 |
University Libraries
|
Summer 2002 Newsletter
Vol. X No.2
Labriola National American Indian Data Center
|
|
University Libraries
|
LAB FILM S104:369 ASU Banner |
|
On March 27, 2002, members of the American Indian community at ASU, joined with Peterson Zah, former President of the Navajo Nation, to thank President Lattie Coor for his support of Indian programs at ASU over the past eleven years.President Coor retires from his office on June 30. Representatives of the various programs, including Indian Studies and Labriola Center, participated in the fair's theme, Achievement by Numbers, by setting up colorful booths to show their accomplishments. President Coor noted that "Nothing gives me more pleasure than moving booth to booth person to person, to see just how deeply and naturally the Native American presence defines ASU." |
LAB FILM S104:368 Peterson Zah |
Preserving Our Language, Memory and Lifeways:
Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums
The national conference was held in the Mesa (Arizona) Centennial Center from
May 7 to 10, 2002 and brought together some 300 participants representing tribal
archives, libraries, and museums from the Continental United States and Alaska,
Canada, and New Zealand.
There were representatives from the Library of Congress, the National Museum
of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, American Library Association,
Gilcrease Museum, Bill Gates Foundation, Minnesota Historical Society, National
Park Service, and the Arizona State Library and Archives. Alyce Sadongei, Assistant
Curator for Native American Relations at the Arizona State Museum, did a masterful
job of arranging, promoting, and directing a most successful conference.
In addition to representatives from Arizona and New Mexico tribes, conference
attendees were able to network with colleagues from many Native nations: Squamish;
Lummi; Ilisagvik, Mashantucket Pequot, Karuk, Makah, Blackfeet, Muckleshoot,
Miami,Catawba, Ktunaxa Kinbasket, Fond du lac, Alutiik, Maori, and more.
Participants were treated to an outdoor feast at the Mesa Cultural Center followed
by traditional dances by representatives from the Salt River Pima Indian Community,
Gila River Indian Community, Ak-Chin Indian Community, and the Tohono O'odham
Nation. They also visited a number of local tribal museums and enjoyed an evening
reception at the Heard Museum.
The conference topics were stimulating and varied, and included discussions
on cultural sovereignty, language retention, developing tribal archives, digitization
of photograph collections, a discussion of pesticide residues on NAGPRA objects,
the application of technology and telecommunications in Indian country, and
fund raising strategies.
Momaday, Fixico Visit ASU
N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize
winning author and Regents Professor of
English at the University of Arizona, delivered
the Barrett Honors College 2002 Centennial Lecture at Gammage Auditorium on
March 4. He read from some of his writings, which have included poetry, plays,
essays, and paintings. He is particularly noted for his novel, House Made at
Dawn.
Donald Fixico, distinguished professor of American Indian History and director of the Indigenous Nations Studies program at the University of Kansas, was in residence at ASU Barrett Honors College as the Rhodes Chair during February and March. During his tenure at ASU, he taught a course on "American Indian Leadership, Community and Place." His Rhodes lecture on February 11 in the Katzin Concert Hall also dealt with leadership: "American Indian Leadership Throughout History."
Labriola Center Supports Libraries
The Center receives a great many gift books every year that are duplicated in
both the circulating stacks and the Center. During the past year, we have distributed
some 482 books to 16 Native libraries in Arizona.
The Center also donated some books to the Red Crow Community College in Alberta, Canada, after a fire destroyed its library. We mentioned this in our spring newsletter, and learned that a number of our readers were able to help out with donations. I understand that the University of Cincinnati Digital Press responded with a copy of the CD version of George Catlin's Printed Works. We wish the library the best of luck in its recovery efforts and thank those readers that helped out.
Visitors from San Juan Pueblo
Some twenty children from the Ohkay Owingeh Community School, San Juan Pueblo,
New Mexico, paid a visit to the Labriola Center on April 15. They were guests
during Native American Culture week at ASU and performed traditional dances
on Hayden Lawn. The ASU Community enjoyed a rare opportunity to see the "Green
Corn Dance," "Spring Social Dance," and the traditional "Buffalo
Dance."
The students toured the Labriola Center and were shown books and other materials in the collection that dealt with their own pueblo. They were particularly fascinated with two volumes: Southern Pueblo Pottery: 2,000 Artist Biographies and Pueblo Indian Pottery 750 Artist Biographies. A number of the young people were quite excited to discover many of their own family members represented in the books. The attractive volumes were written by Gregory Schaaf, in 2000, and 2002 respectively and published by CIAC Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Searching for Grandmother
A Wyoming reader searched the ASU Online Catalog to learn that the Labriola
Center had a copy of the 1917 Carlisle Indian School Yearbook. She E-mailed
the Center asking us to see if there was a photograph of her grandmother, Winnifred
LaJeunesse, who attended Carlisle between 1914 and 1917.
| While only the senior class had individual photographs and biographies in the yearbook, her grandmother was featured in a photograph entitled, "Girls of the Susan Longstreth Literary Society in Pagentry Representing the 'Hall of Fame on Mount Olyumpus.'" We scanned the photograph and mailed it to the delighted granddaughter. |  Carlisle Yearbook 1917 E97.6 .C2 C27 1917 |
New Hours for the Labriola Center
The Labriola Center is pleased to announce that it will be open from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday beginning on August 21. The Center will also
be available by appointment for orientation and bibliographic instruction for
evening classes.
Santa Fe Indian School Records
The Labriola Center has recently purchased Bureau of Indian Affairs Records
Created by the Santa Fe Indian School, 1890-1918. Opened in November 1890, the
Santa Fe School superintendent was assigned responsibility for the Indians in
Northern New Mexico, which included the pueblos of Cochiti, Jemez, Nambe, Picuris,
Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque,
and Zia. There were also some Navajo, Apache and Pima students.
