"This is the Way Things are Run": Land Use on the Grand Portage Reservation During Office of Indian Affairs Occupation, 1854-1930

Summary

The Grand Portage Reservation in the northeastern tip of Minnesota is home to the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe). Until recently, no research at Grand Portage has analyzed the extent to which the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) exerted psychological and physical control over Ojibwe residents. Historic documentation, artifact assemblages, and paleobotanical data in the form of phytoliths constitute the three main lines of evidence used to interpret land use and plant use at 21CK0369 on the Reservation. Evidence collected and analyzed determined the extent of Euro-American agricultural plants, OIA land use and subsistence enforcement, and the possible continuation of traditional Ojibwe plant use. Results contribute to the Grand Portage National Monument (GRPO) mission to promote the history of the Grand Portage Band and the Historic Ojibwe Village.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Reservation Archaeology: Culture Change, Historical Trauma, and Community Resilience in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Native North America

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Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 728