« Among the most highly decorated items in the Speck collection are six roll-up sewing bags used by women to hold needles, thread or sinew, and other sewing materials. All are approximately rectangular in shape and have three pockets or compartments. Since each is quite distinctive, they will be described separately. The most elaborately decorated bag has strips of white fox fur sewn on cotton lining to form the lower half of each pocket, while the upper halves are of alternate strips of red and black wool felt. The back is of blue patterned cotton cloth and the entire bag is trimmed with purple cotton tape. A non-functional white button is sewn in the center of each pocket and loops of seed beads in a variety of colors are sewn along the edges with additional beaded decoration on the upper halves of the pockets (fig. 16b). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.10, fig 16b (p.44). « The four roll-up bags that have just been described were collected among the Natasquan band. The remaining two bags, from Lake St. John, are made entirely from cloth. » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.11, fig 16b, 17b et c, 18c (p.44). « Speck (1935, pp. 190-191) has noted that for the Montagnais, the symbolic pictorial representation of a plant or animal was equivalent to the actual plant or animal and those portrayed were believed to come under the control of the individual human spirit. Dreams played a major part in suggesting the relationship between specific animals or plants and an individual. The spirit was strengthened by having its dream promptings obeyed and success in subsistence activities was thereby assured. » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.10.

« The Montagnais-Naskapi believed that taking a sweat bath, like drumming, strengthened the will and "reinforced the soul spirit" of the individual (Speck, 1935, p. 212). The collection contains a model bathhouse from the Barren Ground band which is described in Speck's notes as being the "scene of a shaman's efforts." It consists of four narrow sticks of wood set in a wooden base and slanting toward one another at the top. Another strip is bent to circle the four at the top and lashed to them. This framework is covered with a strip of tanned caribou skin, the ends of which are sewn together with sinew (fig. 26a). The bathhouses of the Lake St. John Montagnais, the Mistassini, and the Naskapi of northern Labrador are all described as being dome-shaped and formed of poles thrust in the ground to form a circular enclosure (Speck, 1935, p. 212; Rogers, 1967, p. 14; Turner, 1894, p. 299). Rather than a bathhouse as Speck indicates, this specimen may be a model of a "shaking tent," a specially constructed lodge in which a shaman conversed with spirits (E. S. Rogers, personal communication). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.21.

« The consulting of oracles so as to determine where and when to hunt and to know the future with reference to the weather, illness, and personal matters was extremely important to the Lake St. John Montagnais. It is a subject that has been discussed in considerable detail by Speck (1935, pp. 138-147). A more recent discussion of the subject, with a different interpretation, is found in Tanner (1979, ch. 6). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.19. Divination was also practiced with other animal bones. The collection contains two beaver pelvic bones that were used in divination by touch. To learn the outcome of the next hunt, the hunter held the bone over his head and attempted, without looking, to put his finger in the oval opening (Speck, 1935, pp. 160-161; Tanner, 1979, p. 128). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.20.

« Tobacco pouches, particularly the roll-up variety, were frequently closed with the aid of fasteners which also served as pipe cleaners. There are 13 of these in the Speck collection and they are quite similar, consisting of a narrow piece of bone tapered or pointed at one end with a suspension hole at the other. Usually the neck constricts and there is a series of notches around the suspension hole. Another characteristic is parallel or crossed incised lines below the suspension hole. » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.13. « An unusual fastener is made from a bird bone sharpened at one end (fig. 9f). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.13, fig 9f (p.37).

«Associated with the baby sack is an irregularly shaped wrapper made from a number of tanned skins, probably from unborn animals. At irregular intervals along the edges are short ties of the same material. An infant would be wrapped in such a wrapper before being placed in the baby sack. » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982),

« A pouch, apparently made from a whole loon skin, is in such poor condition that its form cannot be determined with certainty. It is roughly rectangular in shape but narrows toward the opening which is edged with red cotton tape. There is a narrow flap and a shoulder strap of tanned moose skin. » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.13.

« An improvised pipe made from a piece of rolled birch bark tied with a short section of rawhide line is an important implement in bear hunting (fig. 9h). After an animal is killed, the hunters gather about it and smoke. Out of respect, the bear is also given a smoke with a pipe like this one (Speck, 1935, pp. 100-101). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.17.

« A rectangular birch bark case of unknown use is sewn with twine at intervals on two sides and has a loop of the same material at the open end. It is decorated on both sides with identical floral designs (fig. 9m). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.9, fig 9m (p.37). « Another set of nine patterns, which includes human forms, a fish, a canoe, and floral stencils, is described by Speck as having been used for bead and silk work (fig. 14). However, one of the patterns, that of a fish, was used on a previously described comb case (fig. 91). Speck (1935, pp. 190-191) has noted that for the Montagnais, the symbolic pictorial representation of a plant or animal was equivalent to the actual plant or animal and those portrayed were believed to come under the control of the individual human spirit. Dreams played a major part in suggesting the relationship between specific animals or plants and an individual. The spirit was strengthened by having its dream promptings obeyed and success in subsistence activities was thereby assured. » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.10, fig 9l (p.37). « A characteristic feature of these baskets is the presence of etched designs on tops and sides. The primary method of producing this ornamentation is by laying cut-out birch bark design patterns on the surface and scraping away the dark inner bark everywhere except where the design has been traced with the point of a knife. The positive design thus stands out dark against a light background (Speck, 1937, p. 71).» Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.9.