Sections of wiigwaas (birch bark).

Sections of wiigwaas (birch bark).

Harvested in Northern Ontario, Canada,

in 2021.

For many centuries, wiigwaas (birch bark) has been used by the Anishnaabeg (Ojibwe, Algonquin) and Cree to create scrolls inscribed with pictographs recording sacred texts; the scrolls would have been used as memory aids by tribal instructors, teaching orally. This new, uninscribed birch bark is from the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg. Birchbark documents have been produced in many regions in the past (e.g., first-century Afghanistan, early modern Russia, Central Europe), and they are still in use in present-day India and Nepal.

From the collection of Rare Book School