Makizinan (1860–1951), Ogabaygashingequay (Charlotte  Fineday Broker)

SUMMARY
Treatment of a pair of soft-soled, pucker-toe style bashkwegino-makizinan (hide moccasins, also known as ojibwe in the Ojibwe language). The black velvet apiingwe'igan (vamps) are decorated with a beaded trefoil floral design in orange, yellow, clear, green, and copper-colored beads and trimmed in a deep red color, while the black velvet apiganegwaajigan (cuffs) are decorated with clustered beadwork designs at the heel, left, and right sides, and trimmed with blue plain-woven fabric which also comprises the tie for each makizin.

This treatment is described with the permission of the owners.

BACKGROUND:
These makizinan previously belonged and are attributed to Ogabaygashingequay (Charlotte Fineday Broker), an Ojibwe woman born around 1860 and lived until her early 90s. She spent her whole life on what is now the White Earth Reservation (Gaa-waabaabiganikaag in Ojibwe) in Northwestern Minnesota. This reservation was formed in 1867 and constitutes the largest reservation in Minnesota (Treuer 2010, 28).

The makizinan were repatriated to Ogabaygashingequay’s direct descendent, Anita Fineday, from the Sterns County Museum, St. Cloud, Minnesota, in 2022 under NAGPRA. They still bear sewn-on cotton twill tape labels marked with their former accession numbers (82.12.19a and 82.12.19b) beneath each vamp.

Makizinan of this kind would have likely been worn for fancy-dress events. The soiling on the makizinan, particularly the ground-in soiling on the bottom of the soles that shows the imprint of feet, suggests that these makizinan were worn and possibly danced in. The reddish accretion along the top edge may have been mud, perhaps mixed with another material, which might have been applied to the wearer’s exposed skin as an insect repellent.

TREATMENT
Instrumental analysis with pXRF suggested that the makizinan had likely not been treated with inorganic pesticides. However, there is some lead on their surfaces, and they should still be handled with caution.

The makizinan were carefully vacuumed on the interior and exterior surfaces on a very gentle setting with the mouth of the vacuum covered with Vellux. As the Vellux left some fibers behind, the surfaces were vacuumed again with the mouth of the vacuum cleaner covered with crepeline. Remaining fibers on the velvet were removed with a combination of tweezers and targeted pickup with dried Lascaux 303 swabs. This technique (using tacky dried Lascaux for surface cleaning) was presented by several graduate students in the Getty Conservation Program during the 2024 ANAGPIC conference at Columbia University, and their scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that it did not leave a residue on the cleaned surface. Still, as the technique had not been analyzed on velvet to my knowledge, it was used sparingly on the mazikinan, only where tweezers were more likely to pull original fibers out of the velvet.

The beads were cleaned with small cotton swabs just dampened with 10% ethanol in deionized water.

Inserts to help the makizinan hold their shape were made from washed soft Tyvek sewn with cotton thread and stuffed with polyester batting. A removable cotton muslin buffer was also placed between the inserts and the hide.

The distortions in the ties were gently flattened using the following technique: two strips of blotter paper were moistened with sprayed deionized water. Working in sections, the ties were sandwiched between two strips of tyvek, outside of which the two moistened blotters were placed. This was then encased on both sides with mylar to trap the humidity, and placed under a weight to flatten for 15 minutes.

The museum accession numbers were mechanically removed from the interior of the vamps and returned with the makizinan for the owner’s records or disposal.

The frayed threads in the blue fabric trim were tucked back in and couched down with a semi-transparent Skala polysether thread. This mend was reinforced with overlapping stitches, as it was understood that the makizinan may be worn again in the future.