Part of a set of nesting boxes (990.217.2.1.1-990.217.2.6.2). Square and rectangular boxes require inner linings of wood to hold their form. The boxes in this set have outer walls created of bark bands wrapped with split spruce root and decorated with undyed quills. The lids are decorated with dyed quill in various geometric designs.

The Mi'kmaq are an Algonkian-speaking people who, at the time of first European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries, inhabited what are now the Maritime provinces and the Gaspé peninsula of Quebec. Later they were also to settle in Newfoundland and parts of New England. The Mi'kmaq are culturally related to Abenaki, Maliseet-Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot peoples. In the 19th century, Mi'kmaq and Maliseet people camped in summer near Quebec City where they came into contact with the Huron-Wendat people of Jeune Lorette (now Wendake).