New Digital Birch-bark Canoe Story Map Collaboration Project Involving 30 Museums

T. Kurt Knoerl Discussion

Announcing the launch of Bark Canoes: A Digital Canoe Collection   

The Museum of Underwater Archaeology and Georgia Southern University’s spring 2021 American Indian History class have created a collaborative project that includes over 30 museums, parks, and historical societies across North America that have traditionally built birch-bark canoes in their collections.

This digital storymap currently includes 54 bark canoes from Canada’s Northwest Territory to Savannah, Georgia.  Each organization provided photos of their canoes and information about their origins, cultural affiliations, age, and physical characteristics.  In addition, researchers visiting the storymap can download a spreadsheet containing the canoe data for analysis. The website also hosts videos on canoe construction and an interview with a traditional bark canoe builder. 

We invite you to explore this unique resource.  Please help us expand this dataset to make it as comprehensive and useful as possible.

http://www.themua.org/barkcanoes