Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post

Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post A museum with a trading post dedicated to telling the story of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
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May 18 marked the 30th anniversary of the grand opening of the current museum building. This year will also be the 101st...
06/03/2026

May 18 marked the 30th anniversary of the grand opening of the current museum building. This year will also be the 101st anniversary of the Trading Post opening in its current location. We want to celebrate these milestones all year.

Join us on June 13 for a celebration. There will be a short program featuring leaders of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the Minnesota Historical Society from 11-11:30. There will also be two walking tours offered of the grounds, highlighting some site history at 11 am and 2 pm. Tours of our collections will also be offered. Benji Sam, Mashkode-Bizhikigahbaw, will be demonstrating his artwork. The Big Red Wagon food truck will be onsite for lunch and kids in attendance will receive a free shoulder bag to decorate. Bring the whole family out for this event honoring 30 years of this state-of-the-art museum!

The images we are sharing here are from the May 18th, 1996 grand opening. Marge Anderson, Chief Executive of the Mille Lacs Band at the time is addressing the crowd in the first image. Joyce Wedll, the Site Manager of the museum and trading post at that time is addressing the crowd in the second image. Linda Wade (Kazlowski), Mille Lacs Band Member and talented regalia maker, is demonstrating her art in the third image.

06/01/2026

Ode’imini-Giizis is one of the Ojibwe names for June, which translates to Strawberry Moon. The Ojibwe word for strawberry is ode’imin. “Ode,” means “heart” and “min” means “berry”, making a word that literally translates to “heart berry.” Listen to Mille Lacs Band Elder Zhaawanigiizhigookweban, the late Millie Benjamin, pronounce Ode’imini-Giizis in the video below. The artwork in the video comes from Mille Lacs Band tribal member Wesley Ballinger.

When the summertime comes around, various types of berries will be growing in our region. Some words that go along with the season are as dynamic as the taste of each berry. Starting off with the word “mawinzo”, s/he picks berries. The -winzo suffix will be important to notice in the following words for correlation. There’s also “andawawinzo” s/he is finding berries, “maadawinzo”, s/he is starting to pick berries, “jaagawinzo” s/he picks over an area of berries, and finally “aagawinzo” s/he hides the source of berries being picked. Keep these verbs in mind while you’re learning or maybe even picking berries yourself.

05/30/2026

The Ojibwe word of the day is zagime, which is the Ojibwe word for mosquito. Minnesota is home to about 50 species of zagimeg (Note: here we are adding a -g to the end of zagime to make it plural). About half of those species bite people. Minnesotans often joke about the mosquito being the state bird. When there are too many outside (or inside), you can say “zagimekaa!” which means “there are many mosquitoes!” When “-kaa” is added to the end of the word it indicates an abundance of what precedes it in the word. “Zagime” plus “-kaa” means there is an abundance of mosquitoes.

Listen to Mille Lacs Band Elder Zhaawanigiizhigookweban, the late Millie Benjamin, pronounce zagime in the video below. Then, practice the word for mosquito when you encounter them. The artwork in the video was provided by Wesley Ballinger.

We are excited to announce that on Saturday, June 6, we will be offering a kids craft. For $5, children of all ages and ...
05/27/2026

We are excited to announce that on Saturday, June 6, we will be offering a kids craft. For $5, children of all ages and adults are welcome to color a shoulder bag designed by Mille Lacs Band Member Cheryl Minnema. We love seeing everyone’s creativity!

This Memorial Day, we want to take a moment to honor Paul Moose. Paul Moose was a Mille Lacs Band Member from Isle Minne...
05/25/2026

This Memorial Day, we want to take a moment to honor Paul Moose. Paul Moose was a Mille Lacs Band Member from Isle Minnesota who gave his life in the Korean War on September 11, 1950. The article we are sharing here is a story of his war buddy’s 40 year search to find the man he only knew as “Moose.”

https://mnhs.info/42NapVO

05/23/2026

The Ojibwe Word of the Weekend is ezigaa, which means woodtick. Minnesota is home to thirteen species of ticks and risks for tick borne illness increases mid-May through mid-July. Listen to Mille Lacs Band Elder Zhaawanigiizhigookweban, the late Millie Benjamin, pronounce ezigaa in the video below. Then, practice the word for woodtick when you are unfortunate enough to find one. The artwork in the video was provided by Wesley Ballinger.

