Abstract
After more than two hundred years of regular use in diplomatic exchanges between Indigenous and European nations across northeastern North America, wampum belts began to fall into disuse in the 19th century. Their history has followed a number of paths since their decline in political significance saw them move into private and museum collections. The study of wampum belts held in Quebec collections past and present has much to tell us about how objects that are intrinsically collective in nature ended up moving from their original communities to museums. They also demonstrate how non-Indigenous private collectors imposed new meanings and uses on wampum, to the detriment of the original meanings woven into them by their first owners.
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