In the middle of the hut a fire is kept burrüng constantly, around which the
Indians sit or lie on mats or on birchbark, smoking tobacco. In these miserable
huts the smoke is often so strong that one can hardly see the other.
Among the Ottawa of Michigan, Baraga's instructions quickly brought on
results and in 1833, he proudly reported his successes in a letter to the Leopoldine
Foundation in Vienna:
"The way of life of the converted savages of this mission station, especially
in parish village itself, now resembles very much the way of life of the Whites.
In the parish village of Arbre Croche, there are already 36 finished houses, which
are only of wood, but very solid and habitable. [...] In the branch villages, the
converted Indians likewise begin to buud comfortable houses instead of their
miserable huts, and in this way, the temporal blessings which Christianity gives
to humankind become more and more visible."***
Thus, the presence of this object in Baraga's collection represents a kind of
irony: the attempt to preserve in a glass case an aspect of Native life and material
culture, which missionary and government programs for the "improvement" of
the Native populations in real life tried very hard to replace with Euroamerican
standards of living.
Baraga's group of "household and wooden utensils" also comprises a
nvmiber of textile products: a cradle wrapper of cloth, decorated with silk ribbon
appliqué in an early, geometric style, a twined bag (apparently lost today), and
two small rush mats. A Chippewa bandoleer bag, of interest because it combines
the two techniques of finger-weaving and heddle-weaving, is identified by Baraga
as a "tobacco pouch" and as such included in the category of "men's and war
implements."*' Textile techniques, like ribbon-work, embroidery, basketry, or
weaving and twining were usually regarded in a favorable light by the
¦47 "Der einzige Unterschied besteht darin, daß die bereits zum Christenthume bekehrten Indier, die
man in jeder Rücksicht zu einem ordentlichen und civilisirten Leben anleitet, sich ordentliche Häuser machen,
wie das civilisirte Landvolk diese Welttheils. AUein die heidnischen Indier machen sich noch immer, nach Art
ihrer Vorfahren, sehr elende kleine Hütten. Sie stecken lange dünne Stangen in der Runde in die Erde, und
biegen und binden sie bogenförmig zusammen; dann bedecken sie dieses schwache Gerüst mit großen
Birkeru-inden oder mit Matten, die sie aus einer Art von Schilf verfertigen, oder mit Büffelhäuten, und binden
sie rundherum an die Stangen. Am Gipfel lassen sie eine Öffnung, die ihnen als Fenster und zugleich als
Rauchfang dient. An einer Seite lassen sie eine andere Öffnung, durch die sie aus und eingehen. In der Mitte
der Hütte wird ein beständiges Feuer unterhalten, um welches die Indier auf Matten oder auf Baumrinden
sitzen oder hegen, und Taback rauchen. In diesen armseligen Hütten raucht es oft so stark, daß kaum einer den
andern sieht" (Baraga 1837a: 64-65).
48 "Die Lebensweise der bekehrten Wilden dieser Missionsstation, besonders im Pfarrdorfe selbst, gleicht
nun sehr viel der Lebensweise der Weißen. Im Pfarrdorfe Arbre=Croche gibt es bereits 36 vollendete Häuser, die
zwar nur von Holz, jedoch sehr solid und gut bewohnbar sind. [...] Auch in den Filial=Dörfem fangen die bekehrten
Indier schon an, gut bewohnbare Häuser an die Stelle ihrer elenden Hütten zu bauen, und so werden auch hier die
zeitlichen Segnungen, die das Christenthum den Menschen gibt, immer sichtbarer" (Baraga 1834b: 20).
« Cp. Golob (1997:256-258,263-264,294-295, figs. 15,16,22,23,55); cp. Feest (1998) for comparative
notes and a discussion of various problems of attribution.
348
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
Figure 12: Rush mat. 77 cm x 35.5 cm.
Southwestern Chippewa, collected in
1835-1836. Slovenski etnografski muzej,
Ljubljana, cat. no. E 2864 (Friderik Baraga coU.)
(photo F. Golob). ¦ SUka 12: Rogoznica iz ločja.
77 cm x 35.5 cm. Jugozahodni Očipvejci,
1835-1836. Slovenski etnografski muzej,
Ljubljana, kat. št. E 2864 (zbirka Friderika
Barage) (foto F Golob).
missionaries and promoted as appropriate and useful female occupations.
Of these objects in the collection, the two rush mats are particularly
intriguing (Fig. 12). The manufacture of such mats was a labor-intensive process,
starting in early summer, when the rushes were gathered, dried, bleached, and
dyed in preparation of weaving, which combined plaiting and twining techniques
and was sometimes done in cooperation by several women. Apart from simple
striped designs, the center panel of these mats sometimes figured complex
geometric or representational motifs. Missionaries generally held these artifacts
in high estimation, especially since they were usually not aware of the fact that
in Native culture such mats functioned not merely as simple household articles
but also fulfilled various ritual purposes. Some of these mats, for example, were
used as wrappers for ceremonial bundles and occasionally displayed images of
supernatural beings. Given these symbolic associations, the use of rush mats in
the Christian churches as floor coverings, wall hangings, or even altar cloths
decidedly favored the "indigenization" of the Catholic ritual.'" A mat collected
by Martin Pitzer, which had served as an altar decoration in the Ottawa church
of Cross Village, aptly illustrates this point: Obviously unnoticed by the priests,
the design panel of this mat shows rows of Thunderbirds, the powerful
supernatural beings of Algonquian mythology, thus indicating a blend of
traditional and Christian concepts in the practice of Native Catholicism.''
50 Cp. Kasprycki (1996: 47-49) for an extensive discussion of the role of rush mats in the practice of
Catholicism among the Menominee of Wisconsin.
51 Cp. Fitzer (1854:12); Feest and Kasprycki (1993:64, fig. 48).
349
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Figure 13: Moccasins of tanned buckskin and cloth, decorated with porcupine quill, silk ribbon
and glass bead appliqué. Length 24 cm. Southwestern Chippewa, collected in 1835-1836.
Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana, cat. no. E 2917 (Friderik Baraga coll.) (photo F. Golob). ¦
Slika 13: Mokasini iz strojene jelenove kože in blaga, okrašeni z bodicami ježevca, svilenimi
trakovi in aplikami iz steklenih biserov. Dolžina 24 cm. Jugozahodni Očipvejci, 1835-1836.
Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana, kat. št. E 2917 (zbirka Friderika Barage) (foto F. Golob).
Baraga's category of "clothing" comprises only three pairs of moccasins
(Fig. 13).'^ As has already been mentioned briefly, Native forms of dress, like
house forms, were a part of indigenous material culture heavily influenced by
the missionaries, who expected their converts to exchange their Native garments
for European-style dress. In this way, Western clothes quickly became a
characteristic feature of the Native Christian communities. Baraga's decidedly
critical attitude toward Native dress and personal adornment alternates between
accusations of vanity displayed by some of the women and "Indian dandies"
and reproaches for negligence of decency and hygiene on the part of others. He
hastens to add, however, that this was only true for the "pagans":
"The Christian Indians are carefully encouraged to cleanliness and decency
in their dress, and they are strictly forbidden all vanity. As soon as an Indian
who owns silver earrings, nose rings, and armbands is being converted to the
Christian religion, he has to exchange them at once for more useful articles of
52 "c) Kleidungsstücke" (Illyrisches Blatt 1837: 68). Cp. Golob (1997: 266-273, figs. 29-37); a correct
attribution of the various moccasins in the Slovene Ethnographic Museum in Ljubljana to Baraga's collecting
activities is again difficult and has been attempted by Feest (1998).
350
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
Figure 14: Detail of pipe-stem, wrapped with
plaited porcupine quiUs. Length 100 cm.
Southwestern Chippewa, collected in 1835-
1836. Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana,
cat. no. E 2875 (Friderik Baraga coll.) (photo
F. Golob). ¦ Slika 14: Detajl pipine cevi, ovite s
pletenimi bodicami ježevca. Dolžina 100 cm.
Jugozahodni Očipvejci, 1835-1836. Slovenski
etnografski muzej, Ljubljana, kat. št. E 2875
(zbirka Friderika Barage) (foto F. Golob).
dress, must never again paint his face, and put no more feathers in his hair."''
The fact that Baraga would have had to obtain indigenous items of dress
and ornament from the non-Christian faction of the tribe may perhaps explain
the lack of such objects in his collection. However, even those who had already
taken over Euroamerican forms of dress usually still favored moccasins over
European shoes. Interestingly enough, moccasins are also the only example of
dress in Cachet's collection (with the exception of a pair of beaded mittens).
That missionary collections do, however, sometimes contain items of dress, is
demonstrated by various specimens in the collection of Johann Georg Schwarz
in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vierma. Schwarz himself was not a missionary,
but he was the first secretary of the Leopoldine Foundation, and a greater part of
his large collection derived from the missions supported by this organization. A
53 "Jedoch muß bemerkt werden, daß alles dieses nur von den Heiden gilt. Die christUchen Indier
werden sorgfältig zur Reirüichkeit und Anständigkeit in der Bekleidung angehalten, und alle Eitelkeit wird
ihnen stienge verbothen. Sobald sich ein Indier, welcher sUbeme Ohrgehänge, Nasenringe und Armbänder
besitzt, zur christlichen Religion bekehrt, muß er sie sogleich gegen nützlichere Kleidungsstücke umtauschen,
darf sich rüe mehr sein Gesicht bemahlen, und keine Federn mehr in seine Haare stecken" (Baraga 1837a: 60).
Cp. Baraga (1837a: 57-64).
351
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Figure 15: Ball-headed club. Length 52 cm. Menominee, Wisconsin, collected around 1860.
Musée d'Ethnographie, Université de Fribourg, cat. no. 2041 (Antoine-Marie Cachet coll.)
(photo C. F. Feest). ¦ Slika 15: Kij z okroglo glavo. Dolžina 52 cm. Menomini, Wisconsin, okrog
1860. Etnografski muzej univerze v Fribourgu, kat. št. 2041 (zbirka Antoine-Marie Cacheta)
(foto C. F. Feest).
few pieces of dress decorated with silk ribbon appliqué, for example, were very
likely given to Schwarz by Bishop Frederick Rése, who had probably collected
them on a visit to the Menominee mission in the early 1830s.^*
Weapons and related objects, subsumed in Baraga's inventory under the
heading of "men's and war implements,"^^ represented a "savage" side of Native
culture which definitely had to be replaced with (ideal) Christian ways of life
and which therefore featured strongly in missionary rhetoric. Even if objects like
the ball-headed club from the Baraga collection were no longer used in actual
combat and mostly served ceremonial functions, missionaries seldom missed
the opportunity to dwell in detail on Native warfare and cruelty, or on practices
of scalping and ritual torture, sometimes regardless of whether such customs
were practiced by the group they were staying with or not.^*" A weapon similar
to the club in Baraga's collection was acquired by Cachet among the Menominee
(Fig. 14); even though Cachet notes that such clubs were no longer actively used
in war but rather functioned as symbols of authority for the chiefs, he does not
fail to draw attention to the marks on the handle of this club denoting the number
enemies its owner had slain. Comparable clubs are also found among the artifacts
collected by Pitzer, who likewise refers to a similar custom of marking the number
of killed enemies.
54 Cp. note 6; Kasprycki and Krpata (1988); Feest and Kasprycki (1993: 59, fig. 43).
55 "d) Manns= und Kriegsgeräthe" (lUyrisches Blatt 1837:68).
56 Cp. Colob (1997:284-286, fig. 49); Baraga (1837a: 147-164).
57 Cp. Cachet (1890:271-272); Pitzer (1854:14-15).
352
The Native American Collection of Friderik Baraga
Bows and arrows likewise belong to this group of artifacts;'* while either
used in war (a pursuit contrary to Christian values) or in hunting (often
denounced as a "lazy pastime" by nüssionaries trying to introduce European-
style agriculture), even the missionaries were impressed by Native
marksmanship, which hardly ever missed a shot and which was a skill practiced
from a very early age.''
The almost complete lack of artifacts relating to Native reUgious or
ceremonial practices has already been discussed earlier; as the only exception
can be considered the two "peace pipes" related to the instnmients of warfare
and included in this group of objects.''" While Baraga personally considered
smoking a "disgusting custom," he nonetheless described in some detau the
various ceremonial functions of pipe smoking in Native culture.*^ Cachet differed
from Baraga in this respect: A smoker himself, he did not refuse a pipe when
offered one and, indeed, declared that the Indian "kinnikinnic" he had smoked
with the Menominee chief lometah was the best tobacco that he had ever tasted .^^
Three types of Menominee pipe-stems are represented in his collection: a flat
stem with cut-out designs, a stem decorated with file brand marks; and one
ornamented with quiH-wrapping, horse hair, and silk ribbons; another pipe stem
originally owned by a Chippewa religious specialist is unforttmately lost today.
While Cachet's stems are missing the corresponding pipe bowls, the two pipe
heads in Baraga's collection can be regarded as very fine examples of Native
stone carving. Of the two stems, the round one wrapped with quills features a
simple banded design; the flat stem, on the other hand, is wrapped with plaited
quills in such a way as to form images of the most important supernatural powers
of the Algonquian cosmos: Thunderbirds and Underwater Panthers (Fig. 15). In
this way. Native cosmology and religious iconography are at least involvmtarily
illustrated in Baraga's collection.
As a representative survey of Native life, Baraga's collection is certainly
not exhaustive. Apart from religious paraphernalia (as featured, for example, in
the Bonduel collection), many other cultural domains are missing, among them
that of games and pastimes (reflected in Cachet's collection by the presence of a
lacrosse stick) or that of music (represented by a flute in the Pitzer collection).
The picture of Native life and culture emerging from the selection of artifacts,
however, can demonstrably be linked to the aims and processes of evangelization
by analyzing it in the context of the missionary discourse of Baraga's time. In
keeping with missionary agendas, they emphasize deficiencies of indigenous
58 Cp. Golob (1997: 278-284, figs. 41^8). In addition, Baraga also collected a quill-ornamented knife
sheath (Golob 1997:260-261, fig. 19) and a spear head of copper apparently lost today (Illyrisches Blatt 1837:68).
59 Cp. Baraga (1837a: 87-88); Pitzer (1854:14).
60 Cp. Golob (1997: 274-277, figs. 39,40).
61 Cp. Baraga (1837a: 6,50,167); Illyrisches Blatt (1837:68).
62 Cp. Cachet (1890:149).
353
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
beliefs and customs, while pointing out the Native peoples' intellectual and
physical abilities. They advocate missionary efforts and seek to win moral and
financial support for missionary ventures among peoples not only so desperately
in need of them, but also so deserving.
REFERENCES
BARAGA, Friedrich:
1832 [Letter to Zentraldirektion der Leopoldinenstiftung, Arbre Croche, MI, 22 August 1831]. In:
Berichte der Leopoldinenstiftung 4: 5-12.
1833 [Letter to Zentraldirektion der Leopoldinenstiftung, Arbre Croche, MI, 1 July 1832]. In:
Berichte der Leopoldinenstiftung 5: 11-18.
1834a [Letter to Zentraldirektion der Leopoldinenstiftung, Arbre Croche, MI, 3 June 1833]. In:
Berichte der Leopoldinenstiftung 7: 5-10.
1834b [Letter to Zentraldirektion der Leopoldinenstiftimg, Arbre Croche, MI, 25 August 1833].
In: Berichte der Leopoldinenstiftung 7: 17-22.
1836 [Letter to Zentraldirektion der Leopoldinenstiftung, Detioit, MI, 13 March 1835]. In:
Berichte der Leopoldinenstiftung 9: 51-53.
1837a Geschichte, Character, Sitten und Gebräuche der nord=amerikanischen Indier. Theils aus
zuverlässigen Quellen, theils aus eigener Erfahrung gesammelt und herausgegeben.
Laibach: Joseph Blasnik.
1837b Popis navad in sadershanja Indijanov Polnozhne Amerike. Ljubljana: Joshef Blasnik.
1837c Abregé de l'histoire des indiens de l'Amérique septentrionale. Paris: E. J. BaiUy.
1850 A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language [...]. Detroit: Jabez Fox.
(2nd ed., Montreal 1878: Beauchemin & Valois.)
1853 A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language [...]. 2 vols. Cincinnati, OH: Joseph A. Hermann.
(2nd ed., Monb-eal 1878: Beauchemin & Valois.)
1973 A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, Explained in English. 2 vols. [1878] Minneapolis,
MN: Ross & Haines.
BONDUEL, Florimond:Tableau comparatif entre la condition morale des tiibus indiennes de
l'état du Wisconsin. Tournai: J. Casterman et fils, 1855.
CEGLAR, Charles A.: Baragiana Collection: 1. The Works of Bishop Baraga; 2. Bibliography.
Hamilton, ON: Baragiana Publishing, 1991-1992.
CREPAU, Rosemary: Un apôtre dominicain aux Etats-Unis. Le pere Samuel-Charles-Gaétan
Mazzuchelli. Paris: de Gigord, 1932.
EVES, Richard: Missionary or Collector? The Case of George Brown. In: Museum Anthropology
22(1)71998, 49-60.
FEEST, Christian p.:
1968 Indianer Nordamerikas. Wien: Museum für Völkerkunde.
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FEEST, Christian F. and Sylvia S. Kasprycki: Über Lebenskunst nordamerikanischer Indianer.
Wien: Museum für Völkerkvmde, 1993.
CACHET, Antoine-Marie:
1861 Letter to Bishop Martin Henni, Keshena, WI, 4 April 1861. Archives of the Archdiocese of
Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI.
1890 Cinque ans en Amérique. Journal d'un missionaire. Fribourg: Imprimerie Suisse
Cathohque.
GOLOB, France: Misijonarji, darovalci indijanskih predmetov: zbirka Slovenskega etnografskega
muzeja. Ljubljana: Slovenski etnografski muzej, 1997. (Knjižnica Slovenskega
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1837 Verzeichnis der für das Landes-Miiseum eingegangenen Beiträge. Illyrisches Blatt 1837: 67-68.
JEZERNIK, Maksimilijan: Frederick Baraga, a Portrait of the First Bishop of Marquette Based on
the Archives of the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide. In: Studia Slovenica (New York,
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KASPRYCKI, Sylvia S.:
1994 Sirens, Tapirs, and Egyptian Totems: Toward an Interpretation of Menominee ReHgious
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KASPRYCKI, Sylvia and Margit Krpata; Hildesheim - Detroit - Wien. Bischof Rese als Sammler
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Ljubljaiü. In: Slovenski etnograf 6-7/1954,139-146.
PITZER, Martin; Verzeichniß der Gegenstände und Arbeiten eines Indianer=Stammes im
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ŠTRUKELJ, Pavla:
1974 Etnološka zbirka severnoameriških Indijancev Ojibwa iz 19. stoletja v Slovenskem
etnografskem muzeju - zbiralci Friderik Baraga, Franc Pire, Ivan Čebul. In; Slovenski
etnograf 25-26: 109-142.
1979 Applied Art of the Ojibwa Indians (1830-1880). In; Justine M. CordweU (ed.). The Visual
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355
356
INDIJANSKA ZBIRKA FRIDERIKA BARAGE:
MISIJONAR KOT ETNOGRAFSKI ZBIRALEC^
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
357
Predmeti, ki jih ustvarjajo človekove roke, so mnogo več kot zgolj stvari za
zadovoljevanje fizičnih potreb ali stvari, ki samo služijo posebnim namenom, za
katere so bili izdelani. Nanje lahko gledamo kot na izjave o tem, kako ljudje
dojemajo svet okrog sebe, kako opredelijo svoje mesto in mesto drugih v tem
svetu in o njihovi interakciji z naravnim okoljem, s soljudmi in z nadnaravnim
svetom. Kot taki so predmeti vidni in otipljivi izrazi osebne in kulturne identitete.
Zato je povsem razumljivo, da so materialne stvari vedno igrale pomembno
vlogo pri srečanjih med kulturami in zlasti pri srečanjih med Indijanci in
krščanskimi misijonarji.
V pisanju misijonarjev je veliko dokazov o pomenu, ki so ga poslanci (kato-
liškega in protestantskega) krščanstva pripisovali materialnim manifestacijam
verovanj in kulturnim običajem. Materialni simboli so bili bogati viri informacij
o "drugem" in vsaka stran jih je interpretirala v skladu z lastnimi kulturnimi
normami. Zato so misijonarji mnoge vidike indijanske kulture dojemali in o njih
sodili na osnovi njihovega načina izražanja v predmetih in so svoja prizadevanja
temu ustrezno prilagodili. Njihov cilj je bü verska spreobrnitev, ker pa so svoje
ideološke kategorije istovetili s specifičnimi materialnimi oblikami (ali z
odsotnostjo takih oblik), je razumljivo, da so se spremembe, ki so jih prinesli,
pokazale večinoma in najbolj izrazito na materialnem področju. Krščanstvo je
bilo neločljivo povezano s "civiliziranim" načinom življenja in z njegovimi
atributi, uspeh misijonarjevih prizadevanj pa so dejansko pogosto merili po tem,
do kakšne mere so Indijanci sprejeli zahodne oblike oblačenja, bivanja ali
tehnologije preživetja.
Misijonarjevo zbiranje predmetov lahko imamo za en vidik tega stalnega
in interizivnega ukvarjanja z indijansko materialno kulturo. Upoštevati moramo,
da zbrati predmete vedno pomeni iztrgati jih iz njihovega izvirnega konteksta
1 Prejšnji verziji tega članka sem predstavila na Tretji konferenci severne amerikanistike, Etnološki
muzej, Berlin, 28.-30.9 1996, in na simpoziju "Slovenski misijonar Irenej Friderik Baraga (1797-1868) in njegov
prispevek k etnologiji," Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana, 16.-20.6.1997. Zahvaljujem se Christianu F.
Feestu za kritične opombe in za nekaj izmed fotografij, ki jih v tem članku uporabljam.
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Uporabe in pomena za to, da služijo našim lastnim interesom in potrebam - pa
naj gre za radovednost, za znanost ali za misijonarsko propagando. Čeprav je
res, da so bile nekatere misijonarske zbirke zbrane na strokovni način in v interesu
znanosti, njihova sestava in naknadna uporaba pogosto razkrivata drugačen
temeljni motiv, posebno če jih gledamo v širšem kontekstu misijonarskega
diskurza o materialrü kulturi Indijancev.
Kot dokazuje vrsta novejših teoretičnih študij o vlogi materialne kulture v
misijonarskem procesu, zbiralnih aktivnosti misijonarjev in njihovega odnosa
do izdelkov Indijancev ne smemo gledati ločeno od širšega programa
evangelizacije ali od obstoječega razmerja moči v kolonialnem okolju. Za retoriko
misijonarjev lahko ugotovimo, da niha med dvema imperativnima zahtevama:
predstavljati indijanska ljudstva kot ujeta v "divjaštvu" ali "poganski temi", kar
pomeni, da potiebujejo pomoč misijonarjev in, na drugi stiani, prikazovanje
Indijancev kot potencialno sposobne duhovnega in civilizacijskega napredka,
kar opravičuje misijonarjeva prizadevanja v njihovo korist. Predstavitve
indijanske materialne kulture služijo obema ciljema. Na eni stiani najdemo
pohvalo za vrsto predmetov, ki jih imajo misijonarji za dokaz iznajdljivosti,
pameti, marljivosti ali preprosto ustvarjalnosti Indijancev. To so skratka vse stvari,
ki bi jih lahko uvrstili v kategorijo "lepega" ali "koristnega". Take predmete so
pogosto izpostavljali kot temeljni dokaz sposobnosti Indijancev, da se učijo in
da postanejo "civilizirani". Predmete drugih vrst pa so opisali kot "primitivne"
ali ""barbarske" šege (npr. v zvezi z orožjem) ali "poganske" prakse (npr. v
zvezi z verskimi pripomočki). Za misijonarje so ti predmeti predstavljali področja
kulture, ki naj bi jih preoblikovalo krščanstvo. Čim je bil ta cilj dosežen, so ti
predmeti bili zgolj ostanki preteklosti, ki so jo Indijanci s pomočjo misijonarjev
pustili za sabo, in nanje je bilo torej mogoče gledati kot na "trofeje" in priče
misijonarjevega uspeha. V končni analizi sta tako pozitivno kot negativno
vrednotenje služili legitinüranju misijonarskega programa: ocene misijonarjev
so "dokazale", da so indijanska ljudstva očitno potrebna dvojnih koristi, tj.
krščanstva in civilizacije, ampak tudi to, da so bila vredna obojega.^
S teh zgoraj navedenih vidikov bi rada obravnavala majhno, vendar
pomembno etnografsko zbirko, ki jo je slovenski misijonar Friderik Baraga na
začetku tietjega desetietja osemnajstega stoletja zbral med Otavci in Očipvejci z
zahodnega območja Velikih jezer in ki jo danes hrani Slovenski etnografski muzej
v Ljubljani.' Z umeščanjem Baragovih zbiralnih aktivnosti v kontekstu
prevladujočega misijonarskega diskurza o indijanski materialni kulturi bomo
morda dobili vpogled v Baragovo lastno oceno zbranih predmetov, pa tudi v
načela, ki so ga pri izbiranju predmetov vodila. Cilj te analize je svež pogled na
2 Glej npr. Thomas (1991:151-162), Lawson (1994), Kasprycki (1996) in Eves (1998) za bolj temeljite
predstavitve teh argumentov.
3 O Baragovi etnografski zbirki. Glej Orel (1954), Štrukelj (1974,1979), Golob (1997). Feest (1998) podaja
kritično oceno zbirke s primerjalnega vidika in obravnava nekatere sporne pripise, ki niso predmet pričujočega
članka.
358
Indijanska zbirka Friderika Barage
kakovost, na sestavo in na motive Baragove etnografske zbirke, temelji pa na
preučevanju pisnih virov in na tem, kaj povedo o odnosu misijonarja do
indijanskih predmetov in do področij kulture, ki jih predstavljajo, ter na
primerjavah tega specifičnega gradiva z drugimi zbirkami misijonarjev iz
devetnajstega stoletja z zahodnega območja Velikih jezer.
Kot eden izmed prvih misijonarjev v prostranstvih zahodno od ameriških
Velikih jezer, kjer so bili belci še redko naseljeni, je Friderik Baraga postal zgled
za vrsto misijonarjev, ki so šli po njegovih stopinjah. Rojen 1797 in posvečen
duhovnik pri šestindvajsetih letih je Baraga prispel v Združene države Amerike
leta 1831. Potem ko je več mesecev bival v Cincinnatiju (takratni sedež škofije, ki
je skrbela za današnje zvezne države Ohio, Michigan in Wisconsin), so mu maja
istega leta dodelili otavski misijon, najprej v vasi Arbre Croche, pozneje pa v
vasi Crand River v Michiganu. Kot človek izrednih ambicij in misijonarske vneme
je na svoje poslanstvo gledal bolj kot na izziv pri spreobračanju Indijancev h
krščanski veri kot na rutinsko vodenje zakotne župnije in kmalu je želel razširiti
svoje delovno območje. Že po štirih letih se je julija 1835 odpravil naprej proti
zahodu in ustanovil misijon med Očipvejci v Lapointu, pozneje pa še v L'Ansu
na Zgornjem jezeru (gl. si. 1). Ker je bila Baragova etnografska zbirka zbrana v
toku prvih pet let njegovih misijonarskih aktivnosti in ker so jo leta 1836 poslali
v Evropo kot donacijo predhodniku sedanjega Slovenskega etnografskega muzeja
v Ljubljani, tu ni potrebno, da bi se ukvarjala z Baragovo poznejšo kariero, ki je,
kakor vemo, dosegla višek z njegovim imenovanjem za škofa Saulta Ste. Marie
in pozneje Marquetta.