Today we’d like to highlight Band Member Zhaawanookweban, the late Linda Marie Wade (Koslowski). We are adding the “-eba...
05/21/2026

Today we’d like to highlight Band Member Zhaawanookweban, the late Linda Marie Wade (Koslowski). We are adding the “-eban” to her Ojibwe name to indicate she has passed. She was born in 1944 in Walker, MN to Lawrence Wade and Rose M. Shingobe (Barstow) and passed away at home in 2017. Through her life, Linda was married twice, had 5 biological children and adopted 2 more. She had many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Coming from a family of 7 children, she has always had a large family to celebrate her life with, including her big drum and lodge family.

Linda went to St. Mary’s Junior College for a counseling degree for drugs and alcohol and attended Native American Educational Service (NAES) College for her bachelor’s degree. She was passionate about helping others and worked in St. Paul, MN offering legal aid to help people with legal resources and maneuvering the court system. She was also a seamstress but was injured while working and retired to work mostly for herself. She made regalia, moccasins, and even quilts for many people over the years.

Her beadwork was exceptional, as was her ability to create powwow regalia. Linda lost count of how many regalia outfits she completed. The women’s traditional powwow regalia and one of the jingle dresses in our exhibits were made by this artist.
She described the way she learned as, “My mother told me, ‘If you want to dance, you make your own dress. I’m not going to make it for you, because you won’t respect it.’ So, I took the dress apart one time, piece by piece. And then I put it back together, and that’s how I learned.”

Linda was an accomplished dancer and artist. She often danced at powwows in traditional buckskin, she was crowned champion 3 times before retiring. She was also a hoop dancer. She started hoop dancing before women really practiced the art and would dance in men’s regalia. She would dance with 18 hoops in exhibitions! Two pictures we are sharing here are of Linda hoop dancing at the Native American Center of Southeastern Minnesota Powwow, which took place March 30th and 31st of 1991. The photos were taken by Jim Welch for the Rochester Post Bulletin.

05/16/2026

The Ojibwe Word of the Weekend is zhimaaganish. This is the Ojibwe word for soldier. We are choosing this word because today is Armed Forces Day. We want active-duty military personnel to know that our museum is a Blue Star Museum. Every year, from Armed Forces Day to Labor Day, the Blue Star Museums offer free admission to active-duty military personnel and their families. This includes the National Guard and Reserves. We are open Wednesday through Saturday, 10am-5pm. We hope to see you!

In this video you hear Mille Lacs Band Elder Zhaawanigiizhigookweban, the late Millie Benjamin, pronounce nimaamaa. The artwork in the video comes from Mille Lacs Band tribal member Wesley Ballinger.

Today we’d like to share a historical photo from the Minnesota Historical Society’s collection. We chose this photo beca...
05/14/2026

Today we’d like to share a historical photo from the Minnesota Historical Society’s collection. We chose this photo because we are excited about the upcoming Memorial Day Powwow. The dancers in this photo are dressed up for a powwow in Walker on the Leech Lake Reservation around 1920.

Everyone is welcome to the Memorial Day Powwow and the event is free. It will take place on our grounds from 12:30-4:30 on Monday, May 25.This powwow will honor our veterans that paid the ultimate sacrifice. There will be singing, dancing, and honoring events throughout the afternoon. The Trading Post and the Museum will also be open with Four Seasons Room tours every hour on the half hour. Children are, of course, welcome to visit the museum. In fact, they are some of our favorite visitors! However, they must be accompanied by an adult. If you are unsure about powwow etiquette, there are some helpful guidelines here: https://mnhs.info/4fqnTxU

Image Citation: The Powwow, Walker. Approximately 1920. Minnesota Historical Society. St. Paul.

May 18 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Mille Lacs Indian Museum being open in its current building. We’re very exc...
05/12/2026

May 18 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Mille Lacs Indian Museum being open in its current building. We’re very excited and want to celebrate with a dinner and guided tours of the collection area, this event will be from 5-7pm.

We are sharing a flyer announcing the opening of the new museum building from 1995.

Image Citation: Mille Lacs Indian Museum announcement. 1995-1996. Minnesota Historical Society. St. Paul.

Address

43411 Oodena Drive
Onamia, MN
56359

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+13205323632

Website

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