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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09/01/2026

September is often called Waatebagaa-giizis in Ojibwe. This translates to leaves changing moon, leaves turning color moon, or brightly colored leaves moon. Remember the Ojibwe names of months may vary depending on the area you live in and the dialect of Anishinaabemowin spoken there. The activities for months may not fit perfectly in their Gregorian calendar counterparts. August is often referred to as Manoominike-giizis, but ricing activities in the Mille Lacs area go on through the end of September.

In July, we highlighted Mille Lacs Band Member Wechawibiikweban, the late Jennie Weyaus. She was born in 1914 and raised by her grandmother. We'd like to share some of her memories about wild rice harvest. She described using a 16 foot canoe to gather, drying rice in the sun on a tarp, and then parching in a kettle. She described men threshing it by dancing the rice in moccasins made out of old blue jeans. Then she described winnowing as, “you lift it up so the wind blows all those husks away.” She estimates her family gathered about two hundred pounds of finished rice every year and that it was more than enough even after being shared with her great grandparents who were unable to gather any more.

Listen Mille to Lacs Band Elder Zhaawanigiizhigookweban, Millie Benjamin say “Waatebagaa-Giizis” in the video below and practice it whenever you think about what month it is. The artwork in the video is by Mille Lacs Band tribal member Wesley Ballinger.

08/31/2026

Musical line-up for the Native American Music and Arts Festival. Sunday, September 6th.

10:30 am Hillside Singers

12:00 pm Annie Humphrey

1:30 pm Jada Brown

3:00 pm Waar Party

The festival is free, open to the public and outside on the shores of Lake Mille Lacs!

We also have over 20 vendors and will have some food trucks on site and the Museum and Trading Post will be open all day!

Bring the whole family and have a great day!

08/29/2026

The Ojibwe word of the weekend is babiinzikawaagan, the Ojibwe word for coat or jacket. You’ll notice in this video that the ‘n’ in the middle of babiinzikawaagan has a parenthesis around it. That is because that ‘n’ is sometimes hard to hear. In some dialects, particularly in the Eastern Canadian Border Lakes region, they drop the ‘ba’ at the beginning making their word for jacket biinzikawaagan. Listen closely to see how the word is pronounced in your community and practice, practice, practice.

If you’re interested, one of the first units of Rosetta Stone introduces this word as well as other items of clothing, you can learn more here: (https://mnhs.info/4xslTM9). Meanwhile, listen to Mille Lacs Band Elder Zhaawanigiizhigookweban, the late Millie Benjamin, pronounce this word. The artwork in the video comes from Mille Lacs Band tribal member Wesley Ballinger.

On this day in history, August 25, 1882, US Indian Inspector George W. Chapman wrote a letter to the Secretary of the In...
08/25/2026

On this day in history, August 25, 1882, US Indian Inspector George W. Chapman wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, Henry M. Teller. At this time, questions about land titles were being raised, particularly by lumbermen. Teller had sent Chapman to examine the situation. In the report, Chapman described Ojibwe life the way he saw it, describing it in negative terms and recommended the Mille Lacs Band be moved to White Earth.

In his ethnocentric view, Chapman looked at Ojibwe life at Mille Lacs at the time and saw no villages or agriculture in the way valued by European Americans at the time. Dr. Bruce White notes that while Chapman described Ojibwe life in negative terms, he was also essentially describing the same seasonal round Nodinensiban, an Ojibwe woman raised at Mille Lacs in the 1840s and 1850s, would describe when interviewed in the 1920s. However, Nodinensiban described the seasonal round as “systematic,” while Chapman used the word “scattered and changeable.” Don Wedll, who held many positions with the Mille Lacs Band, including Natural Resources Commissioner, wrote in “Moccasin Telegraph”, “The Ojibwe saw ALL of the places where they lived during the year…as their home.”

We highly recommend “They Would Not Be Moved” by Bruce White to explore this history in more depth or visit us to tour the Four Seasons room to learn more about the life at Mille Lacs as Nodinensiban and others have described it. We are open Wed-Sat from 10-5 and give tours every hour on the half hour. You can also purchase Dr. White’s book at the Trading post or here: https://mnhs.info/4wy32Op
We are sharing an image of Nodinensiban courtesy of the Library of Congress.