Poteku Baragovega zbiranja predmetov, kot ga v novejši knjigi povzame
Golob in ki ga kritično obravnava Feest, lahko sledimo skozi vrsto dokumentov.^
Čeprav misijonar zbirko prvič omenja v pismu sestri Amaliji Gressel z dne 3.
decembra 1836, ko je že prispel v Evropo, da bi zbiral finančno pomoč za njegov
misijon, vemo, da je prvo pobudo za zbiranje indijanskih etnografskih predmetov
za Kranjski deželni muzej, ustanovljen 1821, dal že leta 1833 grof Franz Joseph
von Flohenwart, predsednik kuratorija mladega muzeja. Čeprav se je Baraga
najprej izgovarjal na pomanjkanje časa in na prednost njegovih dušnopastirskih
nalog, da bi se tako izognil tej dodatni zadolžitvi, ni izključeno, da je kakšen
predmet ali več predmetov prišlo v njegove roke, preden se je odločil ustrezati
Hohenwartovi prošnji. Misijonarji so sredi vsakdanjega življenja indijanskih
skupnosti pogosto dobivali ali pridobivali predmete. Zato je bilo več razlogov:
poleg namenskega zbiranja so jih pogosto dobivali kot darila od svojih
spreobrnjencev ali pa so indijanske predmete uporabili za lastno udobje. Mogoče
je tudi dokumentirati, da je Baraga svojemu nadrejenemu vikarju generalu in
poznejšemu škofu Fredericku Réséju poslal etnografske predmete za njegovo
4 Podrobne informacije o Baragovem življenjepisu in duhovniški karieri so npr. v Jezemik (1968); Glej
hidi Golob (1997:210-211).
5 Glej Golob (1997:218-228); Feest (1998).
359
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
zbirko.'^ V smislu tega prispevka moramo vendar poudariti, tako kot je storil že
Feest, da je Baragova odločitev o donaciji zbirke predmetov Kranjskemu
deželnemu muzeju sovpadala z njegovim nameravanim potovanjem v Evropo
zaradi zbiranja sredstev in da ta odločitev priča o istem motivu kot pri mnogih
drugih misijonarjih zbiralcih: pospešiti evangelijsko delo z opozarjanjem javnosti
na način življenja Indijancev in na dosežke misijonarjev med njimi/
Neposrednega pomena, ne samo za kulturno kontekstualizacijo
predmetov, ampak tudi za indice o Baragovi lastni klasifikaciji predmetov, sta
dva preživela inventarna seznama zbirke v rokopisu, oba sestavljena leta 1837,
izmed katerih je enega Baraga sam opremil z opombami in je služil kot osnova
za seznam pridobitev, ki ga je kmalu zatem objavil Ilirski list.* Baragova knjiga
Zgodovina, značaj, nravi in šege severnoameriških Indijancev je ravno tako
izšla leta 1837 v nemški, francoski in slovenski izdaji,' in čeprav nekateri
etnografski opisi v njej ne temeljijo na osebnih izkušnjah, ampak so povzeti iz
objavljene literature, je knjiga vreden vir o Baragovem splošnem odnosu do
indijanskih kultur, s katerimi se je srečal. Bližja njegovim osebnim opazovanjem
so številna njegova pisma, objavljena v poročilih Leopoldinini ustanovi na
Dimaju, ki je finančno podpirala njegovega in druge misijone v Severrü Ameriki.
Čeprav so jih pred objavo uredili in čeprav so bila namenjena temu, da
dobrotnikom predstavljajo njegove aktivnosti v kar najlepši luči, nudijo ta pisma
bogate etnografske informacije in rišejo podrobno sliko vsakdanjega življenja
na misijonarskih postajah. Baraga se je poleg s knjigo, s pismi in z drugim
pisanjem uveljavil tudi zaradi jezikoslovnega dela: napisal je molitvenik in
katehizem v očipvejščini in otavščini, temu pa sta sledila očipvejska slovnica
in slovar očipvejščine, ki sta doživela več izdaj.'"
Spodnja razprava o Baragovem zbiranju skuša ugotoviti vzporednice s
podobnimi prizadevanji drugih misijonarjev devetnajstega stoletja na zahodnem
območju Velikih jezer in jih skuša oceniti v kontekstu Baragovega pisanja in
pisanja drugih misijonarjev. V tej zvezi bom večkrat za primerjavo omenila
obsežno zbirko otavskega gradiva v Etnološkem muzeju na Dunaju, ki ga sicer
rü zbral misijonar, vendar izvira iz misijonarskega konteksta. Zbral jo je namreč
6 Frederick Rése (ali Friedrich Rese), ki je odločilno pripomogel k ustanovitvi avstrijske Leopoldinine
ustanove za finančno podporo katoUških misijonov v Zdriiženih državah, je načrtno spodbujal misijonarje v
svoji škofiji k pošiljanju etnografskih predmetov in znano je, da je tudi sam zbiral predmete med vizitacijami
indijanskih skupnosti. Nekaj predmetov, ki jih je Rése na ta način pridobil, je končalo v zbirki Johanna Georga
Schwarza, prvega ameriškega kor\zula na Dunaju in tajnika Leopoldinine ustanove. Danes jih hraiü Etnološki
muzej na Dunaju. Glej Kasprycki in Krpata (1988); Feest in Kasprycki (1993:16-17).
7 Glej med drugim Kasprycki (1994: 95); Uwson (1994:32-33); Eves (1998:50-51).
8 Glej Golob (1997:219-224); Feest (1998: zlasti opombo 6); Ilirski list (1837).
9 Glej Baraga (1837a, 1837b, 1837c).
10 Glej med drugim Baraga (1850,1853,1973). Za izčrpno bibliografijo ogromnega Baragovega opusa
objavljenih in neobjavljenih del glej Ceglar (1991-1992); glej hidi Šmitek (1993).
11 Glej Pitzer (1854); Feest in Kasprycki (1993:17).
360
Indijanska zbirka Friderika Barage
avstrijski cerkveni slikar Martin Pitzer, ki je na začetku druge polovice 19.
stoletja (tj. približno dve desetletji po Baragovem službovanju tam) obiskal
otavske vasi Arbre Croche in Cross Village, v času, ko sta tam službovala
slovenska duhovrüka Franc Pire (Franz Pierz) in Ignac (Ignaz) Mrak. Pitzerjeva
naloga je bila s svojo umetnostjo olepšati indijanske cerkve, vendar je našel
tudi čas za zbiranje precejšnjega števila predmetov, ki jih je doma razkazoval
na potujoči razstavi in tako skušal zbirati denar za otavski misijon. Objavil je
tudi katalog k razstavi oz. predstavi, ki vsebuje dodatne informacije o kulturnem
kontekstu predmetov in o njihovih indijanskih imenih, ki mu jih je povedal
prav Baraga."
Zbirko etnografskih predmetov, ki spominja na Baragovo v smislu obsega
in vsebine, je v letih 1859 - 1862 med Menomini v Wisconsu zbral švicarski
kapucinski misijonar Antoine-Marie Cachet. Katoliški misijon pri Menominih,
ki so v kulturnem sorodstvu z Otavci in z Očipvejci, je približno četrt stoletja
prej ustanovil italijanski dominikanec Samuele Mazzuchelli, ki mu ji bil Baraga
za zgled. V treh letih misijonarskega dela med Menomini je Cachet sistematično
zbiral etnografske podatke in se kot Baraga posvetil tudi jezikoslovju in napisal
osnutek slovnice za menominščino. V knjigi, ki jo je objavil kasneje in ki dekio
temelji na njegovih dnevnikih, so obsežni komentarji o življenju in o materialni
kulturi Menominov in tudi podrobnosti o dejanskih okoliščinah zbiranja. Zbirko
menominskih predmetov je podaril mestnemu muzeju v rojstnem kraju Fribourg
v Švici in jo danes hrani Etnografski muzej imiverze v Fribourgu.'^
Vendar Cachet ni bil prvi misijonar med Menomini, ki je zbiral etnografske
predmete. Eden njegovih predhodnikov, belgijski duhovnik Florimond Bonduel,
ki je v katoliški menonimski skupnosti služboval od 1846 do 1853, je že zbral
majhno zbirko zlasti verskih pripomočkov, izmed katerih je preživelo le nekaj
predmetov, ki jih sedaj hrani vatikanski muzej." Čeprav je precej manjša od
katerekoli izmed omenjenih zbirk, predmeti v njej pričajo o tem, da je bil
Bonduelov pristop k zbiranju nekoliko drugačen. Obredne predmete, ki so mu
jih njegovi indijanski spreobrnjenci podarili oz. izročili v skladu z običajno in
razširjeno prakso, je Bonduel imel za izrazite in otipljive dokaze o zmagi
krščanstva in civilizacije nad prejšnjim praznoverjem in nad "poganskimi" šegami
Menominov."^
Čeprav je Bonduel morda še najbolj odkrit glede povezanosti svoje zbirke
z misijonarskimi nalogami, bom v pričujočem prispevku skušala pokazati, da so
podobni (čeprav manj očitni) motivi bili izhodišče tudi za Baragovo in druge
zbirke misijonarjev njegove dobe.
Prva skupina predmetov, omenjenih na inventamem seznamu Baragove
12 Glej Cachet (1890); za kratko poroälo o Gachetovem misijonu pri Menominih in o historiatu njegove
zbirke, glej Kasprycki (1994:94-96).
13 O Bonduelovem življenjepisu in o usodi njegove zbirke, glej Kasprycki (1994:94-95).
i3a Glej Bonduel (1855); Kasprycki (1996:46).
361
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
zbirke iz leta 1837^^ so "industrijski predmeti, vsi izdelani iz lubja sevemoamerške
breze."'' Brezovo lubje je bilo surovina za vrsto različnih gospodinjskih in
uporabnih predmetov v vsakdanjem življenju Indijancev na zahodnem območju
Velikih jezer. Vendar so Indijanci razne manjše predmete iz brezovega lubja,
skrbno okrašene z barvanimi bodicami ježevca in z geometričnimi motivi ali
podobami, izdelali predvsem zaradi prodaje belcem. Izdelali pa so jih v
velikanskih količinah in jih pogosto najdemo v misijonarskih in drugih zbirkah
s tega območja. Dokaj splošen tip izdelka je bila majhna škatla, zvita iz kosa
brezovega lubja, okrašena z bodicami ježevca in polnjena z javorjevim sladkorjem;
takih škatel je v Baragovi zbirki kar nekaj (si. 2)}^ Indijanci so jih večinoma
prodajali kot spominke, včasih pa so bila darUa, ki so si jih izmenjali sorodrüki
in prijatelji v indijanski skupnosti.
