Spring 2003 Newsletter
Vol. XI No. 1

Joyce Martin, Reference

Hot off the press from Native Images Editions, is a magnificent production: The Creation As the Maidu Told It - púktim. It reproduces the account of the creation of the Mountain Maidu people of northeastern California. Linguist and scholar, William Shipley, fluent in the language, re-translated the hand-written interview of Maidu story teller, Hánc’ibyjm. Dixon had tediously recorded this small part of Maidu folklore back in the early 1900s. This work is the first publication of any part of the text in the original language. It also includes the English translation.

Noted California artist, Daniel Stolpe, created thirteen magnificent woodcuts to accompany the story of Creation, which features Coyote and Earthmaker. Stolpe “chose the relief medium of woodblock because this technique was used for printing the first carved pictures in books.” He added that “wood grain is very expressive echoing the colors of creation as well as giving visual vibration to the text.”

The Labriola copy, signed by the artist, is number 3 of 65 copies. It was printed in Weiss Roman and Doulos linguistic fonts on Arches Cover White and printed by Peter Koch Printers, Berkeley. It features full linen, hand sewn binding with cover pastedown by Taurus Binder of San Francisco.

A second volume, created by Jack Silverman of Santa Fe, is titled Pueblo Indian Pottery: A Portfolio of Archival Studies. Francis H. Harlow provided the introduction and descriptions of 33 photographs of pots from the New Mexican villages of Acoma, Zuni, and Santa Domingo. The oldest is Hopi from First Mesa, and dates to 1820; the most recent comes from Acoma, and was created in 2002.

Black and Red on Yellow

The book is accompanied by 33 original prints, signed and numbered by the artist. Image House of Santa Fe used what it calls IRIS Giclée Fine Art Printing, which uses the IRIS brand of high resolution ink jet printer to reproduce digital images of the photograph on paper. In this case, it used Arches 140 pound watercolor Cold Press Paper from France with neutral PH.

The volume was printed on Monadnock Dulcet at The Steinhour Press, in Lunenburg, Vermont. The typeface is Meta, set at Digital Letterpress in Austin Texas.

The Labriola Center asked readers to comment on the effectiveness of its newsletter and provide suggestions for improvement. The response was encouraging and we thank all of you who participated.

A few of you read the web version or had it book-marked, but the overwhelming majority preferred to receive a hard copy. We learned that some shared it with students and/or other staff members. As a result, we will continue with our mailing.

Readers wrote that they liked to see new book lists, stories about our donors and collections, facts about American Indians, and special features. A number wanted to see more conference announcements; we will try to include those if we receive information in a timely manner.

A regular feature of the yearly Western History Association Conference is the American Indian Scholars Luncheon. The 2002 conference was held in Colorado Springs from October 16 to 20. Donald Fixico, of the University of Kansas welcomed a capacity crowd and introduced the winners of the American Indian Graduate Student Award. This award provides $250 scholarship to help student attendees. Winners for 2002 were: Todd Leahy, University of Oklahoma, Joseph Stout, Advisor; and Laurie Arnold, Arizona State University, Peter Iverson, Advisor.

Professor John Wunder, University of Nebraska, accepted the American Indian History Lifetime Appreciation Award. Professor, Susan Miller of Arizona State University, delivered a splendid introduction of her former mentor. Peter Iverson of Arizona State University, followed with his presentation, “The Tribal College Journal & Tribal colleges.”

The Labriola Center receives numerous gift books, both new and old, many of which are already cataloged to our collection. At least once a year, we share these with Native libraries in the Four Corners Region at no cost to them.

This year, we reserved two of the brand new books: O Brave New Words! Native American Loanwords in Current English, (University of Oklahoma, 1994); and Enduring Traditions: Art of the Navajo (Northland Publishing, 1994) to share with students who came to the Center. At the end of the semester, Dean Sherrie Schmidt drew two names from the student entries. Veronica Baxter, Liberal Arts Junior, and Thuy Truong, Education Sophomore, were the delighted winners.

John E. Echohawk (Pawnee), Director of the Native American Rights Fund, will speak at ASU at 4:30 on Wednesday, February 12, 2003. Location is yet to be announced.

Echohawk has been with the Native American Rights Fund since its founding, and has been Executive Director since 1977. A graduate of University of New Mexico Law School, he is ranked among the nation’s 100 most influential lawyers.

He is featured speaker at this year’s John P. Frank lecture series, a signature event for ASUs School of Justice Studies.

ASU President, Michael M. Crow, and Peterson Zah, Advisor to the President on American Indian Affairs, hosted an outdoor reception at Nelson Fine Arts Plaza, December 5, 2002. The reception honored Joni Ramos, President-elect of the Salt River Pima - Maricopa Indian Community.

Ms. Ramos is the first woman elected to that position. She was sworn into office on December 14, 2002.

An executive order of June 14, 1897, established the reservation, which totals some 52,729 acres adjacent to the cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, and Mesa, Arizona. Ramos will lead a population of 7,271 people, manage a government staff of 1,100 and oversee eight tribal businesses.

Mother of two and a graduate of ASU College of Business, Ramos plans to return to complete her Masters’ Degree on completion of her four-year term as President. She spoke about the importance of an education for Native students and to continue that education in spite of personal difficulties they meet along the way.

Taken from ASUInsight, December 13, 2002: Kevin Gover, formerly Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs under former Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbitt, will join the faculty of the College of Law in July 2003.

Gover, 47, a member of the Pawnee Tribe, was reared in Lawton, Oklahoma. He attended Princeton University, where he majored in public and international affairs. That university awarded him an honorary doctor of law last year. He received his law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1978 and was in private practice until 1996, when he became Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs. He served until the end of the Clinton administration in January 2001. During that time, he concentrated on upgrading Indian law enforcement, rebuilding decrepit Indian schools, reforming trust services, and overhauling the Bureau of Indian Affair’s management system.

Robert Clinton, Barry Goldwater Chair of American Institutions at ASU, has known Gover since he was in law school. “The breadth and dept of his practical experience will enrich and enliven the intellectual lives of students and faculty alike,” Clinton said.

ASUs Indian Legal Program currently has an enrollment of 50 including 38 Native American scholars representing 25 tribal nations. The program was established in 1988 and provides legal education, scholarship, and public service to tribal governments.

He joins Rebecca Tsosie, Robert Clinton, and Paul Bender to form a faculty of unprecedented strength in Indian Law, according to Dean Patricia White of the College of Law.

For 26 years now, the Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary, has sponsored an Indian Market that draws thousands to purchase the art and crafts of some 500 Native artisan from around the country.

LAB FILM S104:404

This year, 2002, was special because the Market was held on the spacious grounds of the recently opened, Steele Indian School Park at Central and Indian School in downtown Phoenix.

The grounds had been the site of the Phoenix Indian School since 1891. The school was a co-educational, federal institution for American primary and secondary students.

LAB FILM S104:407 Memorial Hall, front view

Three of the original buildings remain: the Dining Hall; the Band Building and Memorial Hall. These ultimately will be restored.

The Museum holds a competition each year for which Native artists design a poster or broadside to promote the Indian Market. John I. King, Navajo, created his Spirit Horses “in an open landscape, under father sky feeling of freedom, strength, power grace, and mobility, just as the Indian people." see left

Honored guests this year were a number of Navajo Code Talkers, who first devised the code that was used in the Pacific and hastened the end of World War II. Roger Willie, co-star of the movie, Windtalkers, was present along with Mervin Ringlero, one of the few American Indian saddle makers who still totally handcraft and custom fit each saddle for both horse and rider. He has made saddles for many actors including Gary cooper and President Ronald Reagan.