08/22/2026

The Ojibwe word of the weekend is gijipizon, which is the Ojibwe word for belt. We chose it in honor of the beautiful belt we posted on Wednesday. An interesting piece of the word gijipizon is the morpheme “-apizo.” (Morphemes are the smallest units of meaningful language.) “-Apizo” derives to mean “he or she is tied” or “he or she is dressed.” You find this in the word for bracelet or armband (gikinjinikepizon), scarf (giizhoopizon), kitchen apron (inapizowin), and bandage (ziinzoopizon) among others.

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

Today we are sharing an object from our collections. This belt is spot-stitched in a floral pattern using glass seed bea...
08/19/2026

Today we are sharing an object from our collections.

This belt is spot-stitched in a floral pattern using glass seed beads on a translucent bead background. The edges are bound with red wool twill tape and a length of twill tape is sewn into each corner as a tie. It is backed with red printed cotton cloth. It was made after 1875, but before 1935. We know that it was not made after 1935, because it appears in a photograph of the Trading Post from that year. We have shared that picture here.

Today we’d like to highlight Band Member Nazhikewigaabaweban, the late Joseph Dunkley. We are adding the “-eban” to his ...
08/17/2026

Today we’d like to highlight Band Member Nazhikewigaabaweban, the late Joseph Dunkley. We are adding the “-eban” to his Ojibwe name to indicate he has passed. He was born in 1963 and passed away in 2017. He was also known as Joe Joe, Smitty, Papa, and JoFeeny.

Joseph worked in many jobs throughout his life. He is remembered for his aptitude with vehicles, and carpentry, he also loved the outdoors. He is also remembered as being one of the main witnesses for the Mille Lacs Band in the Federal Treaty Rights trial. He, as well as Herman Kegg and Brenda Boyd, testified in 1994 about how hunting, fishing, and gathering has been passed down through generations and their families had relied on hunting and fishing for food or trade. In his testimony, he estimated half his food was from fishing, hunting, or gathering.

He is also remembered for his sense of humor. That can be seen in his testimony as well. He said he preferred to use bow and arrow, but also used a gun for deer hunting. An attorney asked him how he decided which one to use and answered, “when I run out of arrows.” The photo included here is courtesy of the Mille Lacs Band Archives. Pictured from left are Brenda Moose Boyd, Don Wedll, Joseph Dunkley, and Hermann Kegg. It was taken in 1994 at the time when Boyd, Dunkley, and Kegg were testifying in US District Court.

08/15/2026

The Ojibwe word of the weekend is babagiwayaan. This is the Ojibwe word for shirt. Last week we posted about the word for laundromat and today we thought we’d post a word for something you might bring to the laundromat. This word can also mean “a piece of cloth.” And this is a word you may hear pronounced differently by dialect. Near Lac La Croix, it may be pronounced bagiwayaan. Listen closely to what is used in your community and practice, practice, practice.

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

Come and check out the traveling exhibit "Honoring the Women of Wounded Knee '73" at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum. The e...
08/12/2026

Come and check out the traveling exhibit "Honoring the Women of Wounded Knee '73" at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum. The exhibit will be on site until September 11th. Free with paid admission to the museum.

Learn about this important Piece of American Indian history and the women that were there.

This exhibit was created by the Warrior Women Project and has been exhibited since 2023.

Today we are sharing a historic photo from our collections. We chose this photo today because the 60th annual traditiona...
08/12/2026

Today we are sharing a historic photo from our collections. We chose this photo today because the 60th annual traditional Mille Lacs Band Powwow will be taking place August 14, 15, and 16. This photo was taken at a powwow somewhere around Mille Lacs over a hundred years ago around 1920. While we don’t know for sure, we suspect from other pictures of him that the man in the striped shirt is Giche Nodineban, the late Sam Pete.

All are welcome to visit the Powwow at the Mille Lacs Band Powwow Arena at Shaw Bosh Kung Point in Onamia, MN. The Museum will be hosting a fun run there on Sunday, August 16 from 9-10:30. We will also be having an Open House on Sunday from 10-5pm. Admission is free all day during the Open House! Please join us!

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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