Misijonarji so o teh predmetih, okrašenih z bodicami ježevca, na splošno
imeli izrazito pozitivno mnenje. Pohvalili so umetniško ustvarjalnost, ki so jo
Indijanke pokazale pri izdelovanju teh predmetov in so jih celo spodbujali k
izdelovanju. Cachet - v njegovi zbirki sta prav tako dve škatli z javorjevim
sladkorjem - je opisal menominsko vezenje z bodicami kot "posebno ljubko" in
je poudaril zimanjo privlačnost teh predmetov:
"Nič ni bolj ljubko kot te drobne škatle z javorjevim sladkorjem, ki jih krasijo
s tovrstnim vezenjem in tako naredijo darua iz njih."'^
Vendar pohvala ni veljala zgolj estetskemu videzu predmetov. Poleg tega,
da so bili navdušeni nad njihovo natančno izdelavo, so misijonarji zlasti hvalili
potrpežljivost in marljivost, s katerima so jih izdelovali - tj. vrlini, ki nista bili
cenjeni samo v indijanski kulturi, ampak sta veljali tudi za pravi krščanski vrlini.
Misijonarji so take predmete pogosto podarili obiskovalcem misijona ali svojim
nadrejenim kot dokaze o uspehih, ki so jih dosegli pri izpolnjevanju nalog.'*
Tovrstne spretnosti Indijancev so tudi neposredno povezovali z njihovo
sposobnostjo za napredek in "civüizacijo". Ta sklep je je zelo odkrito povedan v
naslednjem odlomku iz Pitzerjevega skronmega kataloga:
"Ti predmeti iz brezovega lubja [...] nedvomno pričajo o njihovi bistri pameti
in o potrpežljivosti pri enoličnem delu. Zaradi njih si želimo napeti vse sile za
V nadaljevanju bom izključno omenjala objavljeni seznam predmetov (v Ilirskem listu 1837), ker v
času, ko sem ta prispevek pisala, nisem imela na razpolago omenjenih rokopisruh seznamov.
15 "a) Industrial=Predmete, sänuntlich aus der Rinde des nordamerikanischen Birkenbaumes" (Ilirski
list 1837:67).
16 Glej Golob (1997: 249-252, slike 1-6). Obstaja nekaj dvoma o tem, kdo je zbral posamezne posode,
okrašene z bodicami, ki so v zbirki Slovenskega etnografekega muzeja. Feest (1998) skuša razvozlati ta problem.
17 "Rien de plus gentil que les petites boites a sucre d'érable qu'elles couvrent de broderies de ce geru^
pour en faire des cadeaux" (Gachet 1890: 261); glej tudi Fitzer (1854:18).
18 Gachet je nekoč poslal škatlo z javorjevim sladkorjem, ki jo je naredila Menonraka iz njegove verske
skupnosti, škofu Martinu Henniju (Gachet 1861).
362
Indijanska zbirka Friderika Barage
tO, da bodo s šolami dobili sredstvo za doseganje boljše usode.""
Poleg tega so majhne škatle z javorjevitn sladkorjem bile značilne za vejo
gospodarske aktivnosti Indijancev, ki so jo misijonarji močno odobravaU.
Takorekoč v vsakem misijonarjevem poročilu najdemo podroben opis postopkov
pridobivanja javorjevega sladkorja.^" Res pa je, da bi misijonarji težko spregledali
to pomembno sestavino preživetja Indijancev, ker so ti zgodaj spomladi zapustui
svoje vasi in se podali v tabore javorjevega sladkorja, kar je pomenilo, da je bilo
to obdobje za misijonarje, ki so ostali doma, nekakšen dopust. Javorjev sladkor
so pridobivali tako, da so v drevesa naredili zareze, zbirali sok in ga kuhali,
dokler ni ostal sladkor v zrruh. Čeprav so misijonarji na splošno skušali spremeniti
indijanski način preživljanja z lovom, ribolovom, nabiralništvom in vrtnarjenjem
v poljedelstvo na velikih površinah, ki so ga imeH za nujni pogoj za stalne, stabilne
in neodvisne skupnosti, so na proizvodnjo javorjevega sladkorja gledali kot na
delovnointenzivno opravilo in jo prav zato cerüli. Misijonarji so včasih ogromne
količine javorjega sladkorja, pridobljene v eni sezoni, navajali kot dokaz
marljivosti in delavnosti Indijancev.^' Ker so presežek javorjevega sladkorja
prodali ali zamenjali za hrano ali za drugo blago, so misijonarji v proizvodnji
sladkorja videli sredstvo za integracijo Indijancev v tržno gospodarstvo in jo
zato podpirali. Ocene misijonarjev o kulinaričnih lastnosti javorjevega sladkorja
so se razlikovale: medtem ko je Baraga merul, da se morajo Evropejci najprej
navaditi nanj, ker je povzročal zgago in imel gorak priokus, če so ga jedli v čisti
obliki, ga je Cachet - v njegovi zbirki je več kosov javorjevega sladkorja,
oblikovanih v modelu - celo primerjal s švicarsko čokolado.^^
Majhne škatle iz brezovega lubja, okrašene z vezenjem iz bodic, po obliki
in načinu izdelave ustrezajo večjim, večinoma neokrašenim posodam iz lubja, ki
so jih Indijanci uporabljali za shranjevanje javorjevega sladkorja aU divjega riža.
Funkcija in oblika drugih izdelkov, okrašenih z vezenjem iz bodic, ki so jih
namensko izdelali za prodajo turistom, pa veliko bolj očitno skušajo ustrezati
pričakovanjem Evroameričanov. Blazinice za igle, posodice za igle, pahljače iz
perja, torbe, pladnji ali škatle za cigare so postali priljubljeni spominki, ko so
njihovi estetski privlačnosti dodali videz praktičnosti. V Baragovi zbirki takih
predmetov, z izjemo dveh lepo izdelanih, vendar dokaj preprostih skled iz
brezovega lubja,^^ ni, številne podobne primerke pa je med drugim zbral Pitzer
19 "Die hier vorliegenden Arbeiten aus Birkenrinde durch Ausschmückung von Weißfedem, den Stacheln
des Stachelschweines &c. vereinigt mit ihrer Weise, ohne alle Kenntniß von Chemie aus gesottenen Steinen,
Wurzeln und Kräutern glänzende Farben und Farbermüschungen auf Binsen zu Matten &c. überzutragen,
lassen unverkennbar ihren Scharfsinn und eine Ausdauer bei einförmiger Arbeit erblicken und den Wunsch
entstehen. Alles aufzubieten, um ihnen durch Schulen das Mittel zur Erreichung eines besseren Looses zu
verschaffen" {Pitzer 1854:10).
20 Clej Baraga {1837a: 72-75); Pitzer (1854:16-17); Cachet (1890: 224-225).
21 Clej npr. Baraga (1837a: 73).
22 Clej Baraga (1837a: 72); Cachet (1890: 225).
23 Cp. Golob (1997:253-254, sliki 7,8).
363
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
(si. 3). Škatlo iz brezovega lubja s pokrovom, ki jo je pri Mer\ominih dobil Gachet,
imamo prav tako lahko za precej tipično in povedno za prizadevanje Indijancev,
da so zunanjost teh predmetov skušali čimbolj prilagoditi okusu Evroameričanov.
(si. A)}'
Kako zelo so misijonarji cenili to vejo indijanskih izdelkov, morda še najbolj
potrjuje dejstvo, da so te predmete uporabljali za olepšanje cerkev in v kontekstu
krščanskih obredov. Do predmetov cerkvene opreme in pripomočkov za katoliško
bogoslužje so v mejnih naseljih pogosto težko prišli. Ker so misijonarji bui tako
ponosni na svojo "sveto vero, ki se celo v zimanjih stvareh tako trudi častiti
našega Gospoda in Boga"^', so namesto manjkajočih stvari uporabljali domače
materiale in tehnike. Na ta način so misijonarji torej spodbujali nastajanje posebne
materialne kulture indijanskega krščanstva: eden najbolj očarljivih primerov je
gotovo čudoviti oltarski komplet iz izdelkov iz brezovega lubja, bogato okrašenih
z vezenjem iz bodic ježevca, ki so ga uporabljaU katoliški Otavci v vasi Cross
Vulage v Michiganu in ki ga je zbral Martin Pitzer.^'' Posode za blagoslovljeno
vodo iz brezovega lubja - v Pitzerjevi zbriki sta dve - so takrat uporabljali v
katoliških otavskih gospodinjstvih (si. 5).^^ Za zgoraj omenjenega italijanskega
misijonarja Samuela Mazzuchellija celo vemo, da je papežu poslal očipvejsko
škatlo iz brezovega lubja, izdelano za hostije.^'
Poleg predmetov iz brezovega lubja so bih misijonarji zelo navdušeni nad
moško domeno rezbarjenja, zlasti zaradi pogosto izredno preprostega orodja, s
katerim so indijanski rezbarji dosegli odlične rezultate. V Baragovi zbirki je tudi
skupina lesenih predmetov in v knjigi pravi, da so jih spretno izdelali Indijanci.^'
Primerke, podobne žlicam in majhnim lesenim skledam, ki jih je zbral Baraga'",
najdemo tudi v Pitzerjevi in Gachetovi zbirki (si. 6,7). Pitzer v katalogu poudarja,
da so bili ti lepo izdelani predmeti narejeni s pomočjo starega noža. Gachet
podobno hvali spretnosti menominskih rezbarjev in omenja, da veliko rezbarij
še vedno izdelajo z najbolj preprostim orodjem - z bobrovim zobom.''
