About Johann Kohl

Johann Kohl was an educated, urbane, and well-trained German geographer, ethnologist, and popular writer.

His Visit with the Lake Superior Ojibwa

During his visit with the Lake Superior Ojibwa in 1855, he made useful and unbiased studies of their material culture, religion, and folklore.

Extent of Kohl's Observations

The extent of Kohl's observations is really amazing. They cover the fur trade, canoe building, domestic utensils, quillwork, native foods, hunting, fishing, trapping, cooking, toboggans, snowshoes, gardening, lodge building, games and warfare.

—Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly