Moccasin is an Ojibwe word. These moccasins have delicate beadwork stitched with very small glass beads—a style typical of northern Minnesota fur trade pieces. Fancy beads and luxurious fabrics were readily available to tribes like the Ojibwe through European traders.

Part of curating an anthropology collection involves working with descendant communities, and I always learn something new during these meetings. Recently, a delegation from the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe visited The Science Museum of Minnesota to see our collections relating to their tribe. Among the many things I learned, they taught me about the distinctive hide tab at the heel of Bois Forte moccasins, which allowed me to make the important change of a broad “Ojibwe” designation of these moccasins to a specific tribal description of Bois Forte.
Tilly Laskey, Curator of Ethnology