Small red hide pouch with tie. Inside pouch is an elliptically shaped black shiny stone object with irregular edges covered in red pigment. Square white sticker affixed to side of bag.

Sanjuan Mask. Wide face painted black. Small red downturned mouth and large flat nose. Strip of leather with some hair nailed horizontally across top of forehead with three nails. Single hole drilled on either side with yellow string attached. White collar extends from below jawline. Back of mask is unpainted.

Rattle type dance staff, adorned with deer hooves at the proximal end. Staff is rounded, carved at pommel with a small face, sharp teeth bared in a wide grin, nose flat and slightly protruding. Head comes to a small, round peak. Dozens of deer hooves have been tied to short lengths of hide and attached to the top, under the face, with long wraps of hide. The wooden handle is plain with a rounded end.

« The manufacture of woven hare skin blankets by Indians of the Mistassini and Lake St. John bands is described in detail by Speck (1930, pp. 451-454), Lips (1947, pp. 42, 44), and Rogers (1967, p. 64, fig. 8, p. 40). Speck (1930, p. 454) notes that 100 skins were required for a blanket, while Rogers (1967, p. 64) states that a large blanket to be used by three people might comprise twice that many skins. These blankets were woven of narrow, twisted strips of hare skin on a three-pole frame by a coil netting technique in which the strip of skin was conveyed by a wooden or bone needle. The Speck collection contains two examples. The smaller, in poor condition, measures approximately 165 by 145 cm. The larger measures 220 by 152 cm and has short cloth ties at the four corners. It may have been worn as a robe. » 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.

« Two styles of netted snowshoes are represented in the Speck collection by a single pair each. Both pairs have birchwood frames and babiche netting. One pair, from Kiskisink, is constructed in the "swallow tail" style (Davidson, 1937, pp. 67-68, fig. 27c) in which the ends of the frame form a tail. Although Davidson describes this style in his chapter on snowshoes with two-piece frames, this specimen has a frame consisting of a single piece of wood, the ends of which are lashed together with babiche at the tail. There are two slightly curved cross bars which are morticed into the frame. The harnesses are made of clothes line and the wearer's heel rested on a rectangular piece of tanned caribou skin which is folded over the opening and sewn into the netting. One shoe has a large area of broken netting in the center which has been repaired with twine (fig. 31a). According to Rogers (1967, pp. 91-92), swallow-tail snowshoes were used by the Mistassini at the time of his fieldwork in the early 1950s and were worn by both men and women. Men used them during November and December and again in the spring when the snow was heavy. During mid-winter they were used by men only on well-packed trails. Women used them all winter. The snowshoes of this type that Rogers describes had a one-piece frame like the pair in the Speck collection. According to Speck's notes, the swallow-tail style was the typical form among eastern Montagnais bands. » 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.18, fig 31a (p.59). « The manufacture of snowshoes among the Lake St. John and Mistassini Indians has been described in considerable detail by Lips (1947, pp. 69-77) and Rogers (1967, pp. 91-101). » 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.18.

Purse.

Large, rectangular shaped moose hide, stretched and tide to a wooden frame. There are traces of fur along the edges where numerous holes have been cut for the rope to pass through. The corners of the frame are bound together by rope.

Skin belt detached into four pieces (parts a-d) with a thin, two strand tie and a beaded geometric design in white, black, red, green and yellow. Underside is undecorated.

A crumpled piece of shark skin.; Good

Length of light brown fur skin folded in half and having strips of blue and white cotton material attached at either end. The skin has the remains of whiskers at one end, and one leg remaining, it was possibly a weasel or somesuch long creature.; Good