Wisconsin Stockbridge-Munsee tribe's 19th-century powder horn returns home after 80 years

Green Bay Press-Gazette

This historic powder horn, which belonged Stockbridge-Munsee Sachem John W. Quinney who was instrumental in the tribe's survival and its move to Wisconsin, was recently returned to the tribe by the Oshkosh Public Museum after more than 80 years.

OSHKOSH - Eighteen years after officials with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians requested an artifact important to the tribe's cultural identity be returned, the John W. Quinney powder horn is finally coming home.

The Oshkosh Public Museum had acquired the cultural artifact at a time when many non-Natives had believed that Native American cultures and existence would be lost to history and that certain items needed to be preserved.

The Stockbridge-Munsee tribe is still alive and strong in Wisconsin, and this month, Oshkosh Public Museum staff finally returned that artifact to the tribe after more than 80 years of the museum possessing it.

Stockbridge-Munsee Sachem John W. Quinney (1797-1855) was instrumental to the tribe's survival in the 19th century and its move to Wisconsin.

The powder horn dates to the 19th century and was a personal item of John W. Quinney (1797-1855), who was a sachem for the Stockbridge-Munsee and who was instrumental in their survival as a tribe at that time.

His diplomatic skills in Washington, D.C., helped secure the tribe a home in Wisconsin after the Stockbridge-Munsee were being forcefully driven from their land in the New York area.

The powder horn, which was a symbol of leadership, is made of carved bone and wood and still smells faintly of gun powder. It has the initials "JWQ" in raised relief and has a carving of a face of some kind of animal on the front opening.

The Oshkosh Public Museum had acquired the horn as a loan in 1934 from an Oshkosh man named Fred McKay, according to records.

Emily Rock, registrar for the museum, said not much is known about how McKay acquired it, but it was common in the 1920s for whites to purchase heirlooms from Indigenous families facing financial hardships as a result of continued loss of land.

She said there was a large movement nationwide for non-Natives to collect these artifacts because they thought Native Americans would die off.

In 2002, Stockbridge-Munsee officials requested the powder horn be returned to the tribe through Native American Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. It was then that Oshkosh Public Museum board members, after some research, realized that McKay had never reclaimed the loan and a public notice was published for any of his descendants to claim the item as required by law.

When no one reclaimed the horn, it became the property of the museum.

The museum's board members then considered the request of the Stockbridge-Munsee, but were not convinced of its importance to the tribe, nor of the ability of the tribe to properly display the horn in a safe and secure location, so the request was denied.

Last year, Heather Bruegl, cultural affairs director for the Stockbridge-Munsee, had requested the horn on loan for the tribe’s late-summer pow-wow and for display at the tribe’s Arvid E. Miller Memorial Library and Museum.

“It was received well,” she said. “People were super excited to see this item.”

Bruegl said some of Quinney’s descendants still live in the community and they were especially awestruck to be able to see an important piece that had been owned and used by their ancestor.

She returned the horn to the Oshkosh Public Museum in February, but had again requested on behalf of the Stockbridge-Munsee that it be repatriated to the tribe.

Bruegl articulated to Oshkosh Public Museum staff that the horn was part of Stockbridge-Munsee’s cultural identity because it belonged to one of their most celebrated sachems.

“Heather made total sense to me,” said Anna Cannizzo, assistant director for the Oshkosh Public Museum. “I was surprised to learn there was a failed attempt (in 2002).”

According to the 2002 paperwork for the reason for the denial, she said the horn’s importance to the tribe didn’t seem to be explained well and there was concern the tribe didn’t have a proper facility for the piece at that time.

“I formed a relationship with Heather,” Cannizzo said. “That was key. Having relationships is critical to the success of repatriation efforts.”

On Nov. 19, in honor of Native American Heritage Month, Oshkosh Public Museum staff formerly returned the John Quinney powder horn to the Stockbridge-Munsee.

“The return of the John Quinney horn, as well as the repatriation of other cultural objects has nothing to do with politics or pursuing an agenda,” said Bradley Larson, Oshkosh Public Museum director, in a statement read by Cannizzo during the Nov. 19 event. “Rather, in my view, it has everything to in understanding what is right and honorable.”

Stockbridge-Munsee President Shannon Holsey thanked museum staff for their stewardship of the horn.

“It's not just a powder horn. ... It’s symbolisms like this that remind us of how far we’ve come,” she said. “We celebrate our relationship with the Oshkosh Museum and continue to do what we need to do to bring these things back because they inherently belong to us. … Our people can never forget who we are and where we came from.”

Bruegl said the horn is displayed safe and secure at the tribe’s museum.

“We’ve had so much taken from us, our land, our culture, our identity,” she said. “When we’re able to have some part of that come back — that’s huge.”

Frank Vaisvilas is a Report For America corps member based at the Green Bay Press-Gazette covering Native American issues in Wisconsin. He can be reached at 920-228-0437 or fvaisvilas@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank. Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy with a tax-deductible gift to this reporting effort at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA.

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