Poudariti pa vendar moramo, da so te pohvale ročnim spretnostim veljale
izključno izdelavi "koristnih" predmetov in so ponavadi izhajale iz misli na
napredovanje indijanskih obrtnikov v "civilizirane" poklice - v tesarje, izdelovalce
364
Indijanska zbirka Friderika Barage
orodja in podobno. Tako so misijonarji verske rezbarije, četudi so bile izredno
natančno izdelane, običajno obsojali, ker so bile povezane s "poganstvom" in jih
zaradi tega ni bilo mogoče soditi z istimi merili. Medtem ko so torej za predmete
za vsakdanjo rabo, kot so sklede, zajemalke ali zibelke - en primerek je tudi v
Baragovi zbirki (si. 8) - govorili, da so "umetniško izrezane", so verske skulpture
večinoma zavračali kot "ostudne".'^
Baragi, ki ni kazal skoraj nobenega zanimanja za vero Indijancev z
etnografskega vidika in ki je njihova verovanja počez označil kot "absurdna" in
"neumnosti", ni imel interesa zbirati predmetov, povezanih z njihovimi verskinü
običaji, čeprav v njegovih pisanjih najdemo posamezne raztresene omembe
"lesenih idolov" in drugih "praznoverrüh reči".^^ Da tak odnos ni nujno tipičen
za pogled misijonarjev, dokazuje včasih globoka prevzetost s sistemi indijanskega
verovanja, ki so ga izražali nekateri njegovi kolegi duhovniki na terenu. Ker se je
od spreobrnjencev na splošno pričakovalo, da pred krstom ali po njem izročijo
vse svoje obredne pripomočke, so imeli misijonarji več kot dovolj možnosti, da
so prišli do teh predmetov. V Baragovih pisanjih najdemo številne omembe
obrednega sežiganja pripomočkov, ki so mu jih prinesli njegovi spreobrnjenci,
vendar se Baraga za razliko od nekaterih kolegov duhovnikov ni odločil za to,
da bi jih vsaj nekaj rešil pred uničenjem.^
Drugi misijonarji so shranili nekaj osnovnih opredmetenih izrazov verskega
življenja Indijancev, pa čeprav iz različnih razlogov. Omenili smo že majhno
etnografsko zbirko, ki jo je okrog 1850 sestavil belgijski misijonar Florimond
Bonduel. Sestavljajo jo skoraj izključno menominski obredni predmeti, vključno
z raznimi antropomorfnimi in zoomorfnimi figurami, izrezanimi iz lesa (si. 9).
Bonduelov glavni cilj pri zbiranju teh "ostudnih predmetov" je menda bila
njegova želja, da jih razkazuje kot otipljive dokaze za ogromen napredek
Menominov od "zavezanosti magiji in vsemu poganskemu praznoverju" v prave
"zglede vrlin in krščanske pobožnosti" in tako podčrta "moč milosti" in obenem
tudi lastne uspehe.^' Drugi predmet v Bonduelovi zbirki, ki zbuja pozornost (in
ki je eden izmed redkih danes še ohranjenih) je lesena tabla, v katero so vgravirane
osebne vizije menominskega verskega izvedenca. Podobno tablo je zbral tudi
Cachet, ki se je zelo zanimal za menominsko obredno umetnost, ker sta ga vodili
radovednost in želja bolje razumeti njihove verske poglede in običaje.^' Vendar
zaradi tega zanimanja ni popravil svoje ocene glede estetskega videza teh
predmetov; prav tako zaradi tega ne smemo pozabiti na njegove prednostne
misijonarske naloge, pač pa moramo upoštevati, da je bilo poznavanje indijanske
32 V zvezi z lesenimi skledami in zajemalkami je zanimivo, da je Baraga v inventarju svoje zbirke
zapisal kritične opombe o prehranjevalnih navadah Indijancev; menil je, da se prehranjujejo neredno in da so
pri tem brez primerne olike (Hirski list, 1837,68). Glej Golob (1997:293-294, slika 54).
33 Glej Baraga (1832:11; l&34b: 21; 1837a: 132).
34 Glej npr. Baraga (1832:11; 1833:16).
35 Glej Bonduel (1855:6).
36 Glej Kasprycki (1994).
365
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
kulture eden glavnih predpogojev za spreminjanje te kulture.'^ Pitzerjeva zbirka
prav tako vključuje nekaj predmetov verskega pomena, med njimi je otavska
medicinska torba, ki so jo uporabljali za shranjevanje raznih zdravil in
pripomočkov in ki je bila povezana z obredi vračev; ker jo je katoliški lastnik
očitno uporabljal v povsem druge namene, se je ta predmet znašel v Pitzerjevi
zbirki kot "tulec za puščice" ali "torba za shranjevanje."'*
Segment Indijanske materialne kulture, ki je naredil globok vtis na
misijonarje in na druge belce, ki so obiskovali to območje, so bua prometna
sredstva. Z bodicami okrašene izdelke iz brezovega lubja in izrezane lesene
predmete so cenili zaradi njihove lepote ali spretne izdelave, indijanska prometna
sredstva pa so preprosto občudovali zaradi njihove praktičnosti aU domišljenega
način premagovanja pogojev v okolju, v katerem so Indijanci živeli; belci so jih
pogosto prevzeli, ker so spoznali, da so boljša. V skupino "gospodinjskih in
lesenih pripomočkov" je v Baragovo zbirko razvrščen par očipvejskih krpelj tipa
"lastovičji rep", v knjigi pa tudi opisuje njihovo izdelavo.'' Baraga si je nabavil
to "domišljeno in koristno iznajdbo" za zimska potovanja; da so njegovemu
zgledu sledili tudi nasledniki, pa dokazuje par krpelj v Pitzerjevi zbirki, ki jih je
uporabljal slovenski misijonar Ignac Mrak.*" Tako Baraga kot Pitzer hvalita
lahkoto in hitrost, s katerima so Indijanci na krpljah premagovali velike razdalje,
čeprav je Baraga priznal, da učinkovita hoja na krpljah zahteva veliko vaje in
veliko moči. Podobne opise izdelave krpelj pri Menominih (vključno z njihovo
sposobnostjo, da so naredili provizorične krplje, kadar jih je na potovanjih
presenetil sneg), najdemo tudi pri Gachetu, ki ga je zelo očarala indijanska
spretnost preživljanja.*'
Drugo prometno sredstvo, ki je bilo zelo razširjeno v Vzhodnih gozdovih,
je bil kanu iz brezovega lubja, katerega prednosti so zelo cenili mnogi belci z
mejnega območja. Te čohie so odlikovale precejšnja nosilnost, hitrost in majhna
teža. Tako so bili optimalno prilagojerü terenu, saj so jih lahko tam, kjer plovba
ni bila mogoča, zlahka prenašali ob reki. Skoraj vsi misijonarji so opisali izdelavo
čolnov iz brezovega lubja in Baraga, ki si je zanje izmislil pojem "umetniška
izdelava", je izjavil, da se jim "tujec, ko jih prvič vidi, ne more dovolj načuditi".*^
Modele čolnov, kot je tisti v Baragovi zbirki, so v velikih količinah izdelali
za prodajo turistom in jih najdemo v mnogih zbirkah.*' Z izjemo jadra, s katerim
je opremljen Baragov model, mu je zelo podoben model menominskega kanuja
37 Glej tudi Eves (1998:52-53).
38 Glej Pitzer (1854:15); Feest (1968: 46, pl. 5).
39 Glej Golob (1997; 292-293, slika 53); Baraga (1837a; 84-85).
« Glej Pitzer (1854:17); Feest in Kasprycki (1993; 66, slika 50).
« Glej Baraga (1834a: 5; 1837a; 85); Gachet (1890:264); Glej hidi primerljive opise pri MazzucheUiju (1%7:77).
"...eine Art von Kähnen, welche, werm ein Fremder sie zum ersten Mahle sieht, Bewunderung in
ihm errregen" (Baraga 1837a: 82). Glej Baraga (1837a; 80-84); Gachet (1890: 225-226,264).
« Glej Golob (1997; 289-292, slika 52).
366
Indijanska zbirka Friderika Barage
iz lubja, ki ga je zbral Cachet; podaril mu ga eden izmed njegovih spreobrnjencev
(si. 10). Oba miniaturna izdelka sicer glede izdelave ustrezata pravim velikim
čolnom, vendar je model kanuja v Pitzerjevi zbirki manj realistično izdelan in je
okrašen z barvnimi bodicami, tako da je morda bolj značilen izdelek povprečnega
spominka za turiste. V Cachetovi zbirki je tudi model čolna drugega tipa, ki so
ga uporabili Indijanci tega območja, in sicer drevaka. Drevak je tudi opremljen z
držalom za luč, tj. z napravo, na katero so nasadili baklo in ponoči v njeni svetlobi
lovih ribe s kopjem. Paul Kane je 1845 naslikal prizor takega ribolova pri
Menominih; njegovo slikovost je zelo občudoval Cachet, ki je tudi pohvalil
spretnost, ki so jo Menomini pokazali pri ribolovu s kopjem.^
V popolnem nasprotju z občudovanjem indijanskih prometnih sredstev, ki
so ga izkazali misijonarji in drugi belci, so bila indijanska bivališča običajno
tarča hudih napadov in so bila osrednji dlj asimilacijskih načrtov Evroameričanov.
