Although the fur trade was a period which allowed the Native Americans some freedom in the form of trade and diplomacy, it was, ultimately, both short-lived and conditional. I would consider it closer to a middle ground than had been previously reached as relations continued to deteriorate, but the American colonizers were, in the end, still a dominating force, which must factor into how we perceive events.
On the subject of material culture, and whether it should be considered a form of historical document, my conclusion is equally one-sided, although admittedly for more nuanced reasons. When we think of historical documents, we typically think quite literally; maps, handwritten letters, government charters, and so on. Even when these accounts are heavily biased, which is often, written works can provide great insight into historical events simply by providing a single, first-hand account of the period. Material culture is much the same, documenting and preserving the history of a specific time. More than that, material culture in some ways transcends the written word. While a written document may be added to by future owners, be it in the margins or continuations, material culture frequently changes as it changes hands, creating a vast portrait of where it came from, who owned it, and what features they saw fit to change.
In a YouTube video from Smarthistory, Global trade and an 18th century Anishinaabe outfit, the narrators discuss how the traditional Anishinaabe outfit shown was gifted to a British lieutenant as part of a ceremonial gift exchange in the 1790’s. Although the outfit’s aesthetic appears uniform, the video explains that many of the individual components and materials were created separately from one another by different artisans in different countries, eventually all coming together through trade. This tells us a great deal about the kinds of trade networks the Anishinaabe had access to in the 1790’s, what kinds of ceremonial wear were being made at the time, and how. All of this information could have been lost to time if the outfit itself had not been preserved.