At first, the school accepted pupils from all grades, but enrollment was later limited to the sixth grade and above. The children devoted half of each day to school work, the other half to vocational training, which might include the labor of the school such as working in the fields. Later, the curriculum included native crafts such as pottery, beadwork, and basketry.
The collection includes letters by the Superintendent and others to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Indian agents, agency employees, territorial officials, individual Indians, and private individuals. They concerned personnel, school activities, Pueblo lands, and the welfare of individual Indians.
Also included are letters sent by day school teachers and the superintendent's correspondence with employees. In addition to school activities, they dealt with personnel, individual Indians, and the general administration of the school. The 38 reels of microfilm are available in the Center.
A bibliography of microfilm publications on the American Indian and held by the University Libraries, is available on the web site www.asu.edu/lib/archives/films.htm
Mission to Arizona, 1916-1940, Father Augustine
Schwarz, O.F.M.
The Labriola Center is presently designing a digital exhibit featuring the photographs
of the Franciscan priest, Augustine Schwarz, O.F.M. Upon graduation from the
seminary, Fr. Schwarz asked to be sent to China. Instead, the Bishop sent him
to Arizona.
| In addition to building chapels for the Indians in the Pima, Papago, and Apache reservations, the Franciscans introduced the concept of day schools in the numerous and isolated villages on the reservations. The Schwarz photographs document the building of a number of these schools and chapels and activities during his 25 years of service. |  LAB FILM S119:1 St. Francis Mission, Whiteriver |
We hope to have the exhibit up and running on the Labriola web site by the beginning of the Fall semester. Stay tuned!
Survey Request
In the beginning, the object of this newsletter was to keep the Labriola family
and the ASU Community informed of our activities. As time went on, our mailing
list grew and now goes out to some 900 individuals and organizations. The Center
would appreciate our readers' input on the effectiveness of our newsletter and
any suggestions we might consider for improvement. A pre-addressed form is enclosed.
Another Note from Down Under and Thanks to the
Internet
In the Spring 2002 Newsletter, we wrote about an Australian patron who found
her grandfather, Charles F. Shaffer, on our web site. The Center had purchased
the Shaffer collection, which consisted of scrapbooks, photographs, letters,
and guest book kept by Shaffer and his wife, Mildred. They taught school in
the Havasupai village of Supai, Arizona, ten miles below the rim of the Grand
Canyon between 1930 and 1940.
We heard from another Aussie member of the Shaffer family in April. She told us that she had no photographs of her grandfather and other relatives and asked for copies of some of the photos. We scanned selected Shaffer photographs on CD-ROM so she could distribute these to family members around the world.
At the same time, our Australian patron suggested that her 86-year-old Auntie in Reno might be able to assist in identifying the photographs taken so long ago. As a result of her help, I was able to expand the biographical sketch in the Shaffer Finding Guide and fill in some blanks in our photograph list. A special "thank you" to all the Shaffers. - Joyce Martin
Regent's Professor Iverson Donates Personal
Papers
Peter Iverson, Regent's Professor of History and scholar of American Indian
history at ASU, has donated some 16 boxes of research material including notes,
reports, letters, and more to the Labriola Center. We hope to begin inventorying
and processing the material very soon so that it can be available for research.
Professor Iverson is author or editor of numerous books including Indians in American History: An Introduction (1998); When Indians Became Cowboys: Native Peoples and Cattle Ranching in the American West (1995); Major Problems in American Indian History: Documents & Essays (with Al Hurtado, 1994); and We Are All Still Here: American Indians in the 20th Century (1998). He has recently completed a major historical work on the Navajo, which will be published in the very near future.
Research Project? Help is Here
The Labriola Center has prepared a number of bibliographies on a variety of
topics to help our students and researchers. In addition to books, the listings
include ephemeral materials, sound and video recordings, oral histories, online
databases, and selected web sites. All of the items listed are held in the Labriola
Center or the University Libraries.
These bibliographies are available in hard copy and can also be printed from
the Labriola web page
www.asu.edu/lib/archives/labriola.htm
The guide, "American Indian Veterans with an Emphasis on Code Talkers," lists both general works on Native veterans as well as primary sources. Nearly all the general works were written in the past ten years, part of a burgeoning interest in the topic. The bibliography does not include works on Indian scouts of the nineteenth century. The Labriola Center also features a GI Joe Navajo Code Talker doll. Dressed in the uniform of the United States Marines, it speaks seven Navajo phrases along with their English translations.
The "Bibliography on Repatriation" lists reference material dealing with repatriation of Native American remains and grave goods. There are books, journals, ephemeral materials, video recordings, and selected internet sites. Of particular interest is Mending the Circle: A Native American Repatriation Guide, 1996.
The "Bibliography of Indian Boarding Schools, 1875-1940" has been a hit with students. It includes reference material dealing with boarding schools during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to books, there are photographs, oral histories, manuscript collections, video recordings, government documents, and ephemera. The Center can offer some early publications from many schools such as Indian School Journal, 1905-1977 (Chilocco Indian School); The Red Man: An Illustrated Magazine Printed by Indians, 1909-1917; or The Phoenix Redskin,1900-1940s) Phoenix Indian School.
"Historical and Contemporary American Indian Gaming" covers the rapidly growing issue of Indian gaming. Historically, Native Americans have had both games of chance and games of skill and their long history is discussed in Games of the North American Indians by Stuart Culin. Gambling Music of the Coast Salish Indians is an interesting addition, and of special note, there is the slick publication, Indian Gaming: The National Magazine of the American Indian Gaming Industry.
