I enjoyed reading this, excellent piece. It came at a time when I'm finishing editing up an article I'm writing of another 'object', birchbark scrolls used by the Ojibwa...and many of your comments about these objects having their own biography...and cannot be understood in colonial collections be they held in private or public collections. These items aren't static not just decorative. They're so much more - I'm not going to repeat what you've written, as I agree!