Mille Lacs Indian Museum

A Confluence of Old and New

Ken Weyaus, Sr., can teach us how very close we still are to the traditional Ojibwe that lives, hunted, and fished in Minnesota just decades ago. As he leads tours through the Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Historic Site on the western shore of Lake Mille Lacs, he will say, “There's my aunt in that photo. And that’s my family in that photo.” This is both his personal and tribal heritage. Ken himself used to live part of the year in a wigwam selling Indian crafts during the summer, yet he is intentional as he teaches that one should not be left with the impression that the traditional lifestyles are still practiced in the old land-based, seasonal ways. A rolling conversation with Ken Weyaus is in itself a blend of the old and new.

Local Leadership

By 1981, local leaders made the decision to build a larger museum to display and teach with the artifacts. Full planning did not begin in earnest until 1991, when six leaders from the Mille Lacs Band and six from government agencies, plus architects and Historical Society leaders, began actively designing the new museum. Meetings continued nearly monthly for over five years, and money was steadily raised from public and private sources.

A beadwork design was replicated on the outside of the building. The center of the building, with a higher ceiling, was at first designed to look like a drum. However, as Ken recalls, “the structure started resembling an oil refinery, so the center roof was then domed, as it is now, wigwam-like with elm bark.” Building costs increased from an estimates four million dollars in 1981 to an actual ten million in 1996, yet by then the community was growing and was up to the task. Artifacts were recovered, restored, and the traditional dioramas were repaired and once more pulled together. The museum opened with a huge community potluck on May 18, 1996.

Inside this beautiful wood structure, one sees the confluence of old and new. Native beadwork from generation past is prominently displayed. Interactive computer stations teach about the role of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in the modern life of their community, such as the use of casino funds to strengthen the Onamia community for its members and its non-Indian neighbors. Veterans are highly respected in Ojibwe culture, and a section of the museum pays tribute to veterans through visual displays and audio-education. The displays of Pow-Wow regalia connect one to both of the beauty of traditional dress and the continuing art of dance practiced today by the Ojibwe.

Most dramatically, the center high-dome structure of the museum houses the traditional dioramas – life-size stations depicting Indian life season by season. Beginning and ending with winter in this circular space, each station shows the housing and life of the people, living close to the land and off the land’s bounty. A winter teepee leads to spring sugar bush, leads to summer wigwams near the shores of the lake. By autumn, wild ricing activity dominates. And in winter, families moved again deeper into the protection of the forests and lived off their harvests as well as hunting and fishing. These life-like scenes include models of Native people, and not surprisingly, Ken knows them! “”There, that is Rose Benjamin,” he says, or “that woman is my aunt, Cecilia Dorr.” Ken’s stories bring all of the traditions into modern day focus and remind us how very recent that history really is.

A restored 1930s trading post stands next to the museum and offer a variety of books, crafts, and clothing. Currently, the Mille Lacs Indian Museum brings in travelers and local folk and teaches them Ojibwe crafts. The museum features local artists like Margaret Hill, a generous craftswoman skilled in many arts using birchbark and sweetgrass. This lovely, sunny and welcoming building is full of art, history, music, hospitality, and good humor.

Showing his playful nature, Ken clicks into one of the interactive computer stations teaching the Ojibwe language. Clicking on the work for “food” and then in icon for pie, a woman’s voice speaks the Ojibwe word for “blueberry pie.” True to the cumulative nature of this language, this word likely teaches the entire recipe for blueberry pie, and who knows, maybe even the location of good berry-picking! Here’s the word for “blueberry pie” – Minibaashkiminasiganibiitoosigianibadagiingwesijiganibitooyiingwesijiganibakwezhigan! Ken teases that this is why he never ate blueberry pie as a child – he did not want to have to say the word for it!