Poleg evropskega načina preživljanja in oblačil so imeli hiše in gradbeno tehniko
za pomembne mejnike v napredovanju Indijancev proti "civilizaciji". Baragovo
ostro zavračanje indijanskih bivališč je zelo značilno za civilizacijske načrte
misijonarjev namenjenih prepričevanju lokalnih ljudstev, da opustijo svoja
tradicionalna bivališča v zameno za hiše evropskega stila. Ta segment indijanske
materialne kulture je v Baragovi zbirki prisoten v obliki petih kosov brezovega
lubja, ki v pomanjšani obliki predstavljajo kritino za wigwam, ki so jo Očipvejci
uporabljali tako za stožčaste kot za kupolaste gradnje (si. 11).*^ Baraga v svoji
knjigi razpravlja o razliki med tradicionalnimi oblikami bivališč in domovanji,
ki so jih gradili spreobmjeni Indijanci; prve opisuje takole:
"Edina razlika je, da Indijanci, ki so že sprejeli krščanstvo in ki jih v vsakem
pogledu navajamo na spodobno in civilizirano življenje, gradijo primerne hiše
tako kot civilizirani prebivalci tega dela sveta. Samo pogani med njimi še vedno
gradijo zelo bedne majhne koče na način svojih prednikov. Dolge tanke drogove
zasadijo v zemljo v obliki kroga, jih upognejo in zvežejo v obliki loka; potem to
šibko ogrodje pokrivajo z velikimi kosi brezovega lubja, z rogoznicami, ki jih
izdelajo iz vrste ločja, ali z bivoljimi kožami in jih vse naokrog pritrdijo na drogove.
Na vrhu pustijo odprtino, ki jim služi hkrati kot okno in kot dimcnik. Na eni
strani šotora pustijo še drugo odprtino, skozi katero vstopajo in izstopajo. V
sredini koče stalno gori ogenj, okrog katerega Indijanci sedijo ali ležijo na
rogoznicah ali na brezovem lubju in kadijo tobak. V teh bednih kočah je dim
pogosto tako gost, da se ljudje komaj vidijo."**
« Glej Gacliet (1890: 233,234,245,274).
« Glej Golob (1997:264-266, flgs. 24-28).
46 "Der eiiizige Unterschied besteht darin, daß die bereits zum Christenthume bekehrten Indier, die
man in jeder Rücksicht zu einem ordentlichen und civilisirten Leben anleitet, sich ordentliche Häuser machen,
wie das civilisirte Landvolk diese Welttheils. Allein die heidnischen tidier machen sich noch immer, nach Art
ihrer Vorfahren, sehr elende kleine Hütten. Sie stecken lange dünne Stangen in der Riinde in die Erde, und
biegen und binden sie bogenförmig zusammen; daim bedecken sie dieses schwache Gerüst mit großen
Birkenrinden oder mit Matten, die sie aus einer Art von Schilf verfertigen, oder mit Büffelhäuten, und bindend
367
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Pri Otavcih iz Michigana so Baragova navodUa kmalu učinkovala in 1833
je Leopoldinini ustanovi na Dunaju ponosno poročal o svojem uspehu:
"Način življenja spreobmjenih divjakov v tej misijonarski postaji, zlasti v
sami župnijski vasi, je sedaj zelo podoben načinu življenja belcev. V župnijski
vasi Arbre Croche je zgrajenih že 36 hiš, ki so iz samega lesa, vendar so zelo
čvrste in primerne za bivanje [...] Tudi v podružničnih vaseh začenjajo Indijanci
graditi primerne hiše namesto bednih koč in na ta način se vse bolj kažejo časni
blagri, ki jih krščanstvo daje ljudem."*^
Prisotnost tega predmeta v Baragovi zbirki je torej neke vrste ironija: poskus
ohraniti v steklenem stolpu značilnosti indijanskega življenja in materialne
kulture, čeprav so si misijonarji in vlada v težnji "izboljšati" življenje Indijancev
v resnici močno prizadevali, da bi jih zamenjali z evroameriškimi standardi
bivanja.
Baragova skupina "gospodinjskih in lesenih pripomočkov" vsebuje tudi
vrsto tekstilnih izdelkov: prevezo za zibelko iz blaga, okrašeno z apliko iz svilenih
trakov v starem geometričnem stUu, pleteno torbo (danes je menda ni več) in
dve majhni rogoznici iz ločja. Za očipvejsko naramno torbo, ki je zanimiva, ker
združuje tehniko pletenja s prsti s tkanjem na statvah, pravi Baraga, da je "mošnja
za tobak" in jo zato vključi v skupino "moške in bojne opreme".*** TekstUne
tehrüke, kot so uporaba trakov, vezenje, pletenje, tkanje in podobne, so misijonarji
običajno odobravali in jih spodbujali kot primerna in koristna ženska opravila.
Izmed tekstilnih predmetov v zbirki sta dve rogoznici iz ločja posebno
zanimivi (si. 12). Izdelava takih rogoznic je bil delovnointenzivni postopek, ki se
je začel zgodaj poleti, ko so Indijanke zbrale, posušile, belile in barvale ločje
pred tkanjem, ki je združevalo tehniko pletenja in ovijanja in so se ga ženske
včasih lotevale v skupinah. Poleg preprostih črtastih motivov so osrednje polje
teh rogoznic včasih okrasili z zapletenimi geometričnimi aU likovnimi motivi.
Misijonarji so te izdelke običajno visoko cenili, zlasti ker se ponavadi niso zavedali
dejstva, da rogoznic v indijanski kulturi niso uporabljali samo kot preprostih
gospodinjskih predmetov, ampak tudi v razne obredne namene. Nekaj teh
rogoznic so na primer uporabljali za ovijanje obrednih (svetih) svežnjev in včasih
so na njih podobe nadnaravnih bitij. Zaradi teh simboličnih asociacij je bila
sie rundherum an die Stangen. Am Gipfel lassen sie eine Öffnung, die ihnen als Fenster und zugleich als
Rauchfang dient. An einer Seite lassen sie eine andere Öffnung, durch die sie aus und eingehen. In der Mitte
der Hütte wird ein beständiges Feuer unterhalten, um welches die Indier auf Matten oder auf Baumrinden
sitzen oder liegen, und Taback rauchen. In diesen armseligen Hütten raucht es oft so stark, daß kaum einer den
andern sieht" (Baraga 1837a: 64-65).
*7 "Die Lebensweise der bekehrten Wilden dieser Missionsstaüon, besonders im Pfarrdorfe selbst, gleicht
nun sehr viel der Lebensweise der Weißen. Im Pfarrdorfe Arbre=Croche gibt es bereits 36 vollendete Häuser, die
zwar nur von Holz, jedoch sehr solid und gut bewohnbar sind. [...] Auch in den Filial=Dörfem fangen die bekehrten
Lndier schon an, gut bewohnbare Häuser an die Stelle ihrer elenden Hütten zu bauen, und so werden auch hier die
zeitlichen Segnungen, die das Christenthum den Menschen gibt, immer sichtbarer" (Baraga 1834b: 20).
« Glej Golob (1997:256-258,263-264,294-295, slike. 15,16,22,23,55); Glej Feest (1998) za primerjalne
opombe v razpravi o nekaterih problemih pripisovanja.
368
Indijanska zbirka Friderika Barage
uporaba rogoznic iz ločja kot talnih aH stenskih oblog ali celo kot oltarnih prtičev
v krščanskih cerkvah vsekakor v korist "podomačenja" katoliškega obreda.*'
Rogoznica, ki jo je zbral Martin Pitzer in ki je služila kot okras oltarja v otavski
cerkvi v vasi Cross Village, odlično ponazarja to tezo: duhovniki se očitno niso
zavedali, da so na okrasnem polju rogoznice vrste ptic gromovnic, močnih
nadnaravnih bitij iz algonkinske mitologije, kar kaže na stapljanje tradicionahiih
in krščanskih pojmov in praks v indijanskem katolicizmu.^"
V Baragovi skupini "oblačil" so samo trije pari mokasinov (si. 13).^^ Kot
smo zgoraj že na kratko omenili, so oblačilne navade Indijancev tako kot njihova
bivališča tvorile segment njihove materialne kulture, ki so ga misijonarji najbolj
napadali: od spreobrnjencev so zahtevah, da indijanska oblačila zamenjajo za
evropsko garderobo. Na ta način so zahodna oblačila kmalu postala značikiost
indijanskih krščanskih skupnosti. Baragov odločno odklonilni odnos do
indijanskih oblačil in do osebnega nakita niha med tem, da ženskam in
"indijanskim gizdalinom" očita nečimrnost, drugim pa pomanjkanje spodobnosti
in higiene. Vendar ne pozabi dodati, da to velja samo za "pogane":
"Krščanske Indijance skrbno spodbujamo k čistosti in spodobnosti pri
oblačenju in jim prepovedujemo vsakršno nečimrnost. Čim se Indijanec, ki ima
srebrne uhane, nosne obroče ali zapestnice, spreobrne h krščanski veri, jih mora
takoj zamenjati za bolj koristna oblačila, nikoli več si ne sme barvati obraza in
vtikati perja v lase."'^
Dejstvo, da bi moral Baraga indijanska oblačila in nakit, če bi jih hotel
zbrati, dobiti od nekrščanskega dela plemena, je lahko razlog, zakaj takih
predmetov v njegovi zbirki ni. Vendar so si tudi tisti Indijanci, ki so že prevzeU
evroameriški način oblačenja, še vedno raje obuvali mokasine kot evropske čevlje.
Zanimivo je, da so tudi v Cachetovi zbirki mokasini edini primer oblačil (z izjemo
enega para palčnikov s steklenimi biseri). Da pa zbirke misijonarjev vendarle
kdaj vključujejo tudi oblačihie predmete, dokazujejo razni primerki v zbirki
Johanna Georga Schwarza v Etnološkem muzeju na Dimaju. Schwarz sam ni bil
misijonar, ampak je bil prvi tajnik Leopoldinine ustanove in večji del njegove
zbirke izvira iz misijonov, ki jih je ta organizacija podpirala. Nekaj kosov oblačil,
okrašenih z aplikami iz svilenih trakov, je Schwarzu najbrž dal škof Frederick
49 Glej Kasprycki (1996:47-49) za obsežno razpravo o vlogi rogoznic iz ločja v katoliških obredih pri
Menonüiüh v Wisconsinu.
50 Glej Pitzer (1854:12); Feest in Kasprycki (1993:64, slika 48).
51 "c) Kleidungsstücke" (Ilirski list 1837:68). Glej Golob (1997:266-273, slike. 29-37); pravilno pripisovanje
raznih mokasinov v Slovenskem etnografskem muzeju v Ljubljani Baragovim zbiralrüm aktivnostim je
problematično in ga skuša razvozlati Feest (1998).
52 "Jedoch muß bemerkt werden, daß alles dieses nur von den Heiden gilt. Die christlichen Indier
werden sorgfältig zur Reinlichkeit und Anständigkeit in der Bekleidung angehalten, und alle Eitelkeit wird
ihnen strenge verbothen. Sobald sich ein Indier, welcher silberne Ohrgehänge, Nasenringe und Armbänder
besitzt, zur christlichen Religion bekehrt, muß er sie sogleich gegen nützlichere Kleidungsstücke umtauschen,
darf sich nie mehr sein Gesicht bemahlen, und keine Federn mehr in seine Haare stecken" (Baraga 1837a: 60).
Glej Baraga (1837a: 57-64).
369
Sylvia S. Kasprycki
Rése, ki jih je verjetno zbral med obiskom menominskega misijona na začetku
tridesetih let 19. stoletja.''
Orožje in sorodrü predmeti, ki jih Baragov seznam uvršča v kategorijo
"moške in bojne opreme"'* so predstavljali "divjo" plat indijanske kulture, ki jo je
bUo treba vsekakor zamenjati z (idealnim) krščanskim načinom življenja, in so
zaradi tega bili posebna tarča retorike misijonarjev. Tudi če predmetov kot kija z
okroglo glavo v Baragovi zbirki niso več uporabljali v boju, ampak večinoma samo
v obredne namene, so misijonarji izkoriščali tako rekoč vsako priložnost, da so
podrobno opisovali indijanski način vojskovanja in krutosti ali prakso skalpiranja
in obrednega mučenja, ponekod ne glede na to, ali so ti običaji sploh še bili živi v
skupini, pri kateri so misijonarji živeli." Orožje, podobno kiju v Baragovi zbirki, je
Gachet pridobu pri Menominih (si. 14); čeprav celo Gachet omenja, da teh kijev
niso več uporabljali v boju, ampak kot simbole moči za poglavarje, vendarle opozarja
na zareze na ročaju kija, ki označujejo števuo sovražnikov, ki jih je lastnik kija ubil.
Primerljive kije najdemo tudi med predmeti, ki jih je zbral Pitzer, ki prav tako
opozarja na podoben običaj "zapisovanje" števUa ubitih sovražnikov."^
Tudi loki in puščice pripadajo tej skupini predmetov;'^ čeprav so jih
uporabljali bodisi v boju (kar ni bilo v skladu s krščanskimi vrednotami) ali pri
lovu (ki so mu misijonarji pogosto očitali, da je zgolj "preganjanje dolgčasa", ker
bi raje videli, da bi se Indijanci lotili poljedelstva na evropski način), so bui celo
misijonarji osupli nad natančnim, streljanjem Indijancev, ki so redko zgrešili cilj,
saj so se spretnosti rokovanja z lokom naučili že v zgodnji mladosti.'*
Skoraj popolno odsotnost predmetov, povezanih z indijanskimi verskimi
aH obredrümi običaji, smo obravnavali že zgoraj; edino izjemo morda tvorita
dve "pipi miru" (kalumeta), povezani z bojno opremo in vključeni v to skupino
predmetov." Čeprav se je Baragi osebno zdelo kajenje "odvratni običaj", vendarle
dokaj podrobno opisuje razne obredne funkcije kajenja pipe v indijanski kulturi.'*
Gachet je bil glede tega drugačnega mnenja: ker je bü sam kaduec, nikoli ni
zavrnil pipe, kadar so mu jo ponudili, in je celo izjavil, da je indijanski
"kinnikinnic", ki ga je kadil pri menominskem poglavarju lometah, najboljši
tobak, ki ga je kdaj okusu." V pričujoči zbirki so trije tipi menominskih pipindh
cevi : ploska cev z izrezanimi motivi, cev okrašena z vžganimi znaki in cev ovita z
53 Glej opombo 6; Kasprycki in Krpata (1988); Feest in Kasprycki (1993: 59, slika 43).
54 "d) Manns= imd Kriegsgeräthe" (Ilirski list 1837: 68).
55 Glej Golob (1997:284-286, slika 49); Baraga (1837a: 147-164).
56 Glej Gachet (1890:271-272); Pitzer (1854:14-15).
57 Glej Golob (1997: 278-284, figs. 41-48). Poleg tega je Baraga zbral hidi nožnico za nož, okrašeno z
bodicami (Golob 1997:260-261, slika 19) in bakreno ost kopja, ki je danes menda ni več (Ilirski list 1837:68).
58 Glej Baraga (1837a: 87-88); Pitzer (1854:14).
55 Glej Golob (1997: 274-277, sliki 39,40).
60 Glej Baraga (1837a: 6,50,167); Ilirski Hst (1837:68).
61 Glej Gachet (1890:149).
370
Indijanska zbirka Friderika Barage
bodicami, s konjsko žimo in s svilenimi trakovi; druga pipina cev, katere prvotni
lastnik je bü oapvejski verski izvedenec, je žal danes izgubljena. Medtem ko so
Gachetove pipine cevi brez pripadajočih glav, sta dve pipini glavi v Baragovi zbirki
lepa primerka indijanske obdelave kamna. Od dveh cevi je okrogla ovita z bodicami
v preprostem pasovnem motivu; ploska cev, na drugi strani, pa je tako ovita s
pletenimi bodicami, da tvorijo podobe glavnih nadnaravnih su algonkinskega
kozmosa: ptice gromovnice in podvodne panterje (si. 15). Tako sta v Baragovi
zbirki, pa čeprav nehote, ponazorjeni indijanska kozmologija in verska ikonografija.
Kot reprezentativen pregled indijanskega življenja Baragova zbirka gotovo
ni popolna. Poleg verskih pripomočkov (kot jih npr. vidimo v Bonduelovi zbirki)
manjka še vrsta drugih področij kulture, med njimi igre in kratkočasenje (v
Gachetovi zbirki nanje spominja vsaj palica za lacross), glasba (v Pitzerjevi zbirki
je flavta ). Vendar podobo indijanskega življenja in kulture, ki jo kaže izbor
predmetov, lahko dokazljivo povezujemo s cuji in postopki evangelizacije, če
izbor analiziramo v kontekstu nüsijonarskega diskurza Baragove dobe. Ker so
se misijonarji držali misijonarskega načrta, so na eni strani poudarjali
pomanjkljivosti indijanskih verovanj in šeg, na drugi strani pa opozarjali na
inteligenco in na fizične sposobnosti indijanskih ljudstev. Zagovarjali so
misijonarska prizadevanja in iskali moralno in finančno podporo za misijonarske
podvige med ljudstvi, ki tega niso samo obupno potrebovala, ampak so bila
tega tudi vredna.
LITERATURA: glej str. 354
BESEDA O AVTORICI
Sylvia S. Kasprycki je študirala antropo-
logijo na dunajski univerzi in sedaj končuje
svojo doktorsko disertacijo o kulturni interakciji
med katoliškimi misijonarji in menominskimi
Indijanci v devetnajstem stoletju. Od leta 1989
opravlja intenzivne raziskave v arhivih in mu-
zejih v ZDA in v Evropi in je pomočnica ured-
nika European Review of Native American
Studies od ustanovitve revije 1987. V svojih
objavljenih delih se ukvarja predvsem z raznimi
vidiki materialne kulture, likovne umetnosti in
etnozgodovine območja Velikih jezer. Pred
kratkim je objavila knjigo IroquoisART: Visual
Expressions of Contemporary Native American
Artists (Frankfurt 1998: ERNAS), sodelavala pa
je tudi s Christianom F. Feestom pri knjigi
Peoples of the Twilight: European Views of
Native Minnesota, 1823-1862 (Afton, MN1998:
Afton Historical Society Press).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sylvia S. Kasprycki has studied anthro-
pology at the University of Vienna and is current-
ly completing her Ph.D. thesis on the cultural
interaction between Catholic missionaries and
Menominee Indians in the nineteenth century.
She has undertaken extensive archival and
museum research in the United States and
Europe since 1989 and has been Editorial Assis-
tant of the European Review of Native American
Studies since the journal was established in 1987.
Her publications focus on various aspects of the
material culture, visual arts, and ethnohistory of
the Great Lakes region. Recently she has edited
IroquoisART: Visual Expressions of Contempo-
rary Native American Artists (Frankfurt 1998:
ERNAS), and she is co-author with Christian R
Feest of Peoples of the Twilight: European Views
of Native Minnesota, 1823-1862 (Afton, MN
1998: Afton Historical Society Press).]
371