Whenever museum records indicated a previous owner, a search for biographic information on that person was made and included in the object record. Often no biographic information was found, therefore some records will have no information provided. Whenever only a collecting location was recorded, a cultural affiliation was assigned if that location has been associated with a particular American Indian tribe. This is a broad assumption, for example, pipes that were collected from the Menominee Indian Reservation were assigned a cultural affiliation of Menominee even though the unknown pipe maker or owner may have been from another tribe.

The Menominee are native to Wisconsin. The Potawatomi, originally from the lower peninsula of Michigan, moved into Wisconsin in the 1660s. The Chippewa, originally from north of Lake Superior and Lake Huron, moved into Wisconsin by 1679. The Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) are native to Wisconsin and are believed to be descendants of the prehistoric Oneota culture. The Sioux live in the Plains states of North America, although the Santee Dakota (Sioux) were originally from northwestern Wisconsin. The Iroquois are from the northeastern part of North America. Movement or the displacement of tribes from their traditional territories during the 1600s was a direct result of the European induced Fur Trade in North America which caused disruption of traditional lifeways and territories and intertribal warfare. In general there was a movement of people from the east to the west.

To learn more about Wisconsin's prehistoric and historic cultures, you should read "The Wisconsin Archeologist", Vol 78, Nos. 1 & 2, 1997 and "Introduction to Wisconsin Indians" by Carol